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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A memory cannot be drowned
In the wake of a seven year span of torrential and nearly non-stop rains, San Francisco like many other low lying areas has been almost completely submerged. Where there once were streets there are now rivers, and all but the tallest buildings are under water. Most of the residents of the Bay Area have been swept away by the water, fled for what they hoped were safer places or moved to higher ground. One such resident of the city is Bo, whose apartment is located on an upper floor of a tall building. She is an artist, but since the day that her mother disappeared during a storm surge (for which she feels at least partly responsible) she has not been able to summon her artistic muse. She lives alone, lonely, her only social contact when she ventures to her building's roof which has become a market for food and other necessities as well as a needed social outlet for those who feel cut off from the rest of the world. Bo has extended family members who were part of the large migration out of the city; many ended up in Canada and are in regular communication with her. They want her to leave her precarious life in San Francisco and join them where it is, they say, safe. Bo doesn't share the same urgent desire to leave (in fact, she hopes if she waits long enough her mother will reappear), and is only too aware of the dangers that lie on the trail from where she is to where they are. One of her cousins issues an ultimatum; he is coming for her on a boat on a certain date and she must be packed and ready to go. Even as Bo gathers her essential belongings a note is slipped under her door. Mia, a 130 year old resident of the building, is asking for her help a few days a week in return for pay; Bo had acted in a similar role for one of Mia's neighbors, and it was noted. She can't decide what she really wants to do, but ends up staying where she feels someone needs her. Their relationship starts out stilted but over time develops into a deep friendship, despite the vast difference in their ages and life experiences. Mia tells Bo the story of her life, shedding a light on aspects of San Francisco history and its treatment of Asian Americans as the tales unfold. It is Mia and her life that will provide inspiration to Bo's art at last.
Despite its setting in the near future after global warming has wrought havoc with temperatures and sea levels, this is not a taut sci-fi thriller; it is instead a story about people, relationships, loss, hope and the power to go on in the face of disaster. Character trumps action in author Susanna Kwan's debut novel, and in particular the characters of Bo and Mia are beautifully rendered and possess great emotional depth. It is also a paean to San Francisco, drawn in its changed yet still beautiful state. Weaving together themes of memory, grief, relationships, loss and change, the author paints a surprisingly hopeful portrait of people who even amidst devastation can show one another compassion and encourage one another to hold on to hope for better days. Mia's personal stories are connected to real historical events, which brings a sense of realism to the stories as they unfold. This isn't a perfect novel, but it is one in which prose is nearly poetic and encourages reflection on the strength of the human spirit. In a world which has recently gone through a pandemic, the emotional toll on forced isolation will resonate with many. Readers of Jemimah Wei, Téa Obreht and Rachel Khong should definitely take a peek within this novel's covers, as should those who enjoy immersing themselves in a leisurely-paced, well-crafted story. My thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor/Pantheon Books for allowing me access to this poignant tale in exchange for my honest review.
In the wake of a seven year span of torrential and nearly non-stop rains, San Francisco like many other low lying areas has been almost completely submerged. Where there once were streets there are now rivers, and all but the tallest buildings are under water. Most of the residents of the Bay Area have been swept away by the water, fled for what they hoped were safer places or moved to higher ground. One such resident of the city is Bo, whose apartment is located on an upper floor of a tall building. She is an artist, but since the day that her mother disappeared during a storm surge (for which she feels at least partly responsible) she has not been able to summon her artistic muse. She lives alone, lonely, her only social contact when she ventures to her building's roof which has become a market for food and other necessities as well as a needed social outlet for those who feel cut off from the rest of the world. Bo has extended family members who were part of the large migration out of the city; many ended up in Canada and are in regular communication with her. They want her to leave her precarious life in San Francisco and join them where it is, they say, safe. Bo doesn't share the same urgent desire to leave (in fact, she hopes if she waits long enough her mother will reappear), and is only too aware of the dangers that lie on the trail from where she is to where they are. One of her cousins issues an ultimatum; he is coming for her on a boat on a certain date and she must be packed and ready to go. Even as Bo gathers her essential belongings a note is slipped under her door. Mia, a 130 year old resident of the building, is asking for her help a few days a week in return for pay; Bo had acted in a similar role for one of Mia's neighbors, and it was noted. She can't decide what she really wants to do, but ends up staying where she feels someone needs her. Their relationship starts out stilted but over time develops into a deep friendship, despite the vast difference in their ages and life experiences. Mia tells Bo the story of her life, shedding a light on aspects of San Francisco history and its treatment of Asian Americans as the tales unfold. It is Mia and her life that will provide inspiration to Bo's art at last.
Despite its setting in the near future after global warming has wrought havoc with temperatures and sea levels, this is not a taut sci-fi thriller; it is instead a story about people, relationships, loss, hope and the power to go on in the face of disaster. Character trumps action in author Susanna Kwan's debut novel, and in particular the characters of Bo and Mia are beautifully rendered and possess great emotional depth. It is also a paean to San Francisco, drawn in its changed yet still beautiful state. Weaving together themes of memory, grief, relationships, loss and change, the author paints a surprisingly hopeful portrait of people who even amidst devastation can show one another compassion and encourage one another to hold on to hope for better days. Mia's personal stories are connected to real historical events, which brings a sense of realism to the stories as they unfold. This isn't a perfect novel, but it is one in which prose is nearly poetic and encourages reflection on the strength of the human spirit. In a world which has recently gone through a pandemic, the emotional toll on forced isolation will resonate with many. Readers of Jemimah Wei, Téa Obreht and Rachel Khong should definitely take a peek within this novel's covers, as should those who enjoy immersing themselves in a leisurely-paced, well-crafted story. My thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor/Pantheon Books for allowing me access to this poignant tale in exchange for my honest review.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
This was one of my most anticipated books of 2025 so believe me when I say I’m bereft this didn’t land for me.
Based on the hype and blurb, I was expecting a climate dystopia; but instead, I got an achingly slow story about a milquetoast woman doing a giant Art Attack. I’m being glib, of course, but my expectation vs. what I got were worlds apart. The primary focus of this book is Bo’s relationship with art and her building a large art installation.
The world-building was so skint. The story takes place in a flooded San Francisco. We can assume this happened as a result of climate breakdown but it’s not explored. Somehow the folks living in this flooded city are able to get money, have rental agreements, send and receive mail, require passports, participate in capitalism… It reads like this is an isolated pocket and the rest of the world has just kept on truckin’. I was distracted by the fact that the pull of the tides and water flooding the bottom three storeys of the apartment blocks wasn’t a more urgent problem than a throwaway sentence mention at 85%.
I couldn’t connect with Bo. Nothing she did made sense to me and I didn’t understand her motivations or actions. Like, she steadfastly refuses to leave when Jenson brings a boat down, but then, she takes on responsibility for the vulnerable Mia and suddenly decides she has to leave, then flakes out again after her family moved mountains to arrange it. She wasn’t a strong character, she was uncommunicative, and infuriatingly passive — I moved from not caring about her to actively disliking her by the end.
The writing style didn’t work for me either. The pace was super slow with info dumps about history, tangential characters, and backstory that it didn’t flow as a cohesive narrative for this reader. The storytelling was heavy on exposition (told largely in Bo’s thoughts) and I struggled to be invested in Bo and Mia’s family histories because I couldn’t connect with them as characters.
If you’re looking for rich dystopian world-building, climate thrills, or sci-fi elements, this might not be the read for you. If you like slow-paced, kinda claustrophobic stories with art as its focus, you might have a better time than I did.
⚠️ Content advisories for this story: detailed description of dying and death of an elderly person.
I had my request to review this approved by Simon & Schuster UK via NetGalley.
Based on the hype and blurb, I was expecting a climate dystopia; but instead, I got an achingly slow story about a milquetoast woman doing a giant Art Attack. I’m being glib, of course, but my expectation vs. what I got were worlds apart. The primary focus of this book is Bo’s relationship with art and her building a large art installation.
The world-building was so skint. The story takes place in a flooded San Francisco. We can assume this happened as a result of climate breakdown but it’s not explored. Somehow the folks living in this flooded city are able to get money, have rental agreements, send and receive mail, require passports, participate in capitalism… It reads like this is an isolated pocket and the rest of the world has just kept on truckin’. I was distracted by the fact that the pull of the tides and water flooding the bottom three storeys of the apartment blocks wasn’t a more urgent problem than a throwaway sentence mention at 85%.
I couldn’t connect with Bo. Nothing she did made sense to me and I didn’t understand her motivations or actions. Like, she steadfastly refuses to leave when Jenson brings a boat down, but then, she takes on responsibility for the vulnerable Mia and suddenly decides she has to leave, then flakes out again after her family moved mountains to arrange it. She wasn’t a strong character, she was uncommunicative, and infuriatingly passive — I moved from not caring about her to actively disliking her by the end.
The writing style didn’t work for me either. The pace was super slow with info dumps about history, tangential characters, and backstory that it didn’t flow as a cohesive narrative for this reader. The storytelling was heavy on exposition (told largely in Bo’s thoughts) and I struggled to be invested in Bo and Mia’s family histories because I couldn’t connect with them as characters.
If you’re looking for rich dystopian world-building, climate thrills, or sci-fi elements, this might not be the read for you. If you like slow-paced, kinda claustrophobic stories with art as its focus, you might have a better time than I did.
⚠️ Content advisories for this story: detailed description of dying and death of an elderly person.
I had my request to review this approved by Simon & Schuster UK via NetGalley.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
A very layered and thoughtful book about loss, remembrance, caretaking, and creation. Why do we create? For others to remember. We need to remember what we have already lost. The only constant is change. Stagnation is for the dying and the dead. As we live, we change, constantly. And as we constantly change, we move towards dying, the inevitability. The San Francisco I knew while I was growing up is not the San Francisco that exists today, for better or worse. Cities go through cycles of upturn and downturn for longer than the lifespan of just one person. So a city for the lifespan of one generation doesn't look like the same city for a future generation's lifespan. We remember so we don't forget. We talk about what once was to share fragments from parts of our lives that are now gone. "I remember when that was ____" and "There used to be a ____ here. I was sad when they closed it and changed it to ____." We expected the lifespan of that place to be longer than it was. We expected that place to not change. We feel great pride for buildings and businesses that are over 100 years old. It takes effort and energy to keep something going, to keep it in existence. And we may relate to a century in awe because we assume our own lifespan will be shorter than that.
We don't really talk about people in this way because we expect them to change and be different at various stages in their lives. We mostly talk about missing them after they've died--not the 40 year old version, or the 60 year old version, just them. There are many ways to lose people, not just through death. We only feel the losses as strongly as we do because it means that we've loved and cared about someone as deeply as we have. Someone mattered to us, even if we might not have mattered to them in the same way.
Anyway, I will read this book again because I read an advanced copy and I know some changes were made since that version came out. Looking forward to it!
“So much of that was gone now, lost to time and water. Yes: it was important to pay attention to history. How many people were left here to remember the details that constituted the city, all the places they’d taken for granted?” pg. 49
“The wheelchair was well made, unlike other models Bo had seen, and it collapsed easily, requiring little effort. She parked it against the wall. Something about it—its bulky shape, its unwanted presence—hit her then; her own legs faltered. It wasn’t the chair itself, or the harbinger of decline—Bo had seen many clients through loss of mobility—but, rather, the fact that Mia would get to the point where she’d need it at all. However improper to admit, it felt unfair: her own mother would never grow old enough to need assistive devices. Bo would never have the responsibility of caring for her through her final months.” pg. 64
“Who was she to judge the definition or circumstances of a family? You embedded into some matrix or other and you made do, or better, or worse.” pg. 69
“‘She told you all that?’ Beverly said when she called with new year greetings.
‘Why wouldn’t she?’
Bo had recounted to Beverly only a fraction of what Mia had told her. Each new detail Mia had shared had heightened her fear that this rich trove of experience would soon be lost, that either Mia’s family had taken for granted her constancy or that they didn’t care.
‘I guess it makes sense she’d be more open with someone who isn’t family,’ Beverly admitted. ‘I mean, does your mother talk to you about that kind of thing?’
Bo felt her face redden. Truthfully, as much as she missed her mother, even if she’d still been around, those types of conversations hadn’t been typical between them, either. For all the years they’d lived together in the same apartment, the same city, they’d operated in discrete spheres, whether school or friendships or dreams. And to a daughter, a mother was an entity too vast to know. But Bo could have been more curious. She’s assumed depths within her mother, of course, but had never asked—had never thought to ask—hadn’t asked enough—to be invited in.” pg. 111-112
“Monuments were meant to weather time, but time only ever brought change. Statuary could be additive—vandalized or enhanced, depending on your perspective—or chiseled away by wind and rain. The earth could split open and swallow a bust. Anything built could be gone tomorrow.” pg. 155
“In the past she’d never felt the need to check the live feed of Mia’s stats, but now this ‘light surveillance’ lent her a tenuous freedom. As long as she could see Mia’s steady heart rate and oxygen levels, she could keep working.” pg. 213
We don't really talk about people in this way because we expect them to change and be different at various stages in their lives. We mostly talk about missing them after they've died--not the 40 year old version, or the 60 year old version, just them. There are many ways to lose people, not just through death. We only feel the losses as strongly as we do because it means that we've loved and cared about someone as deeply as we have. Someone mattered to us, even if we might not have mattered to them in the same way.
Anyway, I will read this book again because I read an advanced copy and I know some changes were made since that version came out. Looking forward to it!
“So much of that was gone now, lost to time and water. Yes: it was important to pay attention to history. How many people were left here to remember the details that constituted the city, all the places they’d taken for granted?” pg. 49
“The wheelchair was well made, unlike other models Bo had seen, and it collapsed easily, requiring little effort. She parked it against the wall. Something about it—its bulky shape, its unwanted presence—hit her then; her own legs faltered. It wasn’t the chair itself, or the harbinger of decline—Bo had seen many clients through loss of mobility—but, rather, the fact that Mia would get to the point where she’d need it at all. However improper to admit, it felt unfair: her own mother would never grow old enough to need assistive devices. Bo would never have the responsibility of caring for her through her final months.” pg. 64
“Who was she to judge the definition or circumstances of a family? You embedded into some matrix or other and you made do, or better, or worse.” pg. 69
“‘She told you all that?’ Beverly said when she called with new year greetings.
‘Why wouldn’t she?’
Bo had recounted to Beverly only a fraction of what Mia had told her. Each new detail Mia had shared had heightened her fear that this rich trove of experience would soon be lost, that either Mia’s family had taken for granted her constancy or that they didn’t care.
‘I guess it makes sense she’d be more open with someone who isn’t family,’ Beverly admitted. ‘I mean, does your mother talk to you about that kind of thing?’
Bo felt her face redden. Truthfully, as much as she missed her mother, even if she’d still been around, those types of conversations hadn’t been typical between them, either. For all the years they’d lived together in the same apartment, the same city, they’d operated in discrete spheres, whether school or friendships or dreams. And to a daughter, a mother was an entity too vast to know. But Bo could have been more curious. She’s assumed depths within her mother, of course, but had never asked—had never thought to ask—hadn’t asked enough—to be invited in.” pg. 111-112
“Monuments were meant to weather time, but time only ever brought change. Statuary could be additive—vandalized or enhanced, depending on your perspective—or chiseled away by wind and rain. The earth could split open and swallow a bust. Anything built could be gone tomorrow.” pg. 155
“In the past she’d never felt the need to check the live feed of Mia’s stats, but now this ‘light surveillance’ lent her a tenuous freedom. As long as she could see Mia’s steady heart rate and oxygen levels, she could keep working.” pg. 213
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
i can't believe how much i enjoyed this story and for it being a debut novel is INSANE.
a domestic/dystopian fiction about the city of San Francisco after a natural disaster.
Northern California is drowning because of the never-ending rain. this climate changed focuses a story about Bo, an artist in her 30's + a part time care-person and her 130-year-old neighbor Mia. they're two of the last people living in a flooded city of the future, but neither of them are ready to leave. Bo stayed in the city even though her cousin and uncle have tried repeatedly to rescue her and bring her to safety in Vancouver, she still have that glimpse of hope that her mother, who disappeared in the flood, will re-appear. butas she's ready to sail north, she gets a note from Mia under her door offering her a caregiver job so she decided to stay.
Mia can be rough but her and Bo created a connection deeper than any Bo has had with a client. Mia would share stories about her life and that will inspire Bo to make art again that she has abandones after losing her mom. they're both people who isolated themselves from the world because of life circumstances.
i find the story so so beautiful because these two found out each other because need each other to face their demons. they helped each other find joy while living in a place that is becoming more inhospitable day by day. it made me cry because how depression, loneliness and grief was describe is really relatable and you cannot help but be inspired and question your life choices now and how it would impact you in the future.
this is a perfect book for anyone who loves a story about human connection. pick this up if you need a heartfelt read. it comes out May 2025 so make sure you add it on your tbr!
thank you PANTHEON BOOKS.
a domestic/dystopian fiction about the city of San Francisco after a natural disaster.
Northern California is drowning because of the never-ending rain. this climate changed focuses a story about Bo, an artist in her 30's + a part time care-person and her 130-year-old neighbor Mia. they're two of the last people living in a flooded city of the future, but neither of them are ready to leave. Bo stayed in the city even though her cousin and uncle have tried repeatedly to rescue her and bring her to safety in Vancouver, she still have that glimpse of hope that her mother, who disappeared in the flood, will re-appear. butas she's ready to sail north, she gets a note from Mia under her door offering her a caregiver job so she decided to stay.
Mia can be rough but her and Bo created a connection deeper than any Bo has had with a client. Mia would share stories about her life and that will inspire Bo to make art again that she has abandones after losing her mom. they're both people who isolated themselves from the world because of life circumstances.
i find the story so so beautiful because these two found out each other because need each other to face their demons. they helped each other find joy while living in a place that is becoming more inhospitable day by day. it made me cry because how depression, loneliness and grief was describe is really relatable and you cannot help but be inspired and question your life choices now and how it would impact you in the future.
this is a perfect book for anyone who loves a story about human connection. pick this up if you need a heartfelt read. it comes out May 2025 so make sure you add it on your tbr!
thank you PANTHEON BOOKS.
In the near future, San Francisco is flooded. Bo lost her mother to the flash flood that brought the water that never receded. She refuses to give up hope that her mother is gone for good - even though it’s been over two years since her disappearance. Bo has adapted to this new way of life, and one day a note is slipped under her door from an elderly lady that lives in her building. Mia is 130 years old, her family has moved away, and she is nearing her death.
What began as a professional relationship quickly grew into a true friendship where Bo needed Mia just as much as Mia needed Bo. By far and away, this friendship is the heart of the book. Through their conversations, we explore themes of grief, resilience, and love. We learn a lot about the history of Chinese Americans and their place in history in the Bay Area of California. We also have a lot of reflection on legacy and how we make our mark on the world. How do we leave a piece of us in this world when it comes time for us to leave? Lastly, we learn the value of art and how artistic expression helps us create some of that legacy so that our mark on this world can be felt and remembered.
Overall, this is truly a beautiful debut. There is a whole bunch of depth and nuance; plenty of opportunities to mediate on the meanings of life, family, and friendship. I appreciated most of the book, but did feel a bit of a pacing issue in the middle. There were a few instances where I felt like Kwan was telling me and not showing me. I think I can appreciate all she was trying to attempt and I’m glad I read the book, but it was very slow-paced and a little heavy handed at times
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
slow-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
Not what I was expecting from a cli-fi novel, but it was beautiful
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy
Awake in the Floating City by Susanna Kwan is a third person-POV literary climate fiction exploring the past and the near future. Bo is an artist who hasn’t been able to continue her art since her mother was swept away during a flood. When Mia, an elderly woman who lives in the same building, slips a note under Bo’s door, the two start a friendship as Bo becomes her caretaker. Through Mia, Bo starts to understand more about the past and her mother.
One of the things I really liked was how Bo’s POV reads like an artist’s POV. She mentions colors and shapes and we get deep in her head as she works on a mixed media project. Even when she’s blocked and deep in her grief, her art is still a part of who she is. This goes even further when she reflects on the guilt she feels for all the money her parents spent on her art lessons when everyone else was focusing on STEM as the droughts, floods, and famines became more common. Bo knows art is important, but the rest of the world isn’t as focused on it as everything shifts and changes regularly.
The climate fiction aspects felt quite realistic to me. Librarians, for instance, have had their jobs massively expanded, including documenting the spreads of epidemics and other medical responsibilities that should be held by nurses or the CDC. I fully believe that libraries, one of the most important public resources that we have in society, would become a hub for basically everything if access to other resources became scarce. There’s also cricket flour for baking and the diaspora returning to China as the US continues to go downhill.
Chapters focused more on Mia go into detail about China's more recent history, such as the Japanese occupation and arranged marriages. Mia herself was arranged at fourteen to marry a Chinese-American man who had no interest in being her husband. It was after the war when she found him again and demanded he take her back to America, giving a new life for her and their future child when Mia felt there was nothing left for her back home. Mia is a very strong character who is fiercely independent, making a good friend for the lost and grieving Bo.
I would recommend this to fans of climate fiction looking for a more literary work and readers who love books that explore both the past and the near future
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
This wasn’t really what I was expecting. Based on the description, I was expecting a cli-fi story. It turned out to be a literary fiction novel about a middle aged woman finding her way and her relationship (Bo) with a dying woman (Mia.) In this speculative future, some people are living way past the century mark. Mia is 130. At around 40, perhaps Bo is the equivalent of a twenty-something in this world,
Bo has been struggling to stay or flee her California City which is on the brink of being unlivable. When we meet her, she’s a non-practicing artist. She takes a gig taking care of Mia, an elderly Chinese-American woman with no local family, Mia creeps closer to death as the book progresses, and Bo connects more with her life and art. Mia provides Bo with interesting stories about her long life and family history. The cli-fi element of this novel doesn’t really add to the story and it could have been solely about the relationship between the two women.
The book was well written and Kwan used language to beautifully tell this story, even if it wasn’t the story I was really looking for. If you’re a fan of modern art and the process, you might find this one especially interesting.
Thanks to both Netgalley (ecopy) and Bookbrowse (hardcover) for the free advanced copy of this book.
Bo has been struggling to stay or flee her California City which is on the brink of being unlivable. When we meet her, she’s a non-practicing artist. She takes a gig taking care of Mia, an elderly Chinese-American woman with no local family, Mia creeps closer to death as the book progresses, and Bo connects more with her life and art. Mia provides Bo with interesting stories about her long life and family history. The cli-fi element of this novel doesn’t really add to the story and it could have been solely about the relationship between the two women.
The book was well written and Kwan used language to beautifully tell this story, even if it wasn’t the story I was really looking for. If you’re a fan of modern art and the process, you might find this one especially interesting.
Thanks to both Netgalley (ecopy) and Bookbrowse (hardcover) for the free advanced copy of this book.