a story set in the first few years after a deadly flu variant caused the swift and sudden end of civilization (starting from the night the virus first landed in north america). i believe this was first published around 2015 and caused a sensation, and its easy to see why. however, reading it for the first time in the post-COVID era ups its sense of surreal-ness, in ways i dont think the author originally intended. its sometimes creepy, sometimes ominous, sometimes downright upsetting. i'll have to read this again some time (perhaps after reading King Lear). ( )

Fabulous.
Quite terrifying in this pandemic time but a tale of a society broken down after the invasion of a fast-killing virus. The characters who survive the first sweep struggle through loss of everything of modern life, live through fear and cold and attachment and loss. Every single character in this book becomes someone you care for.

Years ago after SARS1 flew about Toronto, I was part of “pandemic planning”, a round table discussion that played like a war game. We’d postulate around fatality rates, around what we would/could do as people died around us. It occurred to us fairly early on that a fatality rate of anything over 30% would lead to total societal collapse.

In this book the fatality rate is more like 99%.

The actual deaths are passed over lightly; we are not treated to anything other than mentions of smells, for which I was grateful. The dead have a presence in the book; you sense their weight.

The author ties several story lines in together in a way which could seem contrived but doesn’t because of her skill. It all seems possible. And the relationships between the people open a glimmer of hope.

I’ll be reading more of her work, and soon.
( )

Man this is a beautifully written book which is why I finished it. She can string words together with a lyrical joy. However, the plot just doesn’t work for me. I didn’t buy the pandemic collapse at all. It felt tacked on so she could write a cool story about a traveling Shakespeare troupe. The plot logic was so jarring in some places that it interfered with my ability to totally immerse myself in the story. ( )

Stunning. ( )

This was a fantastic book. So original and all character arcs and storylines tied up nicely. Beautiful ending. Better than 5 stars. ( )