Ratings8
Average rating3.8
One of Vulture's Best Books of the Year This genre-bending debut collection of stories constructs eight eerie worlds full of desire, wisdom, and magic blooming amidst decay. In stories that beckon and haunt, Fruiting Bodies ranges confidently from the fantastical to the gothic to the uncanny as it follows characters—mostly queer, mostly women—on the precipice of change. Echoes of timeless myth and folklore reverberate through urgent narratives of discovery, appetite, and coming-of-age in a time of crisis. In “The Changeling,” two young cousins wait in dread for a new family member to arrive, convinced that he may be a dangerous supernatural creature. In “Endangered Animals,” Jane prepares to say goodbye to her almost-love while they road-trip across a country irrevocably altered by climate change. In “Take Only What Belongs to You,” a queer woman struggles with the personal history of an author she idolized, while in “Fiddler, Fool, Pair,” an anthropologist is drawn into a magical—and dangerous—gamble. In the title story, partners Agnes and Geb feast peacefully on the mushrooms that sprout from Agnes’s body—until an unwanted male guest disturbs their cloistered home. Audacious, striking, and wholly original, Fruiting Bodies offers stories about knowledge in a world on the verge of collapse, knowledge that alternately empowers or devastates. Pulling beautifully, brazenly, from a variety of literary traditions, Kathryn Harlan firmly establishes herself as a thrilling new voice in fiction.
Featured Prompt
2,614 booksWhen you think back on every book you've ever read, what are some of your favorites? These can be from any time of your life – books that resonated with you as a kid, ones that shaped your personal...
Reviews with the most likes.
As with many short story collections, not all of them can be bangers. But fuck, many of them were. I especially loved Hunting the Viper-King, Fiddler, Fool Pair and Fruiting Bodies. Some of them I felt didn't really fit with the theme of the rest of them, like Take Only What Belongs to You and Endangered Animals. They felt very disconnected and were my least favourite to be sure. But overall I think the stories were excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed them. They each created their own worlds with such vivid vibes that I felt very sucked into it.
no bad stories in this one but some worked for me better than others.
favorite stories:
take only what belongs to you
fidler fool pair
The last three stories were my favourite! Fiddler, pair of fools was fantastic so whimsical and dark