Pleasant Nights

Title: The Deluge

Author: Stephen Markley

Genre: climate change fiction

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

I have only heard amazing things about this book, and with a quote from Stephen King on the cover, I knew this was one I had to read. I truly had no idea what I was getting into. To say this book is good isn’t accurate. It’s not really enjoyable. It’s a giant bummer, honestly. But it’s such an important book and will stick with me for years.

From GoodReads: In the first decades of the 21st century, the world is convulsing, its governments mired in gridlock while a patient but unrelenting ecological crisis looms. America is in upheaval, battered by violent weather and extreme politics. In California in 2013, Tony Pietrus, a scientist studying deposits of undersea methane, receives a death threat. His fate will become bound to a stunning cast of characters—a broken drug addict, a star advertising strategist, a neurodivergent mathematician, a cunning eco-terrorist, an actor turned religious zealot, and a brazen young activist named Kate Morris, who, in the mountains of Wyoming, begins a project that will alter the course of the decades to come.

From the Gulf Coast to Los Angeles, the Midwest to Washington, DC, their intertwined odysseys unfold against a stark backdrop of accelerating chaos as they summon courage, galvanize a nation, fall to their own fear, and find wild hope in the face of staggering odds. As their stories hurtle toward a spectacular climax, each faces a reckoning: what will they sacrifice to salvage humanity’s last chance at a future? A singular achievement, The Deluge is a once-in-a-generation novel that meets the moment as few works of art ever have.

At 900 pages, this book moves slowly and methodically. If you have the stamina, it’s worth reading, but don’t expect to have the greatest time ever. Global warming is real and we are past the point of being able to salvage the earth. And as this book illustrates, the future is probably bleak. The characters weave in and out of one another’s lives, impacting the world in various ways. What I did love about this book was how all-expansive it was. Markley did his research to the 1000th degree. I could not believe all of this came from one person’s head. I can’t say I recommend this to everyone, but there are some who will find it as profound and important as I did.

The One and Only Ruby

Holler of the Fireflies

Title: Holler of the Fireflies

Author: David Barclay Moore

Genre: middle grade

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

Middle-grade books are really important. Having a middle grader, I know how hard it can be to keep them engaged in reading. And as much as I love a book that has a purpose in educating children, some books try to take on more than they should. This book was one of those. Instead of tackling racism, police brutality, classism, pollution, queerness, and wealth, just pick a couple and expand upon them. This book was very shallow in a lot of subjects instead of deep in a couple.

From Goodreads: Javari knew that West Virginia would be different from his home in Bushwick, Brooklyn. But his first day at STEM Camp in a little Appalachian town is still a shock. Though run-ins with the police are just the same here. Not good.

Javari will learn a lot about science, tech, engineering, and math at camp. And also about rich people, racism, and hidden agendas. But it’s Cricket, a local boy, budding activist, and occasional thief, who will show him a different side of the holler–and blow his mind wide open.

Javari is about to have that summer. Where everything gets messy and complicated and confusing . . . and you wouldn’t want it any other way.

This book just never came together. Javari is a fun kid, but the dialogue is just not authentic. Cricket is a cool friendship, but some unnecessary wrenches are thrown in. The wealth and class issues are forced. And while the racism is the predominant issue that Javari faces, it’s more just vignettes of microaggressions rather than a deep dive into the real issue. I wanted to like this book, and it was okay, but I can’t say I’ll be trying to get my middle grader to read it.