Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - How High We Go in the Dark

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How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

17 reviews

pacifickat's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

5.0

This book is exactly the sort of thing I would enjoy: a series of loosely interconnected short stories that serve as vignettes of people’s lives surrounding a central world-altering event. Suffice it to say, I loved this book – its style, its many distinct voices, and the audiobook narration with different voice actors for each section was perfection. I savored each chapter, often listening to only one a day so I could mull it over before dropping into the next character's life.

I like stories that drop you into the middle of a believable world and don’t demand neat endings. I also love the way short fiction has to employ an economy of language and storytelling that packs a lot into a small footprint. What it doesn’t accomplish in terms of intricately detailed plotlines and worldbuilding, it makes up for in immediate emotional connections with characters we didn’t know a moment ago but feel invested in anyway. How High We Go In The Dark is a deeply empathetic book, allowing readers to bear witness to the pain, sacrifice, heartache, character flaws, triumphs, failures, and hopes in others, and feel a shared sense that perhaps we as humans aren’t so alone in this mess of existence. It also hints at how we are all connected, even when we don’t realize it, in this uncanny thing we call existence within the uncanny universe we call home.

Here is a sampling of my thoughts on the various stories Nagamatsu wove together in this book:

1. Mundane moments taken for granted – the value of everyday human connection:

The Used-to-Be-Party

“As you know, I never showed up to anything back then. I was never one to connect. I’ve been that way my entire life. I went to work, kept my head down, and came home. I let old friendships fizzle. I orbited my family and all of you like a distant planet, there and yet nearly impossible to reach. I know I can’t survive alone. Maybe this will get lost in a stack of your unopened mail. Maybe you’ll read it and throw it away and say it’s too late. Or, maybe you’ll peak out your window and wonder about coming over and saying, ‘Hey, me, too. I’m hallow and cracked and imploding.’”

It seems that terrible things can both pull us together and break us apart, sometimes all at once.

2. The distance carved between generations after widespread catastrophe – the struggle to hold space of each other:

Grave Friends

“I don’t think anyone in the neighborhood was good at having important conversations with the younger generation. The elders had come to an understanding while recovering from a global pandemic that erected funerary towers into our skies. Nobody asked us what we wanted. Nobody questioned the new tradition.”

The author does a stellar job of describing the sense of disorienting disconnect that can be felt by a ‘lost generation’ in the wake of some great tragedies. What worked for the old generation may not help the new one to adapt, cope, and move forward. The world has changed, and embracing change is hard all around. Some experience varying levels of success, while others cannot move on at all and seem adrift and without an anchor in life. All the measures of happiness and success of the past have shifted or crumbled away, and the task of redefining such things can be full of grief and loneliness in a world that struggles to hold space for such feelings of doubt and frustration.

3. The intersection between technology and human experience yields mixed and nuanced results:

VR, robotics, advanced medical treatments, cryogenics, euthanasia machines, light speed space travel… Nagamatsu spends a great deal of time weaving a variety of technologies into his storylines. He seems to be pulling at the threads of a discussion around how technology can both help and hinder in the attempt to connect, grieve, find hope, and move on in life after trauma or tragedy. Sometimes they provide merciful comforts or open up new possibilities, and sometimes they inhibit the process of letting go or building connections with the living. Are characters being distracted, or receiving welcome relief from trauma and despair?

Several stories deal with the difficulty of coming to terms with the reality of one’s situation, of coping in the “real world” when so much has been lost and so many standard parameters have changed. Technology seems to waffle between keeping people stuck and giving them a means of connecting and finding hope. Whether an opiate of the masses, a thinly-veiled tool of capitalist opportunism, a merciful coping or exit strategy, a stabilizing force, or a means of survival, it is left up to the reader to consider each individual story as humans interact with the various technologies interwoven into their lives.

4. Sometimes we grieve what could have been as much as what actually was:

This could be a parent losing a child - the person they were and the bright future that will never be. Or, the complicated feelings of an adult child losing parents one by one who didn’t know how to deal with a child who didn't conform to their expectations. It could also include lost dreams and possibilities that will never again be within reach.

Several stories show how strained community or familial relationships, in the end, can mean either everything or simply yield a longing for what could or should have been. And sometimes we’re not entirely sure which one it is in retrospect, as memories and longings blur together.

5. How do we as humans interpret large-scale disaster?

Is there larger meaning to horrible events that yield widespread destruction? Through most of the book, the question of the origin of the strange pandemic, as well as perhaps some shadowy intended purpose it might serve, lingers in the background.

Was the pandemic in this story a grand alien experiment designed to force adaptations or spur humanity into intergalactic connection out of sheer desperation? Or, was it a cosmic accident, a strange stroke of fate, one outcome in a multitude of possible or probably conclusions, the result of careless hubris? Did the pandemic in this story save humanity, or nearly wipe us out – or both? Is widespread suffering the upfront cost of human adaptation – a wake-up call to evolve, a hard line in the sand that the species must either change with changing parameters or die out? In a way, could such misfortune be interpreted on a cosmic scale as a stroke of luck, adding new possible outcomes to a planet otherwise at the end of its habitable lifespan?

Perhaps the truth is relative, or perhaps it’s some weird mixture of all of these options. The book gives few clear answers on this scale, favoring exploring microcosms of individual human experiences of such events at various distinct points in time before, during, and after the worst of the plague. However, the book does hint at a few larger themes, zoomed out to scales of time and space beyond individual lifespans. This is where literary fiction meets speculative fiction, and I’m here for it.

6. So much hope – grieving, letting go, and grasping something new:

A Gallery a Century, A Cry a Millennium

“Dear Yumi, I can’t wait to show you how far we’ve come. We could’ve done better, certainly – your mother, us, the world. For a long time, I felt like I failed you. I wished you could’ve had a full life with all the heartbreak and college drama and shitty jobs we took for granted.
But over the past few centuries, I realized I don’t want that for you anymore. Sure, I want you to understand what the world was, but you’re young enough to make this new world your life – a start without regrets and mistakes, a start that will be better because you know how much we used to hurt. Looking at you through your chamber glass, I can see your mother and grandfather in you, and you’ll be bringing the best of them on your journey – their drive and curiosity and quest to unlock the mysteries, to do what’s right. You’ll cry and be uncertain at first, that’s ok. But there’s a whole universe waiting for you. I’ve helped you this far, little one. We helped each other get here. But now, now is your time. It’s time to lead me into the red grass and tell me the story of how we get to be. It’s time to wake up.”

7. In spite of great horror and pain, stories of connection, hope, longing, self-sacrifice, and deep empathy endure:

A talking pig can break your whole heart.

Content Warnings

plantybooklover's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark 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

3.75

This is a speculative fiction book, mashed up with sci fi, and a touch of horror. A creative and inventive exploration of a fictional pandemic started by Ground water contamination. Each chapter explores themes of the environment, relationships, community, grief, death and dying. Per notes, this was started in 2011- so it must have been wild for the author to experience the Covid 19 Pandemic as it unrolled. The parallels are never far from the mind as one reads. Definitely a thought provoking reading experience.

Content Warnings

papercrw's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Content Warnings

torismazarine's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

arlaubscher's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

lpdx's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Content Warnings

atamano's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad medium-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

4.0

Content Warnings

lottiegasp's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This book depicts a world in the midst of a global pandemic, shifting from in each chapter to the perspective of a completely new set of characters, occasionally with some links to previous characters. Most of the characters are Japanese or Japanese American, like the author. Eventually it takes us further into the future from speculative fiction to full-on science-fiction as new technologies are used to manage, escape or cope with this virus-ridden world.

The book was well-written and captured various emotions and experiences about loss, feeling inadequate, and complicated relationships.

I generally prefer a story with enduring characters over slice of life vignettes, so I was not able to completely engage with the book. However, the ending did end up tying things together in quite an interesting and satisfying way.

Content Warnings

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

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dark 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? No

3.0

Content Warnings

emmonsannae's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Not sure whether to give this book a 2 or a 5—it’s brilliant and I largely did not enjoy it. The main theme (and the one from which the novel gets its name) is the lengths to which humans are able to stretch to form community and help each other, and the ways all living things are interrelated over time and space. The main subject matter is inherently distressing, though, resulting in a beautiful book that is phenomenally executed and which I hope I never have to read again.

Content Warnings

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