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A review by catherine_the_greatest
The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan
4.0
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Robert Frost
...This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
T.S. Eliot
The year is 2020. Global warming has caused the polar ice caps to melt, which in turn has caused glaciers to migrate further south than in recorded human history, bringing on a recorded-breakingly cold winter, and possibly the next ice age.
Dylan McRae has recently lost his grandmother, then his mother, then the Soho independent movie theatre that is the only home he ever knew. All that is left to him is a caravan in Scotland that his mother bought while she was dying of cancer. Slowly, he realizes why she picked this seemingly random location in an isolated corner of the island nation.
Constance Fairbain lives next door to Dylan, a survivalist who is at least theoretically prepared for a disaster such as this one. She has spent her 20 years of adulthood as an independent woman, carrying on love affairs with two different men, which has left her on the outskirts of her small community, raising a child fathered by one of the men. Her daughter, Stella, was born as a son, Cael, but has been transitioning in the face of impending puberty, despite backlash from her peers and the community in general.
While the dropping temperatures and the deaths caused by it are a stark backdrop, the real focus is the quiet grief and angst of the characters, who live on the periphery of the community, who refuse to conform and suffer the consequences.
The ending is too ambiguous for my taste, which is the only reason I rated this four stars instead of five. The writing is lovely and these characters, especially Stella and Dylan, from whose perspective the story is told, will stay with me for a long time.
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Robert Frost
...This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
T.S. Eliot
The year is 2020. Global warming has caused the polar ice caps to melt, which in turn has caused glaciers to migrate further south than in recorded human history, bringing on a recorded-breakingly cold winter, and possibly the next ice age.
Dylan McRae has recently lost his grandmother, then his mother, then the Soho independent movie theatre that is the only home he ever knew. All that is left to him is a caravan in Scotland that his mother bought while she was dying of cancer. Slowly, he realizes why she picked this seemingly random location in an isolated corner of the island nation.
Constance Fairbain lives next door to Dylan, a survivalist who is at least theoretically prepared for a disaster such as this one. She has spent her 20 years of adulthood as an independent woman, carrying on love affairs with two different men, which has left her on the outskirts of her small community, raising a child fathered by one of the men. Her daughter, Stella, was born as a son, Cael, but has been transitioning in the face of impending puberty, despite backlash from her peers and the community in general.
While the dropping temperatures and the deaths caused by it are a stark backdrop, the real focus is the quiet grief and angst of the characters, who live on the periphery of the community, who refuse to conform and suffer the consequences.
The ending is too ambiguous for my taste, which is the only reason I rated this four stars instead of five. The writing is lovely and these characters, especially Stella and Dylan, from whose perspective the story is told, will stay with me for a long time.