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A review by rigbees
Arboreality by Rebecca Campbell
reflective
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? It's complicated
4.0
Aboreality is the well-deserved winner of the Urusla K Le Guin prize for Fiction. It's an expansion of a novella. In some ways, I think I struggled a bit with this book (and why it's a 4 star rating instead of a 5 star) because it feels more like interconnected short stories at times, and a novella at others. Now, I don't think that works need to align perfectly to a genre/form, but this also is connected to how I feel about the book's focus changing. It begins with a professor at a university trying to save portions of the library's collection before it's lost and ends as a multigenerational story about rebuilding after catastrophes.
This is where I feel like there's a less-than-perfect connection from the original work and where the story goes. However, both parts are wonderfully written with an eye toward imagining a future after devastation. It's one of the works that have resonated with me about what my life and world looks like post-COVID pandemic, esp in all the ways that the world and I have changed since 2020.
This is where I feel like there's a less-than-perfect connection from the original work and where the story goes. However, both parts are wonderfully written with an eye toward imagining a future after devastation. It's one of the works that have resonated with me about what my life and world looks like post-COVID pandemic, esp in all the ways that the world and I have changed since 2020.