Scan barcode
ladyhunbun's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
A really interesting view of individual stories and dynamic characters. I do wish we could have spent more time with some of the characters but liked that we got almost an overhead fire of the world in the aftermath of a pandemic so like our own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Grief, Child death, Death of parent, Chronic illness, and Death
darkwood's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Suicide
heytaytay12's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.25
Dark, disturbing, and deeply hopeful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, Grief, Medical trauma, Blood, Medical content, Suicide, Death, Child death, and Death of parent
baileyes's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I can see it being a favorite book for many but it wasn’t really for me
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Suicide, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Death, Grief, Cancer, Animal death, Violence, Child death, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical content, and Abandonment
musicalpopcorn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
A collection of stories about people connected throughout a plague and its aftermath, How High We Go In the Dark is both dark and hopeful about humanity’s ability to persevere.
I enjoyed the first half of this book more than I enjoyed the second half, but overall I liked the whole thing. The kind of dark surrealist stories about euthanasia parks and talking pigs were much more interesting to me than the ones that by contrast seemed like normal family dramas. I found all of the stories compelling however I also found that having every single main character feeling detached from their family got a little old after a while and made them feel like the same character every single time.
This was a unique book with a one of a kind outlook on humanity. How it managed to be both so dark and depressing to ultimately hopeful was very well done.
I enjoyed the first half of this book more than I enjoyed the second half, but overall I liked the whole thing. The kind of dark surrealist stories about euthanasia parks and talking pigs were much more interesting to me than the ones that by contrast seemed like normal family dramas. I found all of the stories compelling however I also found that having every single main character feeling detached from their family got a little old after a while and made them feel like the same character every single time.
This was a unique book with a one of a kind outlook on humanity. How it managed to be both so dark and depressing to ultimately hopeful was very well done.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Cancer, Stalking, Suicide, Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, and Grief
foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This novel is a collection of short vignettes, following interconnected characters through their experiences with dying and death, of the people and animals around them and of the world.
I’ve been sitting on this review for awhile because I’ve needed to collect myself and my thoughts after this depressing read. Almost grotesque in its depictions of grief, I found myself crying in horror at almost every chapter. This book reminded me a lot of Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, but even more bleak and realistic.
Overall, I think this book adds something interesting to the sci-fi genre in its speculations about death industries, and to be able to give impactful characterizations in just one chapter each is impressive. I’d recommend this book to those who like well-written books that will make you feel emotionally intense, and who find medical/sci-fi/space to be intriguing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Vomit, Death, Death of parent, Child death, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, Grief, and Classism
sgrunwald96's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
The first 5 star book I’ve read that I’m not sure I’ll read again. Brutally sad and deeply relatable in our late-capitalism, post-pandemic world. It seems so close to where we could have gone if things had gotten worse. I liked the story linkages and the unique storylines. It felt like a good reminder of how many first-person perspectives there are, even when tragedy blurs people into statistics.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Child death, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Cancer, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical content
jalexand's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death, Child death, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Chronic illness
jesssicawho's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This was a beautiful collection of intertwined stories that don’t quite come together until the last chapter. Heavy themes of grief, loss, loneliness, hope, family, and love set against the backdrop of a suffering planet.
Some stories spoke to me more than others. Some parts were ridiculous (like thetheme park to euthanize dying children) . But the book make me feel something, and I truly enjoyed the more sci-fi spacey chapters.
I need to take away half a star because the Easter eggs that connect the story/characters are a little too subtle and too easily missed. Because we only witness a small moment in each character’s life, it was hard to remember the nuances about each one in the end. I could reread this book and pick up on the connections a second time, but with so many books to read I don’t think this is worth a second pass for that reason alone.
Really creative and moving, I’m glad I read this.
Some stories spoke to me more than others. Some parts were ridiculous (like the
I need to take away half a star because the Easter eggs that connect the story/characters are a little too subtle and too easily missed. Because we only witness a small moment in each character’s life, it was hard to remember the nuances about each one in the end. I could reread this book and pick up on the connections a second time, but with so many books to read I don’t think this is worth a second pass for that reason alone.
Really creative and moving, I’m glad I read this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child death, Grief, Terminal illness, and Death of parent
bluejayreads's review against another edition
4.25
A very strange book. It's basically a series of short stories combined into one volume, but the characters are all connected in some ways and taken together they tell the story of how life on Earth was decimated by a plague and climate change and what people did afterwards. The final connections and the overarching narrative of the story doesn't become clear until the last chapter/story, which pulls everything together. It's also an exercise in memory, because the whole thing fits together like an intricate puzzle and if you aren't able to remember details you're going to miss a lot of the connections. It's an emotionally heavy story of an uncomfortably possible apocalypse and it made me tear up quite a few times, but also didn't quite have the emotional impact I think it could have had because I was so busy trying to keep track of how all the different stories fit together and place them in the timeline and the overarching narrative. However, I have a notably terrible memory, so that may be less of a problem for other people. It's unusual and clever, an interesting story told in a unique way, and worth the read if you like apocalypses with a sci-fi edge or if you just want a book unlike anything you've read before.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Suicide