Thank you to Net Galley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. This is the story of Agnes and Fabienne, two friends in post-World War II France. In "present day", we learn that Agnes who is living in the US with her husband has received word that Fabienne has died. We are then taken back to the 1950s when they were children forging a deep friendship to survive and find a sort of enjoyment. Agnes is pretty and smart; Fabienne is thin and underestimated. Together they create a world through writing stories. Adults get in the mix and decide that Agnes has potential as well as "her" stories. Fabienne encourages Agnes to go and experience with a patron and private English school. Agnes is taken advantage of in different ways and she misses home. How does this affect a friendship and how are they changed by their absence from one another? This was an interesting read that took you on a journey basically from Agnes perspective. I also enjoyed the style of writing.

This is a puzzling tale of obsession and self-obliteration: Starting with narrator Agnès being a married woman in the US, she receives a letter about the death of her childhood friend Fabienne - and we join her when she looks back at their relationship. Growing up in a small town in post-WW II France, Agnès is transfixed by Fabienne's daring nature (while we as readers often perceive her as manipulative and mean). As a game, Fabienne invents creepy stories in order to convey the friends' lives and experiences, and she tells Agnès to write them down. With the help of the local postmaster, the game-book gets published, and Agnès, the face of the operation, leaves Fabienne behind to go on a book tour where she is celebrated as a child prodigy...

Social realism this is not, the hallucinatory prose lives from its unusual metaphors and settings that are reminiscent of (gothic) children's stories. An atmosphere of strangeness permeates the text, but the story starts to lack speed and composure when it shifts to the English finishing school that alleged prodigy Agnès attends - that part is just too long. What remains unsettling is the friendship between the girls, and how what Agnès projects on Fabienne gets a hold of her own personality: Agnès seems to exist only in contrast, connection, and/or comparison to the friend, which gives their relationship a sinister edge. We as readers never learn how it felt for Fabienne or whether she would agree to the descriptions Agnès offers.

Another haunting aspect is how Agnès and Fabienne experience the move from child- to adulthood, especially regarding the implications for females in the 50's. The whole sinister Pygmalion / My Fair Lady madness of the finishing school and two deaths in childbirth are just some of the aspects the text highlights.

A novel about authorship and how we construct stories about ourselves, gripping and enigmatic.

Beautiful story of friendship and the ties that bind us. I loved the way she worded much of the book. the language was gorgeous. Looking forward to more from her!

I love Yiyun Li, and this absolutely did not disappoint. What a strange marvel. I can't wait to read whatever she writes next. Thanks to the publisher for the e-galley!

I highlighted this book on my Booktube channel. The video can be accessed here: https://youtu.be/agFLsorb550

The Book of Goose is a beautiful and thought provoking examination of childhood friendships. The rural French setting is a rich backdrop for Agnes and Fabienne's youth, friendship and games. This novels asks the reader to examine the role of friendship in our lives and how this evolves as we age. I found Agnes and Fabienne's friendship to be very believable and reflective of youth and naivety, and Li does an exceptional job of playing with believability and the impact youth can have on others.

Agnes and Fabienne are close friends in post-WWII France, living in poverty and hardship in a small agricultural village. They both know what awaits them in the future if they stay in the village. Both want more than the village can offer them. Fabienne, uneducated and rebellious, helps her widowed father on their farm while Agnes continues to go to school. They invent a game in which Fabienne dictates stories, graphic and often brutal, about children in a village much like theirs, to Agnes who writes them down, sharing them with the village postmaster who helps get them published, The resulting book is a runaway success and from then on the girls’ lives diverge as Agnes goes out into the wide world to enjoy her fame. Decades later Agnes narrates the Book of Goose from her home in Pennsylvania and reflects on the trajectory her life has taken, and how the deception shaped everything that subsequently happened to her and her once close friend. Betrayal, manipulation, personal agency, intimacy and the power of art to change lives and the power of one person can have over another, all are explored in this unusual and moving novel about a doomed friendship.

I really enjoyed the beautiful writing and language of this novel. The plot was good, but I am not a fan of teenager protagonists. I also felt that the deceit throughout the book had no real consequences in the end. The novel gripped me while it took place in the French country side. When it moved to a finishing school in England it became less interesting. A good novel but not memorable. Thank you to FSG, and NetGalley for the advance copy.

It's easy to see why this is such a runaway hit. Beautifully written, originally plotted. Memory and friendship and a long-gone era reproduced. Yes, disturbing in places, but that's the way art is created. I need to read more from Yiyun Li.

The toxic friendship between the protagonist and Fabienne reminds me of Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend. Gorgeous cover and writing. Recommend to readers who enjoy quiet books with a strong sense of place.

The Book of Goose is a story of sisterhood I will never forget. While I was hoping for a bit more, I was captivated by what I got and will read literally anything Yiyun Li puts out.

This didn’t live up to the hype for me! I found it kind of creepy at times…like Elena ferrante but slightly off-putting.

I loved the story of Agnes and Fabienne, as sad and simple as their lives were. Li evokes a time long gone, when children worked on farms and played outside, making use of their imaginations. But these two play dangerously. There are villains here, some unexpected, I certainly don't agree with the comparisons to A Separate Peace. Lovely prose.

An interesting tale of two young women, beginning in post WWII France and extending to the US, who are twined to one another through the fantastical fairy tale like stories they wrote as children. Rather, the stories Fabienne created and Agnes transcribed, Agnes gets the acclaim when the stories are published and the chance to go to school in the UK while Fabienne stays in their village and ultimately causes great harm to a former ally. Now Fabienne is dead and Agnes is reflecting upon their lives- but from her perspective (I'm curious what Fabienne would have to say about some of it). This sags a bit in the middle but then picks up again so stick with it. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of literary fiction.

A woman's childhood friend dies and it causes her to recollect their childhood together. As creative and precocious poor French farm girls, they created fantastical mother goose like stories that were published as books. An often lyrical narrative with imaginative character development. I especially liked the girls letters to one another, some from a fictitious brother. These showed a different side of the girls and was a clever tool to delve into their development. An author to read again.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

The Book of Goose Yiyun Li
Two young girls conspire to write a highly successful book. One stays in her rural village while the other is sent to a posh finishing school in England. The relationship between two adolescents is explored as well as rural and city life.

One reviewer mentioned Elena Ferrante in a comparative way. And, in some ways this does remind me of that author. And, in some of the same ways, this novel didn’t really work for me. Lyrical writing, certainly, but promises of big reveals just don’t keep me on board when the tale meanders so much.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. The writing is fabulous, and the story was told in such a way that I couldn't stop reading. It's an honest exploration of the nature of friends and the power one can hold over another. This would make an excellent book club choice as there as many themes and ideas to be discussed and explored in this novel. Thank you netgalley for this ARC.

The writing style in The Book of Goose was refreshingly honest and real. This book is unlike much of what I’ve read lately, in a good way! The central characters navigate the complex world of female friendship, where you would do anything to sustain the friendship. This story speaks a lot to the way we grow and change throughout life and how things we love the most sometimes are left behind. This was a poignant story showing the real struggles, external and internal, that we all go through.

Set in Europe and England shortly after WW2, this fascinating novel explores the lives and futures of 2 girls growing up in rural France. Though they are fast friends, one clearly holds an eerie power over the other.

This brilliant novel delves deep into the heart and soul of two 13-year-old girls, their friendship and the balance of power between the two. The reader feels their innocence as well as the cruelty that can be caused by attempting to control reality. This novel will stick with me for a very long time. Great book club choice.

Thanks to FS&G and NetGalley for the reveiw copy.