All This Over a Fungus

Tartufo by Holly Jackson

Pages: 352 Genre: literary fiction

Rating: 4 Star

Kindle Notes & Highlights

The rural Italian village of Lazzarini Boscarino is past its prime: tourists only visit to ask for directions, they nearly elected a donkey for mayor (but congratulations to Mayor Delizia Miccuci), the town hall is falling apart, and Nonna Amara's restaurant was destroyed in a landslide. Basically, all that's left is a loyal group of locals and Bar Celebrità, where they all go to share their troubles. But there are remarkable things going on in the forest nearby. Truffle hunter Giovanni Scarpazza uncovers a truffle (a tartufo, if you will) that could be worth over 6 figures. Which, according to Mayor Delizia and local bartender Giuseppina’s psychic, could be enough to really help the town — although it's hard to know with the psychic.

This book was a bit bizarre, but I found it very charming in its uniqueness. It made some bold narrative choices, but it felt confident in itself, and ultimately it paid off.

The writing style was the shining star of this book. I think people will either love it or hate it, but I really liked it. The moments when we'd focus on the perspective of non-human characters — like a bee, a dog, or an ant — was very clever. It helped to breathe more life into the setting of the town, and it helped emphasize the themes of interconnectedness and community. Also, I enjoyed the humor. It wasn't so much witty as circumstancially funny, but the sense of humor worked for me.

I will say that, while I enjoyed the narration, I did think it was really to get lost in it. For the most part, I found the wordy narration to be artful and intentional. The author was creating a broad picture, and I'm not against that. But occasionally it felt like it was wordiness for the sake of it, and I'd feel my eyes glazing over for a paragraph or two.

The plot was wild. So much craziness around a truffle! I don't know how realistic it all is; I mean, I know truffles are an expensive luxury, but are they really that enticing? I don't know, but it added to the absurdity of the humor.

The characters were all well-crafted. The town isn't that big, but there were a lot of people to keep track of, but they all had so much life in them. It was easy to fall in line with the group of them, rooting for the success of the village and being worried about the hysteria surrounding this truffle. I got caught up in their chaos, and, by the end, was really invested in their wellbeing.

Overall, this was a weird, cute little book. It's a bit of an absurd concept with some wild characters, but it's also full of love and heart. It's a story about community and supporting the people you care about, which was really beautifully executed. I picked up this book on a whim, and I'm really glad that I did.