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A review by bookkate
The Great Transition by Nick Fuller Googins
4.0
ARC e-book via NetGalley
Provided by Atria Books (A Division of Simon & Schuster)
Publication: 15 Aug 2023
I think this could be categorized as both/either adult or YA.
A couple of moderate spoilers in latter 1/2 of review.
The setting in the near future feels so immediately now -- it IS what's happening now: uncontrollable wildfires, flooding... but Googins deftly weaves in world-building where we see how many things have changed, despite many others that are still familiar.
The sprinkling of "oldies" music throughout is very entertaining and funny - Taylor Swift, the Cranberries...
I also really liked how the three threads of the story are told -- the present day, (I think it's 16? 15? years after "Day Zero"); and then the backstories of Emi's dad Larch (told through his own perspective); and the backstory of Emi's mom, Kristina, particularly well-told through transcripts of Emi's interviews with her mom for a school project.
The book is pretty fast-paced, and the conversations rapid-fire (with no quotation marks), and narration almost stream-of-thought sometimes, but it all works together well and I read it VERY quickly - in a day - because I could not put it down.
You get the sense of things that never change - the rebelliousness of teenagers; the young people today who don't appreciate what the past generation did. But you also see the tragedy that the "Crisis" didn't NEED to happen. Larch's story of working on the flood barriers around empty million dollar apartments of Wall Street puts the situation in stark relief; the political stance of the book is very blatant.
Though the story flies by, the big questions of looming climate crisis that we are continuing to walk into, and the differing (but overlapping) priorities of Emi's parents stick with you for a long time after -- who is right? Larch who will protect his own daughter at any cost; or Kristina who will sacrifice anything to preserve a better world for all . . . .
I would have liked to know how/if Emi and Larch were ever able to get back in touch with Lucas, but this is just my wishful thinking & wanting to make sure all my favorite characters end up ok. I'd read a sequel that branched off from this - Emi's future or Lucas' life...
"That's the thing about working together. Mutual aid. . . . You can save the world. But it's also the problem -- getting everyone to work together. You have to make it happen. The advantage of being alone is you don't have to convince anyone. The disadvantage is you have to convince yourself."
Highly recommend!
Provided by Atria Books (A Division of Simon & Schuster)
Publication: 15 Aug 2023
I think this could be categorized as both/either adult or YA.
A couple of moderate spoilers in latter 1/2 of review.
The setting in the near future feels so immediately now -- it IS what's happening now: uncontrollable wildfires, flooding... but Googins deftly weaves in world-building where we see how many things have changed, despite many others that are still familiar.
The sprinkling of "oldies" music throughout is very entertaining and funny - Taylor Swift, the Cranberries...
I also really liked how the three threads of the story are told -- the present day, (I think it's 16? 15? years after "Day Zero"); and then the backstories of Emi's dad Larch (told through his own perspective); and the backstory of Emi's mom, Kristina, particularly well-told through transcripts of Emi's interviews with her mom for a school project.
The book is pretty fast-paced, and the conversations rapid-fire (with no quotation marks), and narration almost stream-of-thought sometimes, but it all works together well and I read it VERY quickly - in a day - because I could not put it down.
You get the sense of things that never change - the rebelliousness of teenagers; the young people today who don't appreciate what the past generation did. But you also see the tragedy that the "Crisis" didn't NEED to happen. Larch's story of working on the flood barriers around empty million dollar apartments of Wall Street puts the situation in stark relief; the political stance of the book is very blatant.
Though the story flies by, the big questions of looming climate crisis that we are continuing to walk into, and the differing (but overlapping) priorities of Emi's parents stick with you for a long time after -- who is right? Larch who will protect his own daughter at any cost; or Kristina who will sacrifice anything to preserve a better world for all . . . .
I would have liked to know how/if Emi and Larch were ever able to get back in touch with Lucas, but this is just my wishful thinking & wanting to make sure all my favorite characters end up ok. I'd read a sequel that branched off from this - Emi's future or Lucas' life...
"That's the thing about working together. Mutual aid. . . . You can save the world. But it's also the problem -- getting everyone to work together. You have to make it happen. The advantage of being alone is you don't have to convince anyone. The disadvantage is you have to convince yourself."
Highly recommend!