“grief grinds slowly; it devours all the time it needs.” (4)

to me, “the way through the woods” feels like a story of parallel journeys: long’s journey through the realm of grief as well as her journey through the world of mushrooms. as she learns more about the fungi growing in the world around her, long writes about how the natural world transformed her grief and allowed her to re-engage with life after her husband’s sudden death. 

i think one thing i really appreciated about this book that made it different than other grief narratives (ex: didion’s “the year of magical thinking” or in a more removed sense, kalanithi’s “when breath becomes air”), there’s something beyond the thread of grief that ties the story together. like, no offense to authors like didion, but those types of books tend to be very introspective with nothing outside of the interior of the writer’s life, which is fine if it’s an article-length piece but a little dreary if it’s a full-length book. but here, long is able to name “traces” of her husband, eiolf, everywhere she goes and then links it with her discovery of mushroom life. 

i also found it interesting that the book was set in norway. long brings a unique perspective as an asian immigrant to an extremely homogenous region, and there are various cultural touchpoints that she alludes to that i found to be quite fascinating. 

altogether, a solid read that i enjoyed. 

“when you lose the witness to your life, you also lose a part of yourself.”