Continuing to try and work through my COVID grief by reading pandemic books. 
Just like The Lightest Object In The Universe by Kimi Eisele and Severance by Ling Ma, it was shocking how much this book got right about pandemic reactions pre-2020. Totally wild that the only response to the disease this book got wrong was that if an elected official lifted restrictions too early, grieving families whose loved ones died would get an apology.

Each chapter ends with a transition to the next POV - news articles, voicemail transcripts, blog posts, letters, emails, and more, that I really enjoyed. 

Though I liked the general concept, found the research into coronaviruses incredible, and liked the many of the artistic choices made, the book was a let down. I found it difficult to remember who was who with so many POVs/location/time jumps and most women having a short, basic names (Emma, Sarah, Rachel, Julia) and the guys having 3 letter nicknames (Stu, Ben, Jer, Ell) was frustrating. The social web map at the front of the book was impossible to read but would have been really helpful if it had been clear about who was related to who and when they met. I also would have liked a location at the start of each chapter as jumping between NYC, Landsdowne, remote cabins, out to sea, etc got hard to track. I spent the first part of the book thinking Landsdowne was in Canada. 

Every man in this book was a massive eye-roll. Could there be at least one who wasn't a cheating scumbag, cop, or otherwise selfish or indulgent ass? Shocking that with so many disloyal and sexist pigs, Emma still managed to be my least favorite character. Having a weird childhood and realizing your husband is a conservative prick doesn't excuse hosting the first superspreader event in another country only to return home with no remorse and refuse to wear a mask or social distance because she “isn’t afraid.” Her panic over Jericho was absurd. I guess it is a realistic portrayal of how people behave, but even after more of her grief was revealed, I couldn't stomach her selfish behavior that put more families at risk of her loss.

While the question of what do we owe to each other, especially in global turmoil, is obviously critical, I think this story could have made a clearer philosophical argument by cutting a lot of character chapters. I didn't need to hear from Keelan. I would have much rather heard from Dominica than from Emma, but I didn't really need to hear from either of them. This could have been a tighter and more compelling story if it chose just one family - Emma and Dominica and Stu or Elliot and Sarah and Owen. With so many people to keep track of, I was left wondering if I'd forgotten what happened to people, or if their storylines were just dropped. For example, Jericho was supposedly so entwined in Stuart's life, but where is he in the end? Why isn't he in Emma's life at all? The ending felt flat.