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st_ender's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Last part sort of let me down but it's still a hit
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Animal death, Medical content, Death, Grief, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Medical trauma and Body horror
Minor: Chronic illness, Confinement, Cancer, Pregnancy, Body shaming, and Suicide
Extensive discussion of euthanasia, and anything that can possibly happen to a person once they die.hyuzen's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
5.0
The quality of this book kind of crept up on me. Once it's over and you understand how things are connected it's a beautiful tapestry of vignettes featuring people living in the midst and aftermath of a devastating virus.
Filled with despair and grief in equal measure to hope and premise, this is a challenging read to start. It deals with very heavy subjects relating to death on a macro and micro scale, across all ages. Grief shatters people, shatters relationships. Sometimes the virus only accelerates issues that were under the surface before. But within all that are people seeking connection.
Across the chapters characters and objects reappear, with new perspectives giving new insight and knowledge that makes you want to go back and re-read earlier chapters to appreciate them in new ways.
As an aside, I think this book is a great example of why StoryGraph's review categories seem limiting. Trying to distill this down to whether it's character or plot focused, or whether the characters were loveable just feels like it's missing the point.
But that's beside the point. This was a remarkable read and if you can handle the darkness you'll be rewarded.
Filled with despair and grief in equal measure to hope and premise, this is a challenging read to start. It deals with very heavy subjects relating to death on a macro and micro scale, across all ages. Grief shatters people, shatters relationships. Sometimes the virus only accelerates issues that were under the surface before. But within all that are people seeking connection.
Across the chapters characters and objects reappear, with new perspectives giving new insight and knowledge that makes you want to go back and re-read earlier chapters to appreciate them in new ways.
As an aside, I think this book is a great example of why StoryGraph's review categories seem limiting. Trying to distill this down to whether it's character or plot focused, or whether the characters were loveable just feels like it's missing the point.
But that's beside the point. This was a remarkable read and if you can handle the darkness you'll be rewarded.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Death of parent, Terminal illness, Death, and Animal death
baileyes's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I can see it being a favorite book for many but it wasn’t really for me
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Suicide, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Death, Grief, Cancer, Animal death, Violence, Child death, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical content, and Abandonment
musicalpopcorn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
A collection of stories about people connected throughout a plague and its aftermath, How High We Go In the Dark is both dark and hopeful about humanity’s ability to persevere.
I enjoyed the first half of this book more than I enjoyed the second half, but overall I liked the whole thing. The kind of dark surrealist stories about euthanasia parks and talking pigs were much more interesting to me than the ones that by contrast seemed like normal family dramas. I found all of the stories compelling however I also found that having every single main character feeling detached from their family got a little old after a while and made them feel like the same character every single time.
This was a unique book with a one of a kind outlook on humanity. How it managed to be both so dark and depressing to ultimately hopeful was very well done.
I enjoyed the first half of this book more than I enjoyed the second half, but overall I liked the whole thing. The kind of dark surrealist stories about euthanasia parks and talking pigs were much more interesting to me than the ones that by contrast seemed like normal family dramas. I found all of the stories compelling however I also found that having every single main character feeling detached from their family got a little old after a while and made them feel like the same character every single time.
This was a unique book with a one of a kind outlook on humanity. How it managed to be both so dark and depressing to ultimately hopeful was very well done.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Cancer, Stalking, Suicide, Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, and Grief
sshabein's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
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? It's complicated
4.5
SO sad in some spots, but what a great book. I loved how all the connections between different sections fell into place,
Weirdly paired well with having just read Same Bed Different Dreams by Ed Park and also The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa, even though they have vastly different plots, but the speculative nature of all three makes me feel like they are a part of the same universe, all reacting to larger forces in the world that we may or may not be fully aware of.
Weirdly paired well with having just read Same Bed Different Dreams by Ed Park and also The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa, even though they have vastly different plots, but the speculative nature of all three makes me feel like they are a part of the same universe, all reacting to larger forces in the world that we may or may not be fully aware of.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Animal death, Child death, and Pandemic/Epidemic
taybug0001's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
One of the most intense books I’ve ever read. The characters’ stories are integrated in ways that make you feel like you need to read the book over and over again as not to miss a single thing. I can’t WAIT to read this again someday.
<SPOILER> Character Map:
1) 30,000 Years Beneath a Eulogy - Clara and her crystal pendant, Clara’s first Earth daughter, and Miki the artist
<SPOILER> Character Map:
1) 30,000 Years Beneath a Eulogy - Clara and her crystal pendant, Clara’s first Earth daughter, and Miki the artist
2) City of Laughter - Skip, Dorrie
3) Through the Garden of Memory - Everyone in this dark room was in a coma I think? We see memories of Clara and her first Earth daughter, and old Skip remembering Dorrie and Fitch (Ch 2), the lawyer Dan Paul (Ch 10), and the baby that was given a second chance at the end was Baba (Ch 13 Grave Friends).
I feel like there are more connections in this chapter but they went over my head.
4) Pig Son - Dorrie’s ex-husband
5) Elegy Hotel - Brian Yamato, his younger brother Dennis, and Dennis’s girlfriend Val who is later a passenger on the Yamato
6) Speak, Fetch, Say I Love You - robo-dog Hollywood that is later part of the shrine to deceased relatives (Ch 13 Grave Friends)
7) Songs of Your Decay - Laird who was the subject of one of Miki’s paintings?
8) Life Around the Event Horizon - Theresa (previously Clara) wears a crystal pendant and is married to Brian and is the one actually responsible for the Yamato
9) A Gallery a Century, a Cry, a Millennium - Miki and Dorrie paint the walls of the ship, Brian’s son and Val are also passengers
10) The Used-to-Be Party - Dan Paul the lawyer (Ch 3), Mabel the tattoo artist (Ch 12)
11) Melancholy Nights in a Tokyo Virtual Cafe - Ms. Takahashi also wears a crystal pendant and is looking for her mother. We later learn that she’s Nuri (Clara’s first daughter before Earth)
12) Before You Melt into the Sea - Mabel the tattoo artist and Dan Paul the lawyer (Ch 3, 10)
13) Grave Friends - Baba has memories of being a baby crawling through people (Ch 3), Hollywood is an old robo-dog from a great-great aunt
14) The Scope of Possibility - We learn Clara, Theresa, and the mother of the Siberian girl are the same person and the one who created Earth. She is searching for her daughter Nuri on Earth. She doesn’t know her daughter is Ms. Takahasi (Ch 11) who is also searching for her! </SPOILER>
Content Warnings
Minor: Chronic illness, Suicide, Child death, Blood, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Terminal illness
em_the_wallflower's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Grief, Terminal illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Death
Moderate: Animal death, Chronic illness, and Medical content
papercrw's review
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
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death
catsy2022's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-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? No
4.5
Rating: B+
A phenomenal audio production, each chapter has a new narrator and is fully cast (no audio effects though). Incredibly weird in some chapters, otherwise very interesting and emotional.
How High We Go In the Dark (HHWGITD) is a science fiction dystopian novel of humanity and the Earth recovering after a pandemic released from melting polar ice. Each chapter focuses on a character integral to the change in the planet, and then subsequent chapters follow people connected to their family. The first chapter about the father of Clara, a scientist who fell to her death in the Antarctic, was so emotional and moving. The final chapter, as well, was strangely dream-like and brings the entire story full circle.
This is essential reading for people looking for sensitive and unusual science fiction, relevant to our lives today.
A phenomenal audio production, each chapter has a new narrator and is fully cast (no audio effects though). Incredibly weird in some chapters, otherwise very interesting and emotional.
How High We Go In the Dark (HHWGITD) is a science fiction dystopian novel of humanity and the Earth recovering after a pandemic released from melting polar ice. Each chapter focuses on a character integral to the change in the planet, and then subsequent chapters follow people connected to their family. The first chapter about the father of Clara, a scientist who fell to her death in the Antarctic, was so emotional and moving. The final chapter, as well, was strangely dream-like and brings the entire story full circle.
This is essential reading for people looking for sensitive and unusual science fiction, relevant to our lives today.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide, Child death, and Terminal illness
Minor: Animal death
alexisgarcia's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
like any short story collection, some were absolutely hits and others were misses. i wish i could’ve given this 5 stars based on some of the stories but others unfortunately brought it down. none of them were bad but some were just boring or lackluster. that was definitely a small amount of the stories though, most were very very good!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Medical trauma, Grief, Alcoholism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Medical content, Alcohol, Body horror, Animal death, Child death, Child abuse, and Chronic illness