A review by tospeakordie
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

4.75

HOW HIGH WE GO IN THE DARK 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

is a stunning debut and worth every glowing review.

HERE ARE MY THOUGHTS:

I found the beginning to be slightly confusing as it literally throws you into an intense narrative full of people who obviously are very fleshed out and in-depth, so you just set have to hold on to your mind and power through it, absorb as much as you can. I actually went back and re-read 30,000 years beneath a eulogy after getting about halfway and it helped massively. 

I’m obsessed with the family dynamics in this book. Every family is painful and imperfect, but the characters cannot stop loving each other throughout every tumultuous relationship. I loved that Cliff had to literally step into Clara’s shoes to see his daughter and all she dreamed for. I loved the Osiris, the red button, and the way that grief was shown during City of Laughter because here, grief felt like an extension of love.

All the funerary skyscrapers, germ factories, euthanasia parks, elegy hotels, felt so imagine yet possible at the same time. While reading this book I felt that I was literally seeing an iteration of Earth. it was astonishing.

There was so much hope in Through the Garden of Memory. They don’t know where they are, if anything they do in the dark matters, but they know that want to give the baby another chance, and people grumble but hope persists in the human pyramid because there’s nothing to lose.

Pig Son was an interesting story because it follows Dorrie’s ex-husband from City of Laughter, which I loved since I loved to hear about her and Fitch, and I’m still left wondering what exactly the pig’s sacrifice represents. Grief, love, family.

Elegy Hotel was interesting since the main character was so stubborn, ashamed, insecure, and unlikeable. To be honest, while I did follow the storyline with him and his dying mother, I loved the world building the most, exploring the idea of hotels for the dead as well as how cynical humans can be even in this situation. We are so flawed and this was the perfect scenario to show this, because Dennis still tries to be better at the end.

There were many stories of Hope in the following chapters. A man who doesn’t want to give up fixing robo-dogs, especially for children, Aubrey knowing Laird is on his last breaths but trying to love him more than anyone she’s loved before anyway, loving his cadaver, loving him until she understands she needs to leave her husband. Theresa and the singularity, and the Yamato. 

Perhaps the greatest display of hope in this novel are those on board the Yamato, ready to uproot everything they’ve known to locate a new home planet, whether it takes a millennia or not. I loved the mini case studies on each potential planet, they were very fun to read, although a lot of this seemed quite impossible considering they had launched in just 2037. 

The Used-To-Be Party made a lot of sense. These people woke up to literally a post apocalyptic world, where their families are dead, and they don’t know how to be people anymore. They’re trying, and the letter was so well written I wanted to be a part of the block party myself.

I’ll be frank, Grave Friends was the only story that didn’t especially hit with me. I think that I’d read about so many people and their lives at this point that while I loved the world, it felt a bit like a recycling of themes and emotions. Still, very good. 

THE ENDING. HOLY SHIT. READ THIS BOOK FOR YOURSELVES.

@hanshailmary on ig