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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think if this book had kept up the momentum built at the start better, or perhaps if I’d read it at a different time, it would garner a higher rating. I really enjoyed the beginning, and was pulled in by the premise of a near future dystopia which was less action packed and more reflective and focused on relationships. Honestly, I think I’m just missing Emily St John Mandell.
However, this story did begin to drag and I couldn’t pull it back. I didn’t enjoy the writer’s style in the sense that every minute detail of an interaction had to be described - it made reading tedious.
Similarly, I found myself getting increasingly frustrated with the main character. The author obviously strove to create a reflective and introspective character but couldn’t follow through to make this seem real or genuinely part of a fully formed person. She didn’t seem to know her intentions for any action or decision she made, and was annoyingly indecisive in a way which just didn’t feel… real? In fact her whole crafting didn’t feel real. There were no quirks to her, and she felt two dimensional, like a plot device if that makes sense to say.
Also, as I got irritated with this book other things just kept coming up for me that I didn’t like: descriptions of someone making a painting, if literal, are completely boring; why did Bo take so long with her art piece for Mia, to the point that Mia had to basically say ‘is it ready yet, I’m kinda waiting to die’; really didn’t like the whole Bo misses Mia’s party because she overslept scene - cruel; also what is going on with this apocalyptic world, it seemed so contrived and although I get this was a story about the people not the world, there needs to be some global political situation put in there, otherwise I’m not gonna find this near figure disaster climate believable.
Giving three stars because the writing wasn’t bad, I enjoyed learning about Chinese history and I liked the start. It’s not terrible, I just grew rage-full.
Ok, fin.
However, this story did begin to drag and I couldn’t pull it back. I didn’t enjoy the writer’s style in the sense that every minute detail of an interaction had to be described - it made reading tedious.
Similarly, I found myself getting increasingly frustrated with the main character. The author obviously strove to create a reflective and introspective character but couldn’t follow through to make this seem real or genuinely part of a fully formed person. She didn’t seem to know her intentions for any action or decision she made, and was annoyingly indecisive in a way which just didn’t feel… real? In fact her whole crafting didn’t feel real. There were no quirks to her, and she felt two dimensional, like a plot device if that makes sense to say.
Also, as I got irritated with this book other things just kept coming up for me that I didn’t like: descriptions of someone making a painting, if literal, are completely boring; why did Bo take so long with her art piece for Mia, to the point that Mia had to basically say ‘is it ready yet, I’m kinda waiting to die’; really didn’t like the whole Bo misses Mia’s party because she overslept scene - cruel; also what is going on with this apocalyptic world, it seemed so contrived and although I get this was a story about the people not the world, there needs to be some global political situation put in there, otherwise I’m not gonna find this near figure disaster climate believable.
Giving three stars because the writing wasn’t bad, I enjoyed learning about Chinese history and I liked the start. It’s not terrible, I just grew rage-full.
Ok, fin.
What is it like to age and die in a flooded, isolated, falling apart world? Too sad for me
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Hang on, I’m all in my feels right now 😭
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
slow-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
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
I found this book very well-written and very profound. Set in the not-so-distant future (it seems like 2050s or 2060s), this book takes place in San Francisco, where it's been raining and flooding for seven years and the majority of people have left the city. Bo is an artist whose mother died two years ago in a big flood: ever since, Bo has felt stuck and unable to leave, even though the rest of her family has already moved away. Then she gets asked to be a caretaker for Mia, her 130-year-old neighbor, and everything changes.
This book reminded me a lot of All the Water in the World, which I read a few months ago and loved. But that was more of an adventure story, while this book is more about how you build a life when the world is falling apart. Bo is completely adrift, lost without her family and her art but also anchored in a way she can't escape. Mia is alone, as well, and she is dying, slowly but surely. Their relationship moves from unease to tenderness to contempt to unease to something like friendship and all the way back, and it's a really moving portrayal of caretaking and finding a purpose when everything is just so messed up. The difficulties of caretaking for both sides weren't sugarcoated, and I loved the complexities of Bo and Mia's different family dynamics and relationship with the past and present.
This book also really explores Bo and Mia's Chinese-American identities and details Mia's life growing up in rural China and living under Japanese occupation, and then moving to San Francisco with a husband she barely knew and trying to make it work. I really enjoyed that aspect of the book - it was interesting to see what Bo learned that she never knew, and it provided lots of space for Bo and Mia to understand each other. I also just feel like I learned a lot, especially as the book was ending.
Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review!
This book reminded me a lot of All the Water in the World, which I read a few months ago and loved. But that was more of an adventure story, while this book is more about how you build a life when the world is falling apart. Bo is completely adrift, lost without her family and her art but also anchored in a way she can't escape. Mia is alone, as well, and she is dying, slowly but surely. Their relationship moves from unease to tenderness to contempt to unease to something like friendship and all the way back, and it's a really moving portrayal of caretaking and finding a purpose when everything is just so messed up. The difficulties of caretaking for both sides weren't sugarcoated, and I loved the complexities of Bo and Mia's different family dynamics and relationship with the past and present.
This book also really explores Bo and Mia's Chinese-American identities and details Mia's life growing up in rural China and living under Japanese occupation, and then moving to San Francisco with a husband she barely knew and trying to make it work. I really enjoyed that aspect of the book - it was interesting to see what Bo learned that she never knew, and it provided lots of space for Bo and Mia to understand each other. I also just feel like I learned a lot, especially as the book was ending.
Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Grief, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Sexual assault, War
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad