We finally push the Earth too far and flooding ensues, leading to economic and societal collapse. And despite being surrounded by water, getting water that’s safe to drink is easier said than done.
I can’t remember how this book by Eiren Caffall got on my radar, but it seemed to be one that everyone was raving about, so I went ahead and got the audiobook from my library.
To start with, dystopian fiction isn’t really my thing. But, like I said, everyone was raving about it so I decided to give it a chance.
It’s fine.
It’s told from the perspective of a young girl, Nonie, who is on the cusp of puberty. She has never known the world full of easily accessible necessities, much less creature comforts, that her parents grew up in.
She lives with her parents and older sister on top of the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. They hunt in Central Park for food, and only take supplies from the exhibits when they absolutely have to.
They used to live with a heterosexual couple and the woman’s nephew, whom she adopted after he arrived from Puerto Rico right before it was flooded. His mom didn’t make it out in time.
The nephew was killed by wolves and his aunt/adopted mother died in a plague soon afterwards. From the way other people in the book talk about it, it sounds like the plague killed off most of the children, making it a miracle that Nonie and her older sister survived.
The book switches back and forth in time to before they left NYC and after they left.
Before they left, Nonie’s mom died of a kidney disease when they could no longer get the medication she needed.
I don’t think it’s clear when that happened, but I don’t think it was long before they had to evacuate. A storm came that broke the flood barriers of NYC, which meant the roof of the museum would no longer be high enough to keep them safe.
So they get in a boat and head up the Hudson.
Their mom had told them she had inherited a house on a farm in upstate New York, telling the girls it belongs to them if they can make it there.
So that’s where they set out for once they leave the city.
Along the way they run into other people trying to survive (or take advantage of) the situation.
They encounter friends and enemies and, against all odds, hope for a better future.
What makes Nonie so unique is her connection to water. She can predict when a storm is coming, or when there will be a gentle rain, ideal for collecting rainwater. It’s thanks to her they make it out of the city before it’s too late.
My one complaint about this book is its tendency to contradict itself.
Early on, Nonie tells us she’s not good at reading facial expressions, and that it has caused some tension between her and her dad.
She then proceeds to spend the rest of the book being really good at reading people and interpersonal relationships and situations.
For example, she tells us when she identified two people had made a connection, despite the fact that no one said so aloud (at least not in her presence.) Yet she was able to clearly identify what was happening and articulate her own feelings about and reaction to this development.
She also tells us at one point how surprised someone was to see her cry because she never cried, not even when her parents died.
Yet she had previously described how she cried herself to sleep at her mother’s grave.
I think Caffall just figured neurodivergence is trendy right now and wanted to include it in a character without bothering to do her research first.