How High We Go in the Dark Annotation

Title: How High We Go in the Dark

Author: Sequoia Nagamatsu

Genre: Science Fiction

Publication Date: January 18, 2022

Pages: 292

Geographical Setting: The Arctic Circle (Siberia), San Diego, an undefined plane of existence that may or may not be hallucinated, Tokyo, a U.S. Naval ship, various settings

Time Period: A future beginning in 2030 with each chapter moving a few years forward

Characters: Mainly Japanese and Japanese American main characters

Plot Summary:  A series of loosely interconnected short stories about a world forever changed by a virus re-introduced into the world when the arctic glaciers melt and reveal the preserved remains of an evolutionary ancestor of humans to climate scientists. The first story is the story of a researcher who arrives to study these remains and hopefully feel one last connection with his daughter, the researcher who died from a fall when attempting to recover the body discovered under the ice. The research site is under quarantine because of the discovery, but no researchers are experiencing any signs of illness. The story cuts off without a conclusion and the next story reveals that only children have been suddenly falling ill and dying while rumors circulate that they are caused by an ancient arctic virus. Each chapter moves forward a few months or years into the pandemic and more information about how the illness affects people is revealed through the stories of each character. The reader learns how new variants develop over time and new symptoms affect people or target a new segment of the population. 

Each story is bizarre and sad in its own way. There is a theme park created to help give children one last "good day" before a final ride that ends with their final moment alive. Parents wrestle with trying to hide their sadness from their children and knowing it is the last day with them. There is a lab pig that has been genetically modified to grow human organs to replace the human organs that are attacked and destroyed by the virus, only this pig accidentally started developing a human brain and has been communicating with the humans in the lab. The researchers must wrestle with the feelings they've developed for him and the reality that this discovery will not be able to remain a secret. 

Note: I found it hard to read one tragic story after another. Perhaps it was because I was trying to read through it quickly for the assignment, but it was a hard read taken in all together. 

The read-alikes on Novelist included Station Eleven and Cloud Atlas, but I didn't find either of those books to be so bleak. I was not expecting it. Then again, I skipped the reviews because I saw two books I had read and liked. I see now that the reviews refer to it as bleak.

Subject Headings:

Epidemics
Loss
Terminal Illnesses
Death
Global Warming

Virus Diseases

Appeal:

Tone: Bleak

" 'You're special,' I say. I almost tell him the whole truth - But the thing that makes you special is also killing you, I say in my head, hoping he can hear me. "What do you want?" I ask. I want home, he says. Not here."

There is still an overall sadness while living through mass extinction while society falls apart, even when characters are striving to make their time meaningful or trying to remain resilient.

Storyline: Difficult Questions & Ambiguity

Wyatt & Saricks note that a main characteristic of Science Fiction is a storyline that deals with difficult questions and "seldom has clear-cut answers." In each story in How High We Go in the Dark, the reader looks at how these characters are dealing with death, loss, and uncertainty in a scenario unique to the world Nagamatsu created. The reader finds themselves wondering what they would do if they were in each situation. Because of the unique nature of the world, for example, guests can stay at a death motel where they have time to say goodbye to their preserved loved ones that they couldn't see when they were ill for fear of contagion, the answer to the right way to handle the situation is even more ambiguous than discussing the right way to deal with death in today's world.

Apocalyptic/Post-apocalyptic:

This story differed from the usual post-apocalyptic story where characters survive against the odds. Those stories often have life-changing losses, but they tend to have a hopeful or resilient tone about finding a way through it. This was more focused on the loss itself and how characters continued on and remained part of a society where everyone struggles and must continue to go to work or find new work in a world overwhelmed by death.

3 terms that best describe this book:

Pandemic Fiction, Heartwrenching, Bizarre

3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors

Beating back the devil: on the front lines with the disease detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service by Maryn McKenna

This is a story about the US's Epidemic Intelligence Service in 2004. It is a look at how scientists investigate biological threats around the world. These are real stories of epidemics and how they affect society, like the pandemic in the story.

The Silent Travelers: Germs, Genes, and the "Immigrant Menace" by Alan M. Kraut

How High We Go in the Dark talks about how people were told not to travel to Asia and they often avoided Asians because that is where the disease was seen to be spreading.

The Good Death: An Exploration of Dying in America by Ann Neumann

Howe High We Go in the Dark explores how we deal with end-of-life decisions, which is what this book is all about. The Science Fiction work looks at how we handle death is affected by the current situation as this book looks at how we handle death in America today.

3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Both are environmental science fiction with a bleak tone and a chance finding that sets off large-scale disaster.

We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

This story is also thought-provoking and set in an apocalyptic world where the characters must evaluate what is important in life with the time they have left. 

Clade by James Bradley

Both stories are about a near future pandemic apocalypse written with multiple perspectives over years. Both start with scientists researching the artic. Both have a large cast of characters and share a bleak tone.