Sean Gursky reviewed How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
Review of 'How High We Go in the Dark' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
...he'd rather the dog die with that part of his wife still inside than lose her entirely.
I went into How High We Go in the Dark with zero knowledge. I was reviewing the Goodreads Choice Awards and cherry picked on books that had a strong vote and a week later I'm diving into the unknown with Sequoia Nagamatsu.
It's strange how the discovery of an ancient girl in Siberia and viruses we've never encountered before can both redefine what we know about being human and at the same time threaten our humanity.
There has always been a niche for Post Apocalyptic but the recent pandemic may lead to a sub genre of Pandemic Prose. Stories that use the recent pandemic as a starting point should come with a trigger warning because the story can hit a little too close to home.
The first half of the book didn't feel …
...he'd rather the dog die with that part of his wife still inside than lose her entirely.
I went into How High We Go in the Dark with zero knowledge. I was reviewing the Goodreads Choice Awards and cherry picked on books that had a strong vote and a week later I'm diving into the unknown with Sequoia Nagamatsu.
It's strange how the discovery of an ancient girl in Siberia and viruses we've never encountered before can both redefine what we know about being human and at the same time threaten our humanity.
There has always been a niche for Post Apocalyptic but the recent pandemic may lead to a sub genre of Pandemic Prose. Stories that use the recent pandemic as a starting point should come with a trigger warning because the story can hit a little too close to home.
The first half of the book didn't feel like escapism and was more reliving the last three years of how society coped. As a whole humanity didn't handle this pandemic in a heroic manner and society feels more fractured than it did before.
Society had a shift from a "we" to "me" mentality. Concern for your neighbours and doing the right thing because it's the right thing became a divisive topic. Nagamatsu opened up a very fresh wound and poured salt on it because the characters in his story went through something far worse and humanity is better off because of it.
They walk and walk. No one stops. It's like we're all still infected. We choose to be blind to each other's suffering. It might make things easier to bear, but our hearts are cold.
Does humanity need a larger kick in the pants before we can be proactive and work together for the betterment of society? Or is humanity in Nagamatsu's story only possible of helping each other because of the eye rolling deus ex machina in the alien world builder in the end?
And since I'm here, that final chapter was unnecessary. Nagamatsu's story was so sprawling and expansive that no ending would suffice but having alien involvement undermines it all. Even if the interstellar ship ended up doing some time dilation and returning to Earth only to be the cause of the initial virus causing an infinite loop would have been still laughable but almost an easier concept to accept.
Humanities greatest accomplishments are credited to the guidance of an alien world builder. The more I think about the ending the more disappointing it becomes.
Moving back to what I liked about the book...
I enjoy stories that feature an anthology of characters and How High took that a step further and allowed multiple characters from different times to share their story and offer a perspective on how they were suffering and managing.
This anthology of characters resulted in some chapters being more engaging than others. Eventually some chapter characters would cross over or be referenced later and it was enjoyable to have that thread carry onward, although some characters that appear were so lightly referenced initially I wasn't sure who was being referenced or if it was someone of concern.
The two standout chapters for me were City of Laughter and Songs of Your Decay. There was something so beautiful and sad about these stories and the impression they left on me. Looking at the chapter list I was surprised how early in the book these appeared.
As the book went on I found the chapters to be less emotionally charged and deviated further from what made the beginning so raw and impactful.
Even though I had never subscribed to the traditional idea that all objects contain a spirit, I couldn't deny that a part of the women we lost remained somewhere inside Hollywood.
How High We Go in the Dark is an ambitious story. It highlights the worst humanity can go through and the triumphs that can occur out of darkness. The story is also a little bit of a mess and it's almost too broad in the scope. If the story focused on one or two ideas (the funeral service ruling the world, what a concept!) or limiting the story to a smaller timeframe may have resulted in a more cohesive story.
