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A review by amyjoy
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
4.0
This was a lovely, horrible book. It's so beautifully written and so hard to read. Each section is told by a different narrator, and I really enjoyed all the different perspectives on the plague, and I loved to see the way Nagamatsu weaved together all stories, but there were some really hard sections to read, especially early on. I really was not sure if this was the right book for me to be reading right now, in the middle of a pandemic with two small children. I'm glad I stuck it out, and I loved how ultimately hopeful it was.
I do have to ask, though, where were all the queer people?? There are fourteen different narrators, and not a single one of them was queer, and I think that's a really questionable choice for Nagamatsu to have made. I'm not dropping my rating for this, but I am really disappointed by it, and it will be a caveat when I recommend this book to people.
I do have to ask, though, where were all the queer people?? There are fourteen different narrators, and not a single one of them was queer, and I think that's a really questionable choice for Nagamatsu to have made. I'm not dropping my rating for this, but I am really disappointed by it, and it will be a caveat when I recommend this book to people.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Death of parent and Animal death