Chorus Of Mushrooms

 Hiromi Goto is the author of Chorus of Mushrooms. How often have you read a book detailing the experience of immigrants from Japan to Canada? I think this might be the first book about that. I consider this to be historical fiction but it also has some magic in it too due to the recitation of Japanese folklore. One of those Japanese folk stories was the weirdest folk story I have ever read in my life. A lone Japanese elderly lady comes to see environmental damage to the land below hers on the mountain. She cleans up the environmental damage in the most bizarre way. The story involves a Japanese Grandmother who stays with her family in Canada. Grandmother speaks only Japanese. Her granddaughter, Murasaki, also known as Muriel, does not speak Japanese yet their relationship is very close. Is it mental telepathy or can they read each others thoughts? I don't know but they are close. Grandmother is helpful to Muriel when her mother goes into a deep depression after Grandmother departs the family home. Somehow Grandmother tells Muriel to make her mother Japanese food. Muriel does what she is told and the Japanese food cures her mother. Muriel's parents own a mushroom farm and that is how they pay the bills. I listened to this book via audiobook. Various actors played the parts. Some of what was spoken was in Japanese and that was interesting to listen to although the only word I recognized was "arigato" which means thanks. I enjoyed the story except for the parts about the cold winter weather south of Calgary.