Hi everyone
This is my review for Sequoia Nagamatsu's How High We Go in the Dark. I got my copy from Bol.com and it has this gorgeous cover that totally sucked me in when I saw it online. And then I read the blurb and the book was instantly added to my cart.
"Dr. Cliff Miyashiro arrives in the Arctic Circle
to continue his recently deceased daughter's research, only to discover
a virus, newly unearthed from melting permafrost. The plague unleashed
reshapes life on earth for generations. Yet even while struggling to
counter this destructive force, humanity stubbornly persists in myriad
moving and ever inventive ways.
Among those adjusting to this new
normal are an aspiring comedian, employed by a theme park designed for
terminally ill children, who falls in love with a mother trying
desperately to keep her son alive; a scientist who, having failed to
save his own son from the plague, gets a second chance at fatherhood
when one of his test subjects-a pig-develops human speech; a man who,
after recovering from his own coma, plans a block party for his
neighbours who have also woken up to find that they alone have survived
their families; and a widowed painter and her teenaged granddaughter who
must set off on cosmic quest to locate a new home planet.
From
funerary skyscrapers to hotels for the dead, How High We Go in the Dark
follows a cast of intricately linked characters spanning hundreds of
years as humanity endeavours to restore the delicate balance of the
world. This is a story of unshakable hope that crosses literary lines to
give us a world rebuilding itself through an endless capacity for love,
resilience and reinvention. Wonderful and disquieting, dreamlike and
all too possible."
I loved this book.
How High We Go in the Dark is a collection of interlinked stories centered around a plague and how the world and specific people tried to cope with it. It’s focused on the people and their lives; not on action, war, or crime. It’s thoughtful, hopeful, bleak, harrowing, and tender.
The book is a slow read. The prose is beautiful and elegant, and the story flows easily in a dreamy, meditative way. Because of this (and the heaviness of the stories) I couldn’t read it for two hours at a time. I had to take pauses to digest what I had read, to ponder over the characters and their stories.
And that’s a sign I love a book.
If you’re looking for a book that makes you think, feel, and reflect, How High We Go in the Dark is perfect. It’s not just a story about a plague; it’s a story about humanity, resilience, and hope.
Have you read How High We Go in the Dark? Did you love it as much as I did, or did you have a different experience? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Happy reading!
Helena
