I’d been pretty avoidant towards this book for awhile because of it’s virus subject matter, however I finally decided to pick it up. I appreciated that the interwoven stories of all the characters had a distinct yet connected quality to them. Nagamatsu manages to highlight the interpersonal interactions of the characters while balancing the impact the “Arctic plague” has had on everyone. 

This book has a lot of strengths and takes on very complicated themes of death, hope, and human/animal resilience. I think that all of the stories offer a perspective that is slightly different from the one before it. Nagamatsu says there’s no one right way to survive a tragedy with this novel and for that, I deeply appreciate this work. 

The only part that I felt like was out of place in the overall book was “Before You Melt Into The Sea”. I think it could have been left out with no detriment to the overall story because it came right after “Melancholy Nights In A Tokyo Virtual Cafe” which was dealing with unrequited love and non-reciprocation from the other party. I could have seen some fusing of these two story parts as a way to not completely cut the reflections on the future environment that “Before You Melt” was achieving for the story.

Overall, I’m glad I took the plunge to read this novel. I feel like it’s given me an opportunity to empathize and reflect on the ways I might begin to heal from the pandemic and I look forward to Nagamatsu’s next work.