The Past Is Red
Ratings37
Average rating4.1
I love how Valente writes, her style and premises. This was an audible treat as listened and lounged, recovering. It reminded me a little of Discworld, fantastic world building and characterization of the people and their regions.
I really loved getting to know Tetley (the voice of the narrator), and learning to understand the way she sees her world. And it really is her world in a way. In a world made out of cleverly arranged floating garbage on an unending ocean, a small town of sorts has been built up, and she loves this world. But it does not love her back.
Despite being the town's outlet for their rage, she maintains that she is the happiest person in the world. Everyone else is so busy wanting what they can never have, and dreaming that the world will go back to what it once was. She likes her little garbage world though, and wouldn't want the world any other way. That is, until she makes a new friend, and her cheery resolve becomes challenged.
I found this a very emotionally calming book in a weird way. It could be heartbreaking at times, but Tetley's resolve to see the whole world as it is and love it kept the story from feeling sad. The writing is poetic and fun (and peppered with profanity that no longer counts as profanity). It's post-apocalyptic insofar as there clearly has been an apocalypse, but really it celebrates life and perspective and the hunt for a shared humanity. One might even say this book is inspiring. Maybe.
Tetley Abednego is a young girl stuck on a pile of garbage. The Earth has been flooded and the only things that remain are floating garbage islands. There are different parts of this island named after the type of stuff that is arranged on it.
The story is very strange but strangely wonderful. Tetley did something that angered everyone but she still has hope of a better life.
The world is very detailed and interesting.
I've decided the perfect beach reads are novellas because you can read them in one afternoon! This particular novella maybe isn't a great beach read. only because it's about climate change and the oceans rising . . . But that fits with my brand of not knowing what a “beach read” is.
Anyway, this was simultaneously a real warning about climate change and a hopeful look at the future.