Under the Harrow, by Flynn Berry: I had mixed feelings about this – it’s very atmospheric and surprising, but I struggled to remember the characters’ names and identities outside of the narrator and her sister. For some reason, they just wouldn’t stay with me. The ending was slightly abrupt but satisfying.
The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth, by Elizabeth Rush: An entwined narrative about the Antarctic glaciers and the choice to become a parent – events that are more interrelated even than by the obvious thread of climate change and uncertainty. Fascinating and compelling, it gained an extra layer in the reasonable comparison between the first months of COVID isolation and life on the Antarctica-bound ship where the author spent six (?) weeks.
Leave the World Behind, by Rumaan Alam: I did not love this – alas, while I appreciate the intentions, the execution (without giving too much away) didn’t work for me; I’ve read other novels in which “precipitating incident” does not form the plot but simply forces a setting, and they did it better. The writing is sharp and witty but felt very same-level throughout – no beat more important than any other beat. (My family watched the movie over the holidays and I can’t recommend it either, although I did appreciate the less-coy level ofI exposition about “precipitating incident.”
Doppelganger, by Naomi Klein: Cannot say enough great things about this – it’s brilliant. Rigorous, inward- and outward-looking, incisive, creative. In some ways, quite depressing, but crucial.
Deadly Quiet City, by Murong Xuecun: Really stark nonfiction about the first weeks of the pandemic in Wuhan, which the author (and those whose stories he tells) undertook great risk to report on.
