Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by saracat
Turbulence by David Szalay
5.0
To give context to future readers of this review, I read this during the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course prior to this time, it would be talked about how interconnected people from around the world were becoming. But, I think for many people the COVID-19 pandemic just made that feel more than they had previously.
I bring that up because this book so beautifully made the world feel so connected. He does this through little vignettes into the lives of people from around the world. However, it's not telling stories of completely unrelated people. Each new person that is focused on has traveled by airplane and has some connection to the previous person. Some of the connections between one character and the next are deep, and some are simply two ships passing in a night.
In some ways you could say not much happens in through the course of the book - there's not major plot line that sticks out. Nothing is fully resolved or seen through to the end. Yet, in the short time we see each character, we get a sense of their trajectory going forward. And, through the course of the book, the reader is shown again and again that everyone is complex.
I bring that up because this book so beautifully made the world feel so connected. He does this through little vignettes into the lives of people from around the world. However, it's not telling stories of completely unrelated people. Each new person that is focused on has traveled by airplane and has some connection to the previous person. Some of the connections between one character and the next are deep, and some are simply two ships passing in a night.
In some ways you could say not much happens in through the course of the book - there's not major plot line that sticks out. Nothing is fully resolved or seen through to the end. Yet, in the short time we see each character, we get a sense of their trajectory going forward. And, through the course of the book, the reader is shown again and again that everyone is complex.