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A review by faerietrails
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
5.0
Read for Asian Readathon 2024. First 5-star read of 2024 (woo)
How High We Go in the Dark could only be an anthology born from a pandemic, with such a clear image of the future, where capitalism and death will continue to follow us, but community and connections with others bring us healing. Imagine my surprise when I found out the majority of these chapters were written pre-2020, as early as 2009. These themes are ever-present and essential to the nature of humanity, so I wonder how much Nagamatsu really had to edit. He expertly balances the hope and grief that stems from current fears of illness, climate change, and technology forcing us apart. Not only that, but every chapter has very personal touches from Nagamatsu's experiences as part of the Japanese diaspora.
I loved piecing together every character's connections to each other and the events of the story. It felt like a massive crossover every time, when one character's painting is in another's house, or another character is privy to someone else's reactions to events we experienced earlier. Everyone felt like they had an important part to play, ESPECIALLY in the last chapter.
A Gallery a Century, A Cry a Millennium and The Used-to-be Party absolutely wrecked me. I hate thinking about the future, about things I can't control, about how everything bad and worse will ruin the planet. But these made me hopeful (even with the very SFF elements supporting it).
The time to read this book is NOW.
How High We Go in the Dark could only be an anthology born from a pandemic, with such a clear image of the future, where capitalism and death will continue to follow us, but community and connections with others bring us healing. Imagine my surprise when I found out the majority of these chapters were written pre-2020, as early as 2009. These themes are ever-present and essential to the nature of humanity, so I wonder how much Nagamatsu really had to edit. He expertly balances the hope and grief that stems from current fears of illness, climate change, and technology forcing us apart. Not only that, but every chapter has very personal touches from Nagamatsu's experiences as part of the Japanese diaspora.
I loved piecing together every character's connections to each other and the events of the story. It felt like a massive crossover every time, when one character's painting is in another's house, or another character is privy to someone else's reactions to events we experienced earlier. Everyone felt like they had an important part to play, ESPECIALLY in the last chapter.
A Gallery a Century, A Cry a Millennium and The Used-to-be Party absolutely wrecked me. I hate thinking about the future, about things I can't control, about how everything bad and worse will ruin the planet. But these made me hopeful (even with the very SFF elements supporting it).
The time to read this book is NOW.