Subjective

 Here we are, one week into May. My usual issues have arrived right on schedule, so many days aren't pleasant, but I know to expect the stuffy head, scratchy throat, brain fog, aches and pains at this time of year and prepare myself as best as I can. Thankfully, most days I've been able to read. I've also got a couple of library e-audiobooks downloaded and a fairly mindless crochet project on the go, so I can listen and stitch most nights. I've been crocheting for over four decades and I think I could do it in my sleep--and it helps with the ache in my hands. 

Last week, I had a pile of books to pick up at the library, one of which was a novel that both Bill and I were looking forward to reading.

I read about it in a bookish blog post several months ago and knew I wanted to read it. I sent the post to Bill and he wanted to read it. The library didn't have it and I wondered whether it was published here yet, since the blog post I read was written by a US based blogger. I kept checking and a few weeks ago, there it was in the list of new books. I placed my request and it arrived surprisingly quickly. Since I had a stack of other books to read, Bill went first with this one. He was immediately disappointed, but hoped it would pick up for him. It didn't. He grumbled about the book a little as he was reading and finally gave up at around the halfway point. I immediately took it, started reading, was hooked, and after a couple of hours was beyond halfway. By last night, I was deciding between going back to the book and finishing it or listening to some of my audiobook and crocheting. I chose the latter and finished this book early this afternoon. I loved it. 

The book is narrated by Nonie (Norah) who lives with her sister, Bix, her father, and assorted others who have created a community in New York's Museum of Natural History, in what they call The World as it Is, after climate change catastrophes. Nonie has a sixth sense about water and storms and keeps a logbook, excerpts of which are presented at the beginning of each section. These and her memories of stories her mother and others told her about The World as it Was give readers a sense of how the situation came to be what it is. As events unfold, it becomes necessary for Nonie, Bix, Father, and a family friend, Keller, to leave the home they've built in order to get out of the city and make their way to a farm jointly owned by Nonie's mother and aunt. Most of the book is about their journey, with memories filling in some of the backstory. 

This is my kind of book. People are thrust into new ways of life and have to figure things out. New societies and cultures are created. Lessons are learned. This is the kind of dystopian novel that I love. Perhaps this has something to do with my frequent puzzlement about people thinking that the way most of us in wealthy nations live will just go on and on, not being able to imagine anything else. In these novels, denial is no longer an option. At one point in the novel, Nonie's parents are telling her about a photograph of her mother on one of their last trips together before planes and cars were no longer in use. One of them commented that deep down they knew it would all end one day, but they tried to pretend otherwise. Bill said the book was too slow for his taste and that 'nothing happened.' After he set it aside, he found that many people who reviewed the book felt the same. I did not have that experience at all. I never felt things were moving too slowly plotwise. The pace felt quite appropriate, in fact. After all, in a world where electricity and motorized locomotion are no longer things, the pace of life will be slower. Also, the characters were dealing with new situations every day and trying to figure out new ways to do things. That doesn't happen at breakneck speed. As for nothing happening, I could not disagree more. Everything was happening. The ground they built their lives on was disappearing, both figuratively and literally. New communities were being built. People were dying. New people were being born. People tried to preserve knowledge as they could even as they were relying on old knowledge that previous generations had preserved for them. 

In any case, I thought the book was a page-turner and never felt like it got bogged down at all. I wanted to know what was going to happen. I was happy to immerse myself in both the plot and the writing. So there you have it. After waiting for months, Bill was very disappointed with this book while I thought it was definitely worth the wait!

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