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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
Great novel on the advancing effects of climate change in the coming decades seen through the eyes of one family. No strong plot, just a focus on the characters and their relationships over the years. I thought this was a novel about mammoths but by about halfway through I was getting suspicious that that must have been some other novel (Ghost Species, it turns out)! So this was a pretty blind read.
challenging
dark
reflective
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Not really dystopian, not really post-apocalyptic, because the apocalypse, most realistically, extends over a lifetime and occurs as a series of bangs and a long, drawn-out whimper. Yet, despite that, the book was strangely hopeful. A very internal examination of how people respond to crisis, set within a very realistic and non-melodramatic vision of how the Anthropocene may go.
Re-read: I was compelled to read this again in late 2020, after a year of pandemic and after a re-read of David Mitchell's Bone Clocks. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I'm finding myself thinking more and more about how humanity can and does respond to crises, either slow burns like climate change or wildfires like, well, wildfires, and pandemics.
Re-read: I was compelled to read this again in late 2020, after a year of pandemic and after a re-read of David Mitchell's Bone Clocks. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I'm finding myself thinking more and more about how humanity can and does respond to crises, either slow burns like climate change or wildfires like, well, wildfires, and pandemics.
I really liked this book. It has a kind of dreamy detached voice that appeals to me. I think this book is also a great example of how very specific situations and details can make something, like the slow downfall of modern civilization, feel universal.
The one major problem was in the last fourish chapters when I couldn’t figure out who the point of view characters were. Each character is related in some way to characters in previous chapters with a few characters having more than one chapter from their point of view. It pulled me completely out of the story and made me flip back trying to figure out how they tied in and what I had missed.
The one major problem was in the last fourish chapters when I couldn’t figure out who the point of view characters were. Each character is related in some way to characters in previous chapters with a few characters having more than one chapter from their point of view. It pulled me completely out of the story and made me flip back trying to figure out how they tied in and what I had missed.
It ended up being a fast and very engaging read. My mind is vivid with the prophetically dramatic images of a stormy, muggy apocalypse. I was happily surprised to have so much character development along the way. Great read.
hopeful
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book follows a family down roughly 4 generations, Adam and Ellie as they have their first child, Summer a teenager at house parties, Noah obsessed with the stars. The story skips forwards a decade at a time - meaning the family relationships are fraught with hidden tension that the reader has not witnessed. Set against a changing climate, the characters face flood, pandemic, fire and species extinction but not always in a direct or in your face way.
Reading this book in 2023 post covid was slightly terrifying in that whole "we clearly have known that pandemics are going to be a potential side effects of a human changed climate" and yet it still took the world by surprise! Which honestly just encapsulates the whole book, we know what the effects of climate change will be (they are already happening) and yet every time we are surprised by the number of deaths, or that yet another species has gone extinct.
One of the things this book does excellently is the small ways climate change impacts on every day life and the way it fades into 'background noise', rolling brown outs meaning you have to replace all the food in your fridge periodically, snippets of the news from other parts of the world, the loss of coffee as a crop.
This book talks about survival through change (flood, fire, pandemic) and reads as very depressing the whole way through (not recommended if you already have climate anxiety) but ends on a weirdly forced feeling of hope (people are still here and will persist) that isn't present in any of the other parts of the book.
I think this book may in an accessible way tell people what science cannot, it is already too late. We have already changed the Earth's climate irrevocably, all that is left to to change out behaviour as much as we can (mostly looking at you large corporations) and ride out the impacts.
Reading this book in 2023 post covid was slightly terrifying in that whole "we clearly have known that pandemics are going to be a potential side effects of a human changed climate" and yet it still took the world by surprise! Which honestly just encapsulates the whole book, we know what the effects of climate change will be (they are already happening) and yet every time we are surprised by the number of deaths, or that yet another species has gone extinct.
One of the things this book does excellently is the small ways climate change impacts on every day life and the way it fades into 'background noise', rolling brown outs meaning you have to replace all the food in your fridge periodically, snippets of the news from other parts of the world, the loss of coffee as a crop.
This book talks about survival through change (flood, fire, pandemic) and reads as very depressing the whole way through (not recommended if you already have climate anxiety) but ends on a weirdly forced feeling of hope (people are still here and will persist) that isn't present in any of the other parts of the book.
I think this book may in an accessible way tell people what science cannot, it is already too late. We have already changed the Earth's climate irrevocably, all that is left to to change out behaviour as much as we can (mostly looking at you large corporations) and ride out the impacts.
challenging
reflective
sad
fast-paced
A collection of stories of relationships between ourselves and the climate as it continues to collapse. Bradley paints a realistic portrait of how the background hum of climate change will get louder and begin to affect and frame our lives. A recommended read but not if you are already suffering from climate anxiety.
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Well written, often poetic. Format was nice (family saga vignettes). But so many loose unexplained/unexplored threads, a few annoying metaphors (the story about a flood introduced a character named Noah? Really? Why?), and I’m not sure I believe the way autism was portrayed. I like the themes of survival, beauty + horror of climate change, what it means to be a parent… The tensions in relationships were very believable, and it was a gripping read.