"The annual migration of clouds" by Premee Mohamed

 

Publisher: ECW Press

Copyright: 2021

ISBN: 9781770415935

This book was recommended to me by a member of a group that I frequent and I was interested in reading it because I happen to work at the University of Alberta in the building where the story takes place. In this case of Biological Sciences Building.

The Biological Sciences Building does have a bit of a reputation on campus as being very strange, however that doesn't really come into the story at all.

I found this to be an interesting story, however it was slightly difficult to read in that it is written in first person and there wasn't a whole lot of background / world building information supplied to the reader. It is mentioned that there is no power, and people are cooking over open fires, etc. but that's about it.

The story takes place in a post apocalyptic time in the city of Edmonton and the survivors, or at least one group of them live on the university campus (or what's left of it). The population of the Earth has been decimated, and climate change has made a great deal of the surface of the Earth uninhabitable, or at least that's the way I understand it. In addition there is some disease known as CAD, however what it is etc. is not really explained, but it is referred to as a fungal of infection of some kind, and it eventually kills its host.

The protagonist Reid, is a young girl in her teens who has been given the chance to leave campus/Edmonton for what seems to be a domed city where the hardships in the regular world have been eradicated, or less that's what is believed by most. But is it real, how will her mother survive, etc. are all questions she must ask herself and hopefully find answers for.

While this was an interesting book to read, it isn't the type of book I normally read. Because of this I will end my review of it here.

In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom" by Yeonmi Park

 

Publisher: Penguin Books

Copyright: 2015

ISBN: 978159-206795

For the second or third time I have broken my rule about reading autobiographies and commenting on them, but in this instance it was well worth the read as Ms. Park's story is utterly amazing.

I first heard about Yeonmi Park when I stumbled across one of her videos on YouTube. At first I found it quite difficult to believe what she was talking about in her videos as I knew very little about North Korea. However after doing a little research and watching more of her Videos I've been convinced (not that it was difficult) that the Kims (Kim Jong-un is the third generation of this dictatorial family) will do virtually anything to hold onto their power, regardless of what outsiders think of them.

Unfortunately, the majority of the world seems to have turned a blind eye towards the disgraceful, and inhuman treatment of the population of North Korea by this family. The sanctions imposed on North Korea for the most part seem only to be hurting the civilians, and do not seem to be affecting the Kim regime at all.

But why is this?

Granted, as I write this the Russian invasion of Ukraine is taking centre stage in the world news, but this war is only a few months old. The brutality and essentially concentration camp style of rule in North Korea has been going on for over 60 years. Once again why has this been allowed to happen?

"In Order To Live" is an excellent story, that I would recommend everyone read.

"Genus Homo" by L. Sprague de Camp (1907-2000) and P. Schuyler Miller (1912-1974)

Publisher: Berkley Books
Copyright: 1950

What happens when a group of 25 men and women who are on their way to a scientific conference are waylaid due to an accident, and wake up in the world so changed they don't realize where they are?

The story itself deals with a group of humans that are in advertently put in suspended animation following a bus crash, and the subsequent collapse of a highway tunnel. When they awaken they eventually realise that at least a million years have passed on earth and human civilization has ended. The way they discovered this is very well presented by the author as he does it through discussions between the characters with regard to changes in the constellations, the growth of trees and other plants, how animals have evolved,  and more.

Approximately the first half of this book is a story of how they survive, the interactions between the various members of the of the group, and so on. It does go into a fair bit of detail with regard to group psychology, group organization, survival, and so on and this is explored as the group learns how to live by themselves.

Depending on how much science-fiction you have read in your life this could lead you to see similarities with ither stories.  Probably the most obvious or possibly well known would be the book "Planet of the Apes" by Pierre Boulle, which was published in 1965. Genus Homo however was published in 1950, so is it possible M. Boulle was influenced by genus Homo? It's true there are a lot of similarities, but being that M. Boulle wrote his story originally in French I somehow doubt that this book influenced his work. In addition, while apes in Genus Homo are one of the dominant species on the earth, there aren't many other similarities, in they become good friends with the few remaining humans and welcome them into their community.

I found this to be a very good story, with a wonderful message. Highly recommended, however possibly difficult to find.