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How High We Go in the Dark
- Narrated by: Jason Culp, Stephanie Komure, Micky Shiloah, Joe Knezevich, Brianna Ishibashi, Kotaro Watanabe, Matthew Bridges, Kurt Kanazawa, Greg Watanabe, Jeanne Sakata, MacLeod Andrews, Keisuke Hoashi, Brian Nishii, Julia Whelan
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
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Summary
Bloomsbury presents How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu, read by Jason Culp, Stephanie Komure, Micky Shiloah, Joe Knezevich, Brianna Ishibashi, Kotaro Watanabe, Matthew Bridges, Kurt Kanazawa, Greg Watanabe, Jeanne Sakata, MacLeod Andrews, Keisuke Hoashi, Brian Nishii and Julia Whelan.
For fans of Cloud Atlas and Station Eleven, Sequoia Nagamatsu's debut is a wildly imaginative, genre-bending work spanning generations across the globe as humanity struggles to rebuild itself in the aftermath of a climate plague.
Dr Cliff Miyashiro arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue his recently deceased daughter’s research, only to discover a virus, newly unearthed from melting permafrost. The plague unleashed reshapes life on earth for generations. Yet even while struggling to counter this destructive force, humanity stubbornly persists in myriad moving and ever inventive ways.
Among those adjusting to this new normal are an aspiring comedian, employed by a theme park designed for terminally ill children, who falls in love with a mother trying desperately to keep her son alive; a scientist who, having failed to save his own son from the plague, gets a second chance at fatherhood when one of his test subjects - a pig - develops human speech; a man who, after recovering from his own coma, plans a block party for his neighbours who have also woken up to find that they alone have survived their families and a widowed painter and her teenaged granddaughter who must set off on cosmic quest to locate a new home planet.
From funerary skyscrapers to hotels for the dead, How High We Go in the Dark follows a cast of intricately linked characters spanning hundreds of years as humanity endeavours to restore the delicate balance of the world. This is a story of unshakable hope that crosses literary lines to give us a world rebuilding itself through an endless capacity for love, resilience and reinvention.
Critic reviews
"A powerfully moving and thought provoking read. At times sublime, strange and deeply human." (Adrian Tchaikovsky, best-selling and award-winning author of the Children of Time series)
"Haunting and luminous.... An astonishing debut." (Alan Moore, creator of Watchmen and V for Vendetta)
"Sequoia Nagamatsu is a writer whose imagination is matched only by his compassion, the kind we need to light our way through the dark." (Chloe Benjamin, best-selling author of The Immortalists)
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What listeners say about How High We Go in the Dark
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Audiobooks Nest Reviews
- 21-02-22
High Praise for this Darkest of Tales
🧡 Haunting, powerful, magical, poetic, all the positive hyperbolic adjectives apply. That’s just the kind of story this is. And it’s not just one story. It reads like an anthology of disparate tales voiced by a variety of characters in varying settings. Even the genre doesn’t stand still, shifting from futuristic and sci fi to supernatural to drama and even humour.
💛 All of these elements are connected by the gossamer thread of existing in the same world - one scarred by a terrible disease. And as the narrative progresses, the thread draws the stories together.
💚 I knew this was a pandemic/post apocalypse story, but as I often do, I went in without any further info. Had I read the blurb, I might have been prepared for the devastating sadness and poignancy of the park for dying children or the absurd but touching story of the talking pig.
💜 There are times when things feel aimless. As though the narrative is floating untethered. It’s also difficult as a listener to adapt to a new character each time. But it’s worth it.
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SOUNDBITE
🎧 This is a stunning audiobook. It works incredibly well for the format, not least because it’s obvious the production was so carefully considered. A cast of narrators makes it much easier to transition from one story to the next. What’s more - a small but significant factor - the chapter headings are properly signposted.
🎧 Most of these narrators are new to me. All, in fact, except Julia Whelan, who was a big draw for me in listening to this and did not disappoint. The performances are excellent and drew me in every time.
1 person found this helpful
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- Mr Webb
- 16-02-22
Great
Narration good. Great book after a slower start. Great title which I'd highly recommend
1 person found this helpful
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- sara
- 30-06-22
Original take on the genre
This (audio)book surpassed my expectations and was a far better story than I expected.
It is a study on grief and collective trauma from so many angles, it made me reflect on a recent loss of my own and other post-pandemic ripples.
I found this book a refreshing take on the disaster/end of the world genre I’ve listened too and look forward to exploring more by this author.
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- Sarah King
- 20-06-22
Ambitious story, very imaginative
Some of this was very enjoyable. I enjoyed some chapters much more than others. Each chapter is almost a standalone story, and as you progress through the story you find links between characters and the history described. The last chapter is excellent and very thought provoking.
Hats off to the authors imagination, at times I felt he was trying to pack too much into this book and it was slightly all over the place.
At times I considered giving up, but I have a rule never to do this so I persevered.
On balance it was pretty good.
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- Amazon Customer
- 27-04-22
Something else!
Oh so kind of sad and somewhat relatable, engaging the mind.. in a world of countless possibilities. This is definitely something else..
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- Kat Robinson
- 11-04-22
Sublime
As a voracious reader it takes a lot to really make a book stand out. How High We Go in the Dark is truly special. It couples outstanding storytelling with a dystopian future that is totally credible.
It also brings in incredible elements of the fantastical, and a wonderfully relatable take on the human condition.
I will never forget this book. It’s a must read.
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- Amazon Customer
- 24-03-22
reminded me a lot of black mirror
was an interesting and eery medley of tales linked together through a sci fi plague. interesting concept and right level of dark and sensitive. quite cruel at times. original.
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- Allen Mortimer
- 03-02-22
not for me.
I just didn't engage with the storyline , even though it was an intertwined concept, it just didn't come together for me.