Reviews and Comments

Giving this 3 stars instead of 2 because reading it seems useful to keep abreast of The Discourse, and it was a reasonably quick read (I reserve 1 star for "didn't want to waste time to finish this").

Despite all the footnotes and references, this book has the superficial vibe of the early Internet "Let's make more Progress with Technology and then we will have Luxury for Everyone!" manifestos, but applied more broadly to also housing, energy production and some nebulous "innovation". It's hard to take seriously as a stance in 2025.

I hope it spurs more conversation and deeper thinking about these themes, but I fear its lack of thoughtfulness about trade-offs might take us in an even worse direction.

Themes of family, the immigrant experience, and the complexities of activism and living our values in the real world.

I liked the black-and-white art, and I liked the writing and character development. In the end there isn't much of a story, more of a vignette of two young teen girls during a summer vacation -- a bit of boy drama, a bit of family drama, a bit of boredom, a bunch of friendship.

There were some very evocative, well-written parts to this novel. Also, some interesting glimpses of a future world, and some detailed character studies. But mostly there was a lot of weirdness that seemed to be trying too hard to be... profound? metaphorical? Not quite sure.

In the end, it didn't quite come together for me as a story.