The Book Blog - Learning Resources at St. Johns River State College

Imagine a world suffering from an unleashed Arctic Plague. Imagine watching how, throughout generations, this plague reshapes life on earth. Imagine what the world will be like as climate changes the landscape of the world we know and how we’ll react as a human species. Imagine how technology will continue to change and evolve. You’ll get to do all this and more while reading How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu.

One of the things that I like best about this book is that it’s more like a collection of intertwined short stories than a proper novel. Each chapter has a new perspective and a new story. The chapters are weaved together to illustrate the connection between characters in their shared experience with these larger-than-life topics, like plague and climate change. It takes a few chapters before the links start to show themselves, but it was neat to watch them develop throughout the book.

Some of the chapters felt relatable in the aftermath of COVID-19. Nagamatsu’s imaginative stories of a new plague made me realize how fortunate we were in the wake of an unknown sickness. Many of these stories put into perspective how much worse the impact could have genuinely been. One of the heaviest chapters focuses on how different a plague would look if children, rather than the elderly or infirm, were the susceptible group.

This is a unique book. You’ll get everything from mourning rituals to space travel. The stories kept me entertained, and since there was no singular storyline, I didn’t find myself guessing what might happen next. I was just able to enjoy the ride. I will be watching for future works from this author- he’s found a fan in me.

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

ISBN: 9780063072640

Publication Date: 2022-01-18

NATIONAL BESTSELLER * NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE * ROXANE GAY'S AUDACIOUS BOOK CLUB PICK "Moving and thought-provoking . . . offering psychological insights in lyrical prose while seriously exploring speculative conceits." -- New York Times Book Review "Haunting and luminous . . . Beautiful and lucid science fiction. An astonishing debut." -- Alan Moore, creator of Watchmen and V for Vendetta Recommended by New York Times Book Review * Los Angeles Times * NPR * Entertainment Weekly * Esquire * Good Housekeeping * NBC News * Buzzfeed * Business Insider * Bustle * Goodreads * The Millions * The Philadelphia Inquirer * Minneapolis Star-Tribune * San Francisco Chronicle * The Guardian * PopSugar * Literary Hub * and many more! For fans of Cloud Atlas and Station Eleven, a spellbinding and profoundly prescient debut that follows a cast of intricately linked characters over hundreds of years as humanity struggles to rebuild itself in the aftermath of a climate plague--a daring and deeply heartfelt work of mind-bending imagination from a singular new voice. In 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work of his recently deceased daughter at the Batagaika Crater, where researchers are studying long-buried secrets now revealed in melting permafrost, including the perfectly preserved remains of a girl who appears to have died of an ancient virus. Once unleashed, the Arctic plague will reshape life on Earth for generations to come, quickly traversing the globe, forcing humanity to devise a myriad of moving and inventive ways to embrace possibility in the face of tragedy. In a theme park designed for terminally ill children, a cynical employee falls in love with a mother desperate to hold on to her infected son. A heartbroken scientist searching for a cure finds a second chance at fatherhood when one of his test subjects--a pig--develops the capacity for human speech. A widowed painter and her teenaged granddaughter embark on a cosmic quest to locate a new home planet. From funerary skyscrapers to hotels for the dead to interstellar starships, Sequoia Nagamatsu takes readers on a wildly original and compassionate journey, spanning continents, centuries, and even celestial bodies to tell a story about the resilience of the human spirit, our infinite capacity to dream, and the connective threads that tie us all together in the universe. "Epic . . . Sequoia Nagamatsu is a writer whose imagination is matched only by his compassion, the kind we need to light our way through the dark." -- Chloe Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists "Wondrous, and not just in the feats of imagination, which are so numerous it makes me dizzy to recall them, but also in the humanity and tenderness with which Sequoia Nagamatsu helps us navigate this landscape. . . . This is a truly amazing book, one to keep close as we imagine the uncertain future." -- Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here

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How High We Go in the Dark

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