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    How High We Go in the Dark: A Novel
    How High We Go in the Dark: A Novel
    How High We Go in the Dark: A Novel
    Audiobook9 hours

    How High We Go in the Dark: A Novel

    Written by Sequoia Nagamatsu

    Narrated by Julia Whelan, Brian Nishii, Keisuke Hoashi and

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE • ROXANE GAY'S AUDACIOUS BOOK CLUB PICK • FINALIST FOR THE URSULA K. LE GUIN PRIZE

    ""Moving and thought-provoking . . . offering psychological insights in lyrical prose while seriously exploring speculative conceits."" — New York Times Book Review

    ""Haunting and luminous . . . Beautiful and lucid science fiction. An astonishing debut.""  — Alan Moore, creator of Watchmen and V for Vendetta

    Recommended by New York Times Book Review • Los Angeles Times • NPR • Washington Post • Wall Street Journal • Entertainment Weekly • Esquire • Good Housekeeping • NBC News • Buzzfeed • Goodreads • The Millions • The Philadelphia Inquirer • Minneapolis Star-Tribune • San Francisco Chronicle • The Guardian • and many more!

    For fans of Cloud Atlas and Station Eleven, a spellbinding and profoundly prescient debut that follows a cast of intricately linked characters over hundreds of years as humanity struggles to rebuild itself in the aftermath of a climate plague—a daring and deeply heartfelt work of mind-bending imagination from a singular new voice. 

    In 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work of his recently deceased daughter at the Batagaika Crater, where researchers are studying long-buried secrets now revealed in melting permafrost, including the perfectly preserved remains of a girl who appears to have died of an ancient virus.

    Once unleashed, the Arctic plague will reshape life on Earth for generations to come, quickly traversing the globe, forcing humanity to devise a myriad of moving and inventive ways to embrace possibility in the face of tragedy. In a theme park designed for terminally ill children, a cynical employee falls in love with a mother desperate to hold on to her infected son. A heartbroken scientist searching for a cure finds a second chance at fatherhood when one of his test subjects—a pig—develops the capacity for human speech. A widowed painter and her teenaged granddaughter embark on a cosmic quest to locate a new home planet. 

    From funerary skyscrapers to hotels for the dead to interstellar starships, Sequoia Nagamatsu takes readers on a wildly original and compassionate journey, spanning continents, centuries, and even celestial bodies to tell a story about the resilience of the human spirit, our infinite capacity to dream, and the connective threads that tie us all together in the universe.

    ""Wondrous, and not just in the feats of imagination, which are so numerous it makes me dizzy to recall them, but also in the humanity and tenderness with which Sequoia Nagamatsu helps us navigate this landscape. . . . This is a truly amazing book, one to keep close as we imagine the uncertain future.""  — Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJan 18, 2022
    ISBN9780063072671
    How High We Go in the Dark: A Novel
    Author

    Sequoia Nagamatsu

    Sequoia Nagamatsu is a Japanese-American writer and managing editor of Psychopomp Magazine, an online quarterly dedicated to innovative prose. Originally from Hawaii and the San Francisco Bay Area, he holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Southern Illinois University and a BA in Anthropology from Grinnell College. His work has appeared in such publications as Conjunctions, The Southern Review, ZYZZYVA, Fairy Tale Review, and Tin House. He is the author of the award-winning short story collection Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone and teaches creative writing at St. Olaf College and the Rainier Writing Workshop Low-Residency MFA program. He currently lives in Minnesota with his wife, cat, and a robot dog named Calvino.

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    Reviews for How High We Go in the Dark

    4/5

    974 ratings49 reviews

    What our readers think

    Readers find this title to be a beautifully written book about humanity, grief, anger, and hope. It offers a rare, compassionate view on life and explores the bonds we form with others. The collection of short stories, although some were harder to get through, is thought-provoking and recommended. The book is impactful and intense, with a realistic connection to current events. It provides a mesmerizing narrative that makes readers care for a wide range of characters. Overall, it is a truly beautiful and powerful book that hooks readers from the very beginning.

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Great book! A rare, compassionate view on humanity and life.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      If you’re into ufology, this is a great book for you.
    • 5/5
      Stunning vingettes that wound together into a beautifully tragic tale of humanity.
    • 5/5
      5 stars
      loved the way the stories are interconnected!! such an interesting take on death and humanity, would love to re-read.

      characters: 4.5
      plot: 5
      writing: 5
    • 5/5
      I love this take on apocalypse/post-apocalyptic life. These are short stories that are loosely connected over decades or centuries maybe. The tone is acceptance and compassion, such an absent note in the genre. The first few stories are the best, but the last is wonderful as well. The others are still excellent, just not as inventive.
    • 4/5
      Grandes historias y narradores, muy bien escrito. La exploración de personajes es fascinante.
    • 5/5
      Such heartfelt creative imagery and what a story! Well done.
    • 5/5
      A beautiful depiction of how so many points of view can come from one situation. There are so many sides to this major situation and is a beautiful reminder that past, present and future do collide.
    • 4/5
      Interconnected short stories that sometimes work, sometimes don´t. Those that work are breath-taking, but those that don´t are skimmable. I felt that the book could have been edited better - it was just too long for its theme. Through it all Nagamatsu´s prose touches the soul.
    • 4/5
      A well-written plague/pamdemic dystopia in a market saturated with them. A bit too death-obsessed view on the future, but imaginative.
    • 5/5
      This was a great audiobook, really grabbed my attention. Would totally recommend
    • 4/5
      A great collection of short stories that are both science fiction and magical realism.
      Though the last few were not as strong, the collection is thought provoking and recommended!
    • 3/5
      How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

      3.5



      This story anthology took me out of my usual genre into sci-fi, speculative fiction. It was a pick for my small local book club that I never would have picked up on my own. Not least because the stories revolve around a terrible pandemic and the aftermath. Some of the stories I really enjoyed, with Pig Son being the stand-out favorite. Others were harder to get through. I felt that the stronger stories were in the first half of the book. My enjoyment was also impacted by listening to the audiobook version with each story being read by a different narrator. I struggled with some of the narrators, especially those that had accents that I am less used to hearing.

      The book is certainly heavy with many of the characters having experiences that are very close to home right now. The future that is depicted isn’t a dystopian one however, there is a lot of love and hope portrayed in the stories as the author imagines a future of humanity working together to overcome the challenges of pandemics and climate change.

      As the science is presented in an easily digestible way, I think it could be a good gateway into more science fiction/speculative fiction for readers. The future depicted here doesn’t seem far-fetched and isn’t so different from the present as to be unrecognizable. I enjoyed some of portraits painted of new ways to deal with death and dying as I think more of us are reaching for explanations about life beyond what religion has offered thus far.

      While this book wasn’t necessarily a hit with me, I can see myself recommending it to others, or pulling out a favorite story or two to share. I’m sure it will make for a great book club discussion!
    • 5/5
      Best science fiction I’ve read in a couple years. Loved the 80’s vibes and the cloud atlas craftsmanship!
    • 5/5
      Not heavy handed SciFi for those who are turned off from its category. It is beautifully written and thought provoking (and entertaining).
      A lot of reviewers say it is hitting too close to home, but that is what makes it powerful.
      The future shown is not far fetched, and if people don’t start recognizing that the issues raised in this book are a real possibility that require tough conversations, it is where we will end up.
      I deal with death as my job (estate attorney) so I was not personally bothered by the death themes and enjoyed the authors take on capitalization of the industry.
      I love that the author shows that death is a part of daily life in the future. It is already happening with the mini pandemic we are facing and most people feel alone and without resources.
    • 5/5
      A beautifully written book about humanity, grief, anger, and hope.
    • 3/5
      Great writing but a bit long, and probably not for people not used to science fiction.
    • 5/5
      Great stuff, about the bonds that we form, forget and break, with other people. Despite everything, rather hopeful.
    • 1/5
      The characters are forced and the climate change talk also seems forced. One story claims the girl is into punk and plays pearl jam, who is grunge and totally sucks
    • 5/5
      Wow. Just wow!
      An amazing book, with a story written beautifully. It gives one a perspective of the world. Makes you think, and those are the best kinds of books.
    • 4/5
      How High We Go in the Dark was mesmerizing in its way it made me care for such a wide range of characters, in such a short period of time.
      The story follows humanity over a long period of time, mostly centered in the impacts of a global pandemic. The chapters all follow different characters many years, and really was reminiscent of Emily St John Mandel story telling and narrative.
      Focused on pain and loss as well as a hope for the future, love for each other as well as loved for those who are already gone, this book makes you sympathize with people from all of walks of life and makes you realize how one event can impact everyone completely differently, yet shared in the same emotions.
      Truly beautiful way of story telling that felt like short stories in one grand narrative!
    • 5/5
      Beautifully written. I really appreciated the weaving of the storylines.
    • 5/5
      Came into this knowing nothing, and that's the best way to go into reading this. All the different story lines that happen, the different solutions, and the emotions this book brings out will make you choose that as your new favorite book
    • 4/5
      The prompt under my four star rating states, “I liked it.” When I changed my rating to 3 stars it changed also, to “I thought it was ok.”

      I changed the rating back to four stars, though I can’t say that I liked this collection of stories about the way life on earth changes after a deadly virus is unearthed by arctic explorers in the face of global warming.

      These stories explore grief, bodily decay and metamorphosis, radical change in mourning customs, the burnout of professional and family caregivers, and many other themes.

      They struck me by turns as inventive, important, slightly disgusting, emotionally disturbing. As someone who spent their adult life providing emotional and spiritual support to the dying and their families, most recently in the teeth of a pandemic, these stories were difficult to get through. The task left me depressed and somewhat discouraged.

      “So,” you may ask, “why did you rate this book a four star read?”

      I’m not sure. Maybe because I don’t think that “liked” or “didn’t like” are adequate descriptions of a book listening experience. Those terms leave out a huge swath of my life with books that have had a huge impact on my life, but books I did not “like” in the conventional sense.

      This book isn’t for everyone, that is for sure. People who are still actively grieving the loss or impending loss of a loved one might find it too much to bear.

      On the other hand I do think this volume is important. Worth reading, even if taken a little at a time. While it may disturb you at points, I think the experience did manage to raise important personal and philosophical issues for me around my own impending death and the deaths of those closest to me.
    • 5/5
      The story is epic and wondrous. Won’t spoil it for anyone but what really made listening to it so satisfying was that the readers were Japanese American and pronounced Japanese words correctly. As a native speaker, I truly appreciated that part of the production.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I loved this book. It's a near future dystopia where about a decade from now climate change and a plague are wrecking havoc on earth. It's told through several perspectives that are interconnected over time and space, and they come together like puzzle pieces.

      The audiobook is full cast with a different narrator for each chapter and really well done.

      Definitely will be one that I re-listen/read because it held some beautiful insights into humanity.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      So good!! I loved the parallels to covid, but then the continuation into being science fiction was fantastic. Because of the connection to covid, it felt realistic. I read it twice to really appreciate all the character connections. I highly recommend!!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Hands down, one of the best books I've ever read. It hooked me from the very beginning and I could not stop listening until the end. Presented as a series of interconnected short stories, it builds a mosaic picture of humanity over the eons. If you are a fan of philosophical science fiction, I strongly suggest this novel.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      A very intricate, well crafted book. This is one I'll remember for a long time.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Incredible listen. So intense, but impactful. I cried the whole way through, and yet the catharsis of grief in the human experience was soothing in some way.

      1 person found this helpful