sarkenobi's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Confinement, Kidnapping, Gore, Trafficking, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Body horror, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Murder, Alcohol, Car accident, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Deportation, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Child death, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Suicide, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Cursing, Animal death, Genocide, Child abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Abortion, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Police brutality, Domestic abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pedophilia, and Rape
Lots of natural disasters, suffering, and low quality of lifebamjam's review against another edition
2.0
TW: Pedophilia, descriptions of violence, description of an epileptic attack, racism
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from Skyhorse Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to them and to the author for the opportunity to review this novel.
After reading the summary, I realized that I haven't read a book like this one before. It felt like a short story collection and an anthology, but if every story was intricately tied together. I was curious about whether I'd like the style and the cover gave me such a haunting feeling.
What I Liked
I did end up really liking the style! It almost felt like one of those ensemble cast movies, where each character is reacting to the plot in different ways and some never even end up interacting with each other. The writing is filled with short sentences that make reading really easy and quick. You'd fly through the pages. In some ways, it was also pretty poetic and very in-your-face about how much damage humans can do to the environment. I think it did a good job showcasing the effects of climate change/global warming without being overt about it. I also liked some of the characters; their personal issues and their interactions with their environment could be pretty compelling. I think the doctor and his wife were probably my favourites to follow.
What I Didn't Like
Despite the fast-paced writing, the plot is so very slow, which was why it took me so long to get through this novel. The women weren't entirely written well, either; one of them was a sexual predator which was incredibly uncomfortable to read about. When the novel very briefly touched on racism, I didn't find it was handled well at all.
Conclusion
There was some good aspects to this book, but nothing about it blew me away.
My Rating: 2.5/5
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from Skyhorse Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to them and to the author for the opportunity to review this novel.
After reading the summary, I realized that I haven't read a book like this one before. It felt like a short story collection and an anthology, but if every story was intricately tied together. I was curious about whether I'd like the style and the cover gave me such a haunting feeling.
What I Liked
I did end up really liking the style! It almost felt like one of those ensemble cast movies, where each character is reacting to the plot in different ways and some never even end up interacting with each other. The writing is filled with short sentences that make reading really easy and quick. You'd fly through the pages. In some ways, it was also pretty poetic and very in-your-face about how much damage humans can do to the environment. I think it did a good job showcasing the effects of climate change/global warming without being overt about it. I also liked some of the characters; their personal issues and their interactions with their environment could be pretty compelling. I think the doctor and his wife were probably my favourites to follow.
What I Didn't Like
Despite the fast-paced writing, the plot is so very slow, which was why it took me so long to get through this novel. The women weren't entirely written well, either; one of them was a sexual predator which was incredibly uncomfortable to read about. When the novel very briefly touched on racism, I didn't find it was handled well at all.
Conclusion
There was some good aspects to this book, but nothing about it blew me away.
My Rating: 2.5/5
jess_zf's review against another edition
2.0
I was swept away by the original work, and this one, while utterly believable, reeked of too much darkness for a read right now...(this century? millenium? sigh)
jacquieburrellcarson's review against another edition
1.0
Not my thing. Horribly depressing, yet no character fleshed enough to feel compassion for any of them.
ineffablebob's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I picked up Above the Ether based on the description as a novel about people caught in the effects of climate change. Which it is, but the style is most definitely Not For Me. There's no real plotline, rather snapshots of many people's lives interspersed with descriptions of various terrible climate-change-related actions and effects. Everything is in second person and no names are used. Lots of emotional expression without the infrastructure of a plot to hang it on. If that sounds like something you'd enjoy, give this a try, but it did little for me
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content and Trafficking
sweaters_raindrops's review against another edition
2.0
TW: Pedophilia, descriptions of violence, description of an epileptic attack, racism
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from Skyhorse Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to them and to the author for the opportunity to review this novel.
After reading the summary, I realized that I haven't read a book like this one before. It felt like a short story collection and an anthology, but if every story was intricately tied together. I was curious about whether I'd like the style and the cover gave me such a haunting feeling.
What I Liked
I did end up really liking the style! It almost felt like one of those ensemble cast movies, where each character is reacting to the plot in different ways and some never even end up interacting with each other. The writing is filled with short sentences that make reading really easy and quick. You'd fly through the pages. In some ways, it was also pretty poetic and very in-your-face about how much damage humans can do to the environment. I think it did a good job showcasing the effects of climate change/global warming without being overt about it. I also liked some of the characters; their personal issues and their interactions with their environment could be pretty compelling. I think the doctor and his wife were probably my favourites to follow.
What I Didn't Like
Despite the fast-paced writing, the plot is so very slow, which was why it took me so long to get through this novel. The women weren't entirely written well, either; one of them was a sexual predator which was incredibly uncomfortable to read about. When the novel very briefly touched on racism, I didn't find it was handled well at all.
Conclusion
There was some good aspects to this book, but nothing about it blew me away.
My Rating: 2.5/5
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from Skyhorse Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to them and to the author for the opportunity to review this novel.
After reading the summary, I realized that I haven't read a book like this one before. It felt like a short story collection and an anthology, but if every story was intricately tied together. I was curious about whether I'd like the style and the cover gave me such a haunting feeling.
What I Liked
I did end up really liking the style! It almost felt like one of those ensemble cast movies, where each character is reacting to the plot in different ways and some never even end up interacting with each other. The writing is filled with short sentences that make reading really easy and quick. You'd fly through the pages. In some ways, it was also pretty poetic and very in-your-face about how much damage humans can do to the environment. I think it did a good job showcasing the effects of climate change/global warming without being overt about it. I also liked some of the characters; their personal issues and their interactions with their environment could be pretty compelling. I think the doctor and his wife were probably my favourites to follow.
What I Didn't Like
Despite the fast-paced writing, the plot is so very slow, which was why it took me so long to get through this novel. The women weren't entirely written well, either; one of them was a sexual predator which was incredibly uncomfortable to read about. When the novel very briefly touched on racism, I didn't find it was handled well at all.
Conclusion
There was some good aspects to this book, but nothing about it blew me away.
My Rating: 2.5/5
julia_w's review against another edition
5.0
It's not technically post apocalyptic, but it still feels that way. We get stories from 6 unnamed, unconnected people, juxtaposed with snippets of descriptions of phenomenon- some already happening and some easily envisioned. It all works to effectively create a hauntingly realistic vision of the near future- maybe 20 years coming.
It's not only the climate change that is horrifying- although the looming, ever-present extreme weather in different cities in the book do have that effect. The horror also comes from how the people in the book relate (or don't relate, as the case may be) to each other. The investor is particularly hard to read because she's such a dispassionately terrible person. There's no real interpersonal animosity in the book- most of the conflict is with nature, but there's also not much empathy towards the very end of the book, which just makes it seem so bleak. I didn't realize this was a prequel until I'd gotten part way through the book, and I'm definitely interested in continuing.
It's not only the climate change that is horrifying- although the looming, ever-present extreme weather in different cities in the book do have that effect. The horror also comes from how the people in the book relate (or don't relate, as the case may be) to each other. The investor is particularly hard to read because she's such a dispassionately terrible person. There's no real interpersonal animosity in the book- most of the conflict is with nature, but there's also not much empathy towards the very end of the book, which just makes it seem so bleak. I didn't realize this was a prequel until I'd gotten part way through the book, and I'm definitely interested in continuing.
whiteraven191's review against another edition
2.0
DNF at 45%
The writing style really didn't work for me. The fact that none of these characters had names made it really hard to connect with them. The use of 3rd person present tense really only worked in the story-line about the dad driving with his two kids. Probably my least favorite story line was about the investment lady. It felt like 90% of her chapters were just about her weird sex life, which didn't contribute to the story at all.
The writing style really didn't work for me. The fact that none of these characters had names made it really hard to connect with them. The use of 3rd person present tense really only worked in the story-line about the dad driving with his two kids. Probably my least favorite story line was about the investment lady. It felt like 90% of her chapters were just about her weird sex life, which didn't contribute to the story at all.
jeansbookbag's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. I enjoyed this, although definitely not as much as The City Where We Once Lived. I think for a character study to really work, a focus on one or two characters is the way to go. It was really interesting to see how these characters ended up all tying together, but I didn’t get the same depth as I did from City. Good science fiction, but not Barnes’ best.
tonstantweader's review
5.0
Above the Ether takes place the day after tomorrow, or so it seems. An earthquake in the gulf at the same time as a hurricane creates an epic wave that devours the gulf coast. Never-ending fires render communities unlivable. Drought devastates farmland. Dandelions and mollusks and nature in general seems to have run amok. Eric Barnes describes a dystopic future that is only a tick of the clock from our present, a future where the climate catastrophe we have done little to avoid arrives. And yet, Barnes does not use the word climate once. This is not a polemic, this is a story.
Above the Ether follows six narratives, a father and his kids fleeing the gulf, a husband and wife seeking their runaway son, a callous investor checking out the potential for disaster dividends, refugees finally getting their release from a border detention facility, carnival workers working their route, and a restaurant manager just doing his job as best he can. These disparate people move by happenstance and necessity toward an unnamed city where they converge in a crisis, finding hope in the midst of despair.
Nothing and no one has a name. People are described solely by the roles. Every location is unnamed, leaving it to us to situate it in our own cultural geography. So why is it so compelling? Why did I read this in one sitting, skipping dinner and reading to the end? I think we value what we work for.
I remember being taught to put a notecard over the bottom third of the text while I was studying, covering the serifs that make reading easier. My professor explained that if I was forced to engage and infer while I was reading, I would remember what I studied better. He also said in the end, I would learn to read faster. He was right. There is this idea in pedagogy that instilling a “desirable difficulty” in the work makes it easier to remember. The concept of desirable difficulty might not be related to writing, but I think it captures the magic of Above the Ether.
It is as though Barnes took the writing advice of “show, don’t tell” to its ultimate expression. He won’t even tell us who is who and in some chapter fragments, it can be hard to tell. But that effort makes us more engaged. So much is unexplained, we must bring ourselves into the reading process. We cannot just sit back and read. We have to think while we read.
We care about these people because we have worked to know them and their situation. We understand the catastrophe because we had to integrate our own experience. Add to that, the prose that is as simple as a hymn and as musical. There is poetry on these pages as well as great understanding of humanity and compassion for the human condition.
Above the Ether is painful in many ways, especially since this dystopia seems inevitable given our desire to consume the inheritance of the next seven generations all in one. It feels grounded in the reality of likely outcomes and human potential.
Above the Ether will be released June 11th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2019/06/02/9781628729986/
Above the Ether follows six narratives, a father and his kids fleeing the gulf, a husband and wife seeking their runaway son, a callous investor checking out the potential for disaster dividends, refugees finally getting their release from a border detention facility, carnival workers working their route, and a restaurant manager just doing his job as best he can. These disparate people move by happenstance and necessity toward an unnamed city where they converge in a crisis, finding hope in the midst of despair.
Nothing and no one has a name. People are described solely by the roles. Every location is unnamed, leaving it to us to situate it in our own cultural geography. So why is it so compelling? Why did I read this in one sitting, skipping dinner and reading to the end? I think we value what we work for.
I remember being taught to put a notecard over the bottom third of the text while I was studying, covering the serifs that make reading easier. My professor explained that if I was forced to engage and infer while I was reading, I would remember what I studied better. He also said in the end, I would learn to read faster. He was right. There is this idea in pedagogy that instilling a “desirable difficulty” in the work makes it easier to remember. The concept of desirable difficulty might not be related to writing, but I think it captures the magic of Above the Ether.
It is as though Barnes took the writing advice of “show, don’t tell” to its ultimate expression. He won’t even tell us who is who and in some chapter fragments, it can be hard to tell. But that effort makes us more engaged. So much is unexplained, we must bring ourselves into the reading process. We cannot just sit back and read. We have to think while we read.
We care about these people because we have worked to know them and their situation. We understand the catastrophe because we had to integrate our own experience. Add to that, the prose that is as simple as a hymn and as musical. There is poetry on these pages as well as great understanding of humanity and compassion for the human condition.
Above the Ether is painful in many ways, especially since this dystopia seems inevitable given our desire to consume the inheritance of the next seven generations all in one. It feels grounded in the reality of likely outcomes and human potential.
Above the Ether will be released June 11th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2019/06/02/9781628729986/