Scan barcode
adhesivedolphin's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I loved this book. It's a series of short stories spanning out from a contagion that becomes a global pandemic. The characters run into earlier characters, which is a really neat way of showing how they change over time and how different perspectives of a situation/character. This is a story about loss. There's a lot of triggers around that, and how we deal with loss when it becomes an everyday thing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Gore, Blood, and Abandonment
lostfoxtrail's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Fantastic book, reads more like an interlinked short-story collection, which makes sense based on what the author has put out before. Heartwarming, emotional and funny all at the same time. Very topical when it first came out and still today, though perhaps more reflectively. All the characters were great and I loved how many of them were linked through their experiences by the end. Every story was strong and stood on its own. It got to the point that every time I finished a story I would say, “okay, that was my favourite”, only to find the next one was. Not that they got better and better, but they were just all equally excellent. Would 10/10 recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Pandemic/Epidemic
ajenkies4's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
The ending of this book gave me CHILLS. It's a meditation on grief and death and community and family and love and the consequences of what we're doing to our planet. I will be thinking about this book for a long, long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Grief, and Pandemic/Epidemic
hugsnotdrogs's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic
lizthescaredycat's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Amazing. A collection of beautifully written and crushing interconnected short stories about a plague and a dying earth. I highly recommend reading this, though it won't be for the faint of heart - one must be ready for emotions.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Child death
The death isn't graphic, but it is intense and, as someone who is not prone to crying at books, felt a lot of emotion. Especially during the first few stories - but it does get less and less as the book goes onehmannky's review against another edition
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A really moving story about the ways that we individually and collectively process grief, the ways humans are connected, however, tangentially to each other, and how society slowly moves to accommodate trauma. It's beautifully written, with just some of the saddest and lovely writing I've ever read. You follow a series of tangentially connected characters over the course of 100 years or so (and then some, if you include the epilogue) as they deal with the effects and then the aftermath of an incredibly lethal plague that has a particular impact on children all while they also deal with a world that is slowly rocked by climate change.
I did not love the ending reveal in the last story, but everything else is so beautiful and moving that it didn't impact my enjoyment of the book as a whole too much.
I did not love the ending reveal in the last story, but everything else is so beautiful and moving that it didn't impact my enjoyment of the book as a whole too much.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, and Death of parent
appled303's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Suicide, and Terminal illness
julesfrigault's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Medical content, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic
teaselkie's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Pandemic/Epidemic
funktious's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I don’t think any book has ever made me cry as often as this one did. A stunningly beautiful meditation on grief and regret, the human connection we all yearn for and that which we're not even aware of. A very different pandemic to the one we’ve just been through and an exploration of what might happen afterwards. A lot of loss and sadness but also hope.
It’s not perfect; a few too many of the chapters were narrated by the same sort of voice (aimless young men) and I have some difficulties with the world building (I would expect far more violence, riots and food shortages). Also the last chapter wraps things up in a way that might be too neat, but I’m willing to forgive all of it because this was laser targeted at my heart.
I can see why it was a finalist for the Ursula K Le Guin prize.
(If you’re a parent, be careful of chapter two. I was sobbing and I don’t even have kids!)
It’s not perfect; a few too many of the chapters were narrated by the same sort of voice (aimless young men) and I have some difficulties with the world building (I would expect far more violence, riots and food shortages). Also the last chapter wraps things up in a way that might be too neat, but I’m willing to forgive all of it because this was laser targeted at my heart.
I can see why it was a finalist for the Ursula K Le Guin prize.
(If you’re a parent, be careful of chapter two. I was sobbing and I don’t even have kids!)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death and Pandemic/Epidemic