How High We Go In the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

How High We Go In the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu is a novel that depicts a global pandemic that is unleashed when an ancient virus is released from permafrost that is melting due to climate change. Most descriptions of this book that I’ve seen note that the novel had been mostly written before our current pandemic arose, and I feel somewhat compelled to say that as well. The novel wasn’t inspired by the Covid pandemic, but reading this book very much made me grapple with the meaning of the pandemic. The novel’s version of a pandemic virus is much more deadly and fast-moving than Covid. Each chapter depicts a different character at a different point in time as the pandemic unfolds, starting with the researchers who first detect the virus in the permafrost, to stories of those dealing with the breakdown of society during the pandemic, to farther in the future. Even though there are some connections between various characters and situations in these chapters, the book is essentially a short story book. I usually am not a big fan of books of short stories – even though I might like individual short stories, I get a little frustrated by them in book format since I often either want more of certain stories or much less of others in a collection. In the case of How High We Go In the Dark, however, the short story format really drove home the themes of grief and loss in the book. I ended up feeling like I got to spend brief, intense moments with different people before they disappeared entirely – and feeling something close to grief when I had to move to the next chapter, realizing that character was now gone. Some chapters felt more moving or engaging than others, but overall the lyrical and melancholy quality of Nagamatsu’s writing is quite lovely and contributed to the building sense of grief in the book. A chapter about an amusement park that provided euthanasia services for children who were about to die of the virus is a particular standout. The stories also make connections to grief over loved ones and grief over the damage that humans have done to the planet – so much beauty that is and will be lost because of human carelessness. I realized how much the book intertwined with my own grief over the pandemic and the planet – and reading it wasn’t so much cathartic as it gave me a beautiful space to notice how much I am grieving and will continue to grieve. This book haunted me for quite some time after I read it.