I first read this book not long after it came out, but I revisited it here in 2023, because I had a consulting gig with a client who's on an island somewhere, trying to change the world. I felt that maybe the post collapse Croatian island at the beginning of the book might speak to him.

I don't think he actually read it, but I did, and my sense of what it means as climate change finally arrives in force is ...

The four Caryatids that survive to adulthood are archetypes, larger than life women everyone has encountered, if they're traveling in the realm that is aware of what's happening to our planet. I had not had those experiences when I first read it, but now I'm older ... wiser ... and profoundly weary.

I've dated Vera, I've dated Radmila, and I currently work with Sonja, who dispatched Biserka for me. I'm forbidden from dating anyone that doesn't pass her review, which I guess I needed.

It's an excellent read, although I'm not sure I believe the hope found in the afterword.