First Published: Jan 2022

Genre: Fiction, Science Fiction, Dystopian, Literary

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was my selection for Feb Month’s prompt of the 2024 Read Good Challenge. (I have a separate post detailing the challenge and the prompts).

Plot Summary

This book is a collection of very loosely interconnected stories on how people on Earth survive a pandemic caused by a virus that does not seem to have a cure. The stories span years…even millennia. It does not get categorised as short story collection because the stories are very much tied to the main theme.

My Thoughts

It’s tough to describe how you truly feel when your heart feels heavy because of the stories but then your brain goes ‘Eh!’.

Going in, not knowing anything about the book and its premise, had its advantages. Especially when a book does not stick to a linear storyline and is all over the place. The main theme is constant but it took me a bit to find my footing around the timeline. I re-read the book from the start, after I reached halfway, because I wanted to connect back to everything that was happening earlier. It’s a lot to take in to be honest but every story brought something to the table that was unexpected.

And some stories were more heart wrenching than others and left me hollow. City of Laughter broke me, I could not imagine such a place and I wish no parent real or reel should go through it. In some stories people randomly mentioned in the beginning suddenly became the main focus for a few pages. It helped with the continuity a bit but after a while I lost connection with those characters.

I liked the authors unique take about how people can deal with mass tragedy, learn to survive and even make a living out of it. It also raises a question – how do we learn to live, when we see death everywhere?

In my opinion, the stories that touch upon the human aspects and emotions are the book’s strongest point and the science-fiction aspects were its weakest link. We could have been spared the origin story.

Do I recommend it?

Overall it’s engaging. I haven’t read many post-apocalyptic, dystopian books and I am sure there might be better options out there. But this one is just that right amount of bleak that is easier for a reader like me to stomach and come out unscathed. I am glad to have picked this one up.