Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

69 reviews

elzbethmrgn's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Child death, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, and Grief

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Animal death

amyjoy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

4.0

This was a lovely, horrible book. It's so beautifully written and so hard to read. Each section is told by a different narrator, and I really enjoyed all the different perspectives on the plague, and I loved to see the way Nagamatsu weaved together all stories, but there were some really hard sections to read, especially early on. I really was not sure if this was the right book for me to be reading right now, in the middle of a pandemic with two small children. I'm glad I stuck it out, and I loved how ultimately hopeful it was. 

I do have to ask, though, where were all the queer people?? There are fourteen different narrators, and not a single one of them was queer, and I think that's a really questionable choice for Nagamatsu to have made. I'm not dropping my rating for this, but I am really disappointed by it, and it will be a caveat when I recommend this book to people. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Death of parent and Animal death

tifcochran's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Suicide, Child death, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Death

shapesandcolours's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Alcohol, Medical content, and Suicide

Minor: Cancer

danikajoan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

Wow wow reading this directly after Sea of Tranquility made for a very interesting pandemic/sci-fi double-feature 😬 I really liked this one, especially once the stories began to weave together. It is MUCH more sad than I was expecting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Chronic illness, Animal death, Child death, Medical trauma, Grief, Body horror, Death, Medical content, and Death of parent

colie923's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Child death, Medical trauma, Medical content, Grief, Alcohol, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Infidelity, Xenophobia, Racism, and Medical trauma

antimony's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

this was good! it wasn't like the most blow-you-away amazing book ever (some of the stories were kinda boring) but i enjoyed it!! the writing was good. my favorite story was by far city of laughter, and I really enjoyed a gallery a century, a cry a millenuim as well. the scope of possibility was interesting but kinda like. why are there gods now. what's that about.

i also really liked when the stories were intertwined, like the main character of one was a side character in another and the people knew each other...i really liked that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Terminal illness, and Death

Moderate: Animal death

ivana's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

Beautifully written. A lot sadder than I expected, but definitely could have been more queer. As with all books that contain short stories, some were a  bit of a miss and some were really good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Medical content, Terminal illness, Blood, Child death, Chronic illness, Vomit, Cancer, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug use, and Grief

unsuccessfulbookclub's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-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

This #PlagueNovelPals book was surprisingly uplifting and in many ways a balm for our current world. It is super dark and sad - it is about a plague brought on by climate change - but it is also about humanity’s ability to persevere, to invent and to eventually overcome. It’s an epic story built through small human interactions. My friend Meg described it as a combination of Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy and Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves and I wholeheartedly agree with that assessment. I would also sprinkle a little bit of Chuck Palahniuk’s macabre zaniness and unlikeable narrators to the mix.

I enjoyed the format for this book - it’s a series of short narratives that are loosely connected rather than a straight through plot. In that way it is quiet and helps you experience the world Nagamatsu built in a very relatable way, through each character’s eyes. The stories end up being more connected than they initially seem but the end and that speaks to a beautiful restraint from Nagamatsu. The writing is impeccable. Each of the characters is interesting and understandable, and you visit many locations and situations on Earth and throughout the universe. I liked that this book was emotionally impactful and dealt heavily with grief and death but it wasn’t gory in the way some books like this are. It’s an emotional sledgehammer but it also puts you back together when it’s done.

👍🏻Recommended! Plague novel/science fiction fans will love this book. Please mind the CW, it is heavy content but in the end it is very hopeful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Death, Drug use, Medical content, Xenophobia, Body horror, Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

readwithserena's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

This book is so beautifully written. Each chapter is a snapshot of a story that evokes so much emotion and reflection. It reminds me of the aspects I loved of The Overstory- stories that overlap slightly, but could also stand alone.
I think this book is particularly difficult because it sits so closely to our current reality. Like Black Mirror, sometimes the most terrifying stories are the ones that we can truly imagine happening. 
I want to send this to my Environmental literature professors and my philosophy professors so that I can discuss it with them. I also want all my friends and coworkers to read this and discuss it with me too. Honestly, everyone should read this book and then have a worldwide discussion to process.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Animal death, Death of parent, Medical content, and Suicide

Minor: Abandonment, Classism, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Religious bigotry