A review by onesime
A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker
5.0
Sarah Pinsker's dystopian novel is terrifyingly prescient: released in September 2019, it anticipates a world in which a pandemic of a new pox strain forces people into isolation. Sounds uncomfortably familiar, doesn't it? But while it could be a depressing read, the novel actually offers a rather hopeful perspective on in rather gloomy times.
While there are several well-crafted protagonists, the most important force in this novel is live music, and the feeling of connection and communion it provides for the people who attend gigs. Pinsker manages to deftly conjure the feeling of euphoria that sweeps through the fortunate crowds treated to electrifying performances.
Basically, the novel revolves around how musical communities subvert the government's fear-mongering and the dreaded congregation laws that prevent people form gathering in large numbers. Woven into the narrative are casual discussion of how corporate interests and politics interact and how government measures that might have started out as necessities were never loosened, even once the danger from the pandemic has receded.
Thus, while very clearly close to what is going on in the real world at the moment, the novel takes place at a very different place in the pandemic's trajectory: the major outbreaks are years in the past and there are no signs that the pandemic is still an issue by the time of the story. So while I am very taken with the novel's subversion of government guidelines and the utopic quality of the concerts in the novel, I do not think this is something we should be doing at the moment (just in case anyone gets the wrong ideas about what I'm saying here).
While it might not be the thing you want to read at the moment, this book is highly recommended for lovers of live music and those who are thinking about the long-term dangers of the current situation beyond the direct health effects of the Corona virus.
While there are several well-crafted protagonists, the most important force in this novel is live music, and the feeling of connection and communion it provides for the people who attend gigs. Pinsker manages to deftly conjure the feeling of euphoria that sweeps through the fortunate crowds treated to electrifying performances.
Basically, the novel revolves around how musical communities subvert the government's fear-mongering and the dreaded congregation laws that prevent people form gathering in large numbers. Woven into the narrative are casual discussion of how corporate interests and politics interact and how government measures that might have started out as necessities were never loosened, even once the danger from the pandemic has receded.
Thus, while very clearly close to what is going on in the real world at the moment, the novel takes place at a very different place in the pandemic's trajectory: the major outbreaks are years in the past and there are no signs that the pandemic is still an issue by the time of the story. So while I am very taken with the novel's subversion of government guidelines and the utopic quality of the concerts in the novel, I do not think this is something we should be doing at the moment (just in case anyone gets the wrong ideas about what I'm saying here).
While it might not be the thing you want to read at the moment, this book is highly recommended for lovers of live music and those who are thinking about the long-term dangers of the current situation beyond the direct health effects of the Corona virus.