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erinlcrane 's review for:
Hummingbird Salamander
by Jeff VanderMeer
Overall, I enjoyed this read. I really like VanderMeer’s writing, the way he has of phrasing a thought or feeling. That goes a long way for me, so I rated this highly in large part because of that.
I think the plot and pacing struggled. Especially some moments at the end. The convenience of Langer being alive, finding her, and Jack finding her as well and shooting Langer just in time. Felt kind of silly and basic after the rest of the book. And the idea that Silvina created this “ark” and magic elixir pushed believability for me. Again, it felt silly compared to the rest of the book.
It is a bit misleading to call this a thriller. It has its action-y, tense moments, but it’s largely introspective and quiet. That works perfectly for me, but would be a letdown if you wanted something else.
I enjoyed the themes of this book, though. We are at this moment of existential crisis with climate change and yet we continue on like everything will be fine. That our minor tweaks will be good enough, if we do even that. Just steadily moving toward that cliff, ready to fall off to our doom. I actually did not find this book too preachy, but I think others might. I found Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver more of the too didactic type. This book reminded me a LOT of Zazen by Vanessa Veselka, which I also really enjoyed and didn’t find too preachy.
I love that ultimately Silvina was trying to save the world through compassionate means, though I didn’t need as many answers as the end gave me. I just love the hope of it, the attempt to integrate more with the Earth in harmony.
Favorite quotes:
Next year, there would be no conference. A few years later, businesses hawking wares would have changed. The old ones washed away by the shock of realization: the physical laws of the universe didn’t give a fuck about them. Wouldn’t protect them just because they existed and sold things.
Delusional. Naïve. Unworkable. Dangerous. That is what the enemy called the necessities for survival. For flourishing.
I think the plot and pacing struggled. Especially some moments at the end. The convenience of Langer being alive, finding her, and Jack finding her as well and shooting Langer just in time. Felt kind of silly and basic after the rest of the book. And the idea that Silvina created this “ark” and magic elixir pushed believability for me. Again, it felt silly compared to the rest of the book.
It is a bit misleading to call this a thriller. It has its action-y, tense moments, but it’s largely introspective and quiet. That works perfectly for me, but would be a letdown if you wanted something else.
I enjoyed the themes of this book, though. We are at this moment of existential crisis with climate change and yet we continue on like everything will be fine. That our minor tweaks will be good enough, if we do even that. Just steadily moving toward that cliff, ready to fall off to our doom. I actually did not find this book too preachy, but I think others might. I found Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver more of the too didactic type. This book reminded me a LOT of Zazen by Vanessa Veselka, which I also really enjoyed and didn’t find too preachy.
I love that ultimately Silvina was trying to save the world through compassionate means, though I didn’t need as many answers as the end gave me. I just love the hope of it, the attempt to integrate more with the Earth in harmony.
Favorite quotes:
Next year, there would be no conference. A few years later, businesses hawking wares would have changed. The old ones washed away by the shock of realization: the physical laws of the universe didn’t give a fuck about them. Wouldn’t protect them just because they existed and sold things.
Delusional. Naïve. Unworkable. Dangerous. That is what the enemy called the necessities for survival. For flourishing.