Songs for the End of the World by Saleema Nawaz will probably end up in my top five favorite books of the year. It's about (brace yourself) the early days of a pandemic as it begins to spread across North America.
For obvious reasons, the book hits close to home. (And not just because the author is from Montreal.)
Written over the last few years but only recently published, there is an unshakeably prescient quality to its depiction of pandemic preparedness, contact tracing, global spread, and the general pulse of a nation facing never-before-seen challenges. Without meaning to, I found myself searching each page for new insight on how to deal with our real-life health crisis. Paranoid, sure, but also quite handy lol.
That's not why I liked the book so much, though.
I love love love stories with loads of characters whose storylines intersect unsuspectingly. Songs for the End has OODLES of them! I very happily nerded out on tracking each character as they weave in and out of others' timelines. Even though information is released gradually, there's so much going on that I just plowed right through and devoured it all.
Look, at this specific moment in time, I totally understand why someone wouldn't be inclined to grab Songs for the End. Just don't rule it out forever, otherwise you'll miss out on a thrilling and surprisingly fun gem!
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