How High We Go In The Dark

Finally! Do you even know how long I have been waiting to pen this review?! This is How High We Go In The Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu.

Goodreads Stats

I usually don't comment on Goodreads Stats, but a 3.86 is bullshit. I don't know where that's coming from, unless thousands of people who absolutely hate anything sad in books decided to rate this one really low. Or maybe it can be explained by COVID PTSD. That has to be it. Regardless, the nominations for Best Science Fiction and Best Debut Novel are what's important here.

Why I Read This Book/How I Heard About It

Once again, we are looking at an "Unofficial John Green Recommendation". If you're a devoted reader of my reviews, you know what that means. Blind read! No previous info or back-of-book reading before diving in!

The reason I am so excited to write this review is because I largely think of the 29 books I've read so far this year in one of two categories: before How High We Go In The Dark and after How High We Go In The Dark. That is how monumentally good this book is.

Basic Summary

This book was billed as a good read for people who have read (and liked) Cloud Atlas or Station Eleven. I haven't read the former, but I do have a special place in my heart for Station Eleven. So, as you can imagine, this means it is a post-apocalyptic science fiction read.

As I said, I never read or saw Cloud Atlas, but wasn't it about the far off future of mankind, where all the races have kind of blended into one mixed-race leaning-toward-Asian humanity? And Station Eleven deals with creating a new civilization (with art) after a terrible flu pretty much instantaneously wipes out a large swath of humanity.

Those are the vibes of this story as well. Because this novel is so expansive, I don't know how to distill it into a summary, so I'm going to have to be unoriginal and give it to you straight from the back cover or we'd never leave this blog post because I'd ramble for hours:

"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.

Beginning 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.

Sequoia Nagamatsu takes readers on a wildly original and compassionate journey, spanning continents, centuries, and even celestial bodies to tell a story about the resiliency of the human spirit, our infinite capacity to dream, and the connective threads that tie us all together in the universe."

I know, I know. That's....a lot. If you are getting some Everything Everywhere All At Once vibes, you're picking up what I'm putting down. Let's unpack.

First Impressions

The first thing I noticed in reading this is that every chapter is about a completely different character in a completely different setting, place, and time. This was confusing for a couple chapters until I realized what the author was doing. It was really brilliant, too, because it meant he could skip entire patches of time and start with a new story each one. In doing that, the book was able to cover a mind-blowing amount of time: hundreds of years, all culminating together in the very last chapter.

Final Thoughts

As disjointed as it seems at first, the reader is eventually surprised with a couple recurring characters. These could be relatives of characters from previous chapters or mentions of how previous characters intertwined with or influenced current characters. These moments give the reader some fun little jolts of recognition, like perfectly placed little Easter eggs.

Each chapter keeps you on your toes, paying attention, and piecing together what in the world has happened to Earth after this terrible plague. What is the plague? Where did it come from? Who is still alive? How have they structured civilization after the plague? How have concepts like money, business, freedom, friendship, and marriage changed after such a planet-impacting event? Where do people find their hope when death ravages on for centuries? Is there ever going to be a plague like this in our real-life earth where we won't be able to get a handle on it like we did with COVID? How will that change humanity as a whole? And what about space? Is there another planet we can live on that will sustain us after we destroy this one past the point of no return? How do we get there? What sort of scientific leaps are necessary to save us?

The vast expanse of this story and the fact that the last chapter somehow manages to pull every single separate story together with a common thread and reveals the meaning behind every chapter is what makes the book so impactful and beautiful. Debut novel? Wow, sir! What a swing for the fences your first time out! Needless to say, I'll be reading every book by this author.

Rating on Goodreads

I rated this book 5 out of 5 stars. My favorite book of the year so far.

My rating method:

• I rarely rate books 5 stars. I save this for the absolute best books I've read. You know the ones...the ones that you can't get out of your head, even after you've finished them. The ones you think about for weeks afterwards.

• If a book is really, really good, I'll give it 4 stars. If you see a 4-star rating from me, I'd definitely recommend it to you to read.

• If it's just OK, it gets 3 stars. Basically, it means I could take it or leave it. I'd probably read it again because it wasn't terrible. But not like a favorite or anything.

• If I rate it 1 or 2 stars, I would not recommend anyone read it. It either didn't hold my interest or I couldn't relate to the characters/plot.