the title of this book is terrible, but just about everything else about it is done right. the writing is excellent, and even the title means much more than it seems like it does, in the end.

it feels like a post-apocalyptic book, but it's really just a post-natural disaster book that is actually quite realistic. if the infrastructure collapses, what remains, and what do people rebuild, and how do they organize? it's probably similar to a lot of post-apocalypse books in this, but i really liked the philosophy and science thrown in here. plus there's betrayal and trauma and loneliness and connection. some of the questions that come up about survival are pertinent with the climate changing the way it is, and mirror discussions i've had in my own life. so it felt realistic. the crux, though, and what the title refers to, more globally - if both violence and compassion are natural to humans, maybe we make love and altruism the successful traits in passing on to offspring, and we actually evolve love. and then more personally - the main character has to change her idea of what love is, from safety in comfort to maybe something more powerful, even if a little unknown.

she covers a lot here, and i think she does it well. it's not super-ambitious, but it's not as straightforward a story as it seems at first, either. i liked just about everything she did and i was willing to let her take me anywhere because the writing is so good.

"'...anyway, I've begun to believe that the best thing that could happen, certainly for the planet, but maybe even for humanity, is our extinction. Or near extinction, anyway. We've made a mess of this planet. Maybe recovery is only possible without us.'"

"Two lines, long parentheses, enclosed his mouth, like his smile would be a secret."

"'I love stories. Sometimes I think they might be the only thing that can save a culture.'" ( )