Book of Goose

The Book of Goose is a novel about two friends. While they are very different people the author describes their friendship in a way that it is easily understood. They are young and poor, growing up in a small French village. Fabienne is the ringleader of their little band of misfits and she is quite the character. Most of the village is afraid of her and for good reason. She is often the culprit when an animal goes missing, or when something is damaged or destroyed. She is possibly what we would consider today as a psychopath. Agnes, while not quite on Fabienne's level, also has her own issues. Her family life is tough, her parents are apathetic at best towards her, her brother is sick and housebound, and her older sisters are basically strangers to her. She is still in school so her parents try to use that to distance her from her childhood friend Fabienne, it does not work but they attempt it all the same. Agnes and Fabienne role play and one of their games was to write a novel. Fabienne came up with the story and Agnes recorded it and so began their journey as writers. More characters are involved, there is the old man M. Devaux who is persuaded to help the girls refine their novel and get it published. Later we meet Mrs. Townsend who is the head of a school in England that Agnes ends up attending. She is a pompous, failed writer, who has her own opinions on the way Anges needs to write her next novel. As this is all narrated by Agnes in the present day to the past events we also hear about her husband, Earl. He is vaguely described so that Agnes can talk about her current life and her flock of geese. Agnes is at the current time nicknamed Mother Goose by her American in-laws, which is where we get the namesake of this novel. I love the way the author wrote this novel. Her prose is easy to read and makes me want more from her. I do wish this story had more of a definitive ending or story really. It is lit fiction so you expect a level of 'random snippet of life' but this took it to the extreme. The general consensus at book club was that we all were confused at the end and had to go back to make sure we didn't miss something. It just endeded. Just like that.

Agnes and Fabienne, these incredible characters, had me journeying through their struggles and victories, and they've permanently taken up residence in the depths of my soul.

The gorgeous cover has a NYT Book Review quote that says Li's "elegant metaphysics never elude the blood or maggots". I'm but sure about there being any metaphysics or maggots in this book- there isn't even much blood. Instead, it's a midrashic take on an account of a young French girl who was acclaimed as a writing prodigy and was later uncovered as a fraud. In this version, the true prodigy turns out to be her unruly and brilliant friend Fabienne, who stays behind in their farming village.