Sequoia Nagamatsu

I'm a bit torn by this book.
It wasn't what I was expecting, a series of individual vignette versus a straight narrative. Some of the stories are much stronger than others, to the point where I was wishing these few stories were fleshed out to be the entire narrative. In addition, there were times when I felt like I needed a character map because someone that appeared in a very early story, either appears, is made reference to or one of their off-spring appears in a much later story. Where did this person come from again?
Then a few of the vignettes were serious, hardcore, exoplanet type sci-fi, which was a bit jarring to suddenly leap to while in the middle of a mildly dystopian modern day plague story. These stories weren't bad, but it just pulls you out of the narrative; spending the first page or two wondering what the hell is going on.
That being said, the writing on some of these stories is wonderful. The expressions of sadness and loneliness were just overpowering. Again, some of these stories, combined and expanded into a single large narrative would have made an incredible book. This is definitely worth the read for those stories, but overall I find myself in the position of being a bit underwhelmed by this book as it is.… (plus d'informations)

I was really looking forward to reading this book as it seemed really ambitious. It started off strongly with the story about a scientist visiting a site in Siberia where a mysterious virus originated. It felt like a science fiction novel with a human touch. I was hoping it would go in the direction of [b:Bewilderment|56404444|Bewilderment|Richard Powers|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1632843882l/56404444._SY75_.jpg|87106649] because there was a decent attempt to explore familial relationships and big topics at the same time.

However, already in the second chapter/story, I felt a slight disappointment. Writing "a novel" from multiple perspectives, sort of weaving it with stories that are related by characters or topic can be refreshing. But, in this particular case, I feel it didn't really work. The centre couldn't hold.

Early on in the second story, I found the characterization lacking and things got worse as this book progressed. It was harder and harder to stay focused. There is so much death in this book, it is the center of the whole narrative. However, I couldn't help to feel that it was dealt with in so many different and original ways, but very superficially.

I literally didn't care for any of the characters, and I engaged more with the ideas depicted in this book in an abstract way (many of them are truly interesting, hologrammatic urns, euthanasia rollercoasters...) than with the actual characters and their destinies.

I guess my expectations of this were too high. I wanted something atmospheric and engaging. Unfortunately, this just wasn't it.… (plus d'informations)