The Way Through the Woods: On Mushrooms and Mourning

The Way Through The Woods is written by an exceptional woman who deigns to let us in on her unusual way through grief. Long Litt Woon lost her husband suddenly and her sense of direction went with him. Devoid of her usual lust for life, she impulsively takes a beginner’s course on mushrooms and there is where she begins to reconnect with the world and what it means to still be living in it. In Woon’s book, you will learn a lot about how she perceives people (indeed they appear to be her favorite subject second only to fungi) and her notes on human existence will delight and humor you. To imagine her without and interest in human connection indeed seems entirely unlike her even though she assures you right at the beginning of the book that that is what grief had done to her. In this book, you will also learn more about mushrooms than you ever knew you needed. She balances hefty scientific antidotes with the truly fantastic places her mushroom research has taken her. From perfumers to poison guides, there is nothing Woon will describe that won’t leave you hungry for more. A truly wonderful book about life and grief and mushrooms, The Way Through The Woods: On Mushrooms and Mourning deserves all the praise it has been reaping and more.