The World Gives Way - Marisa Levien

Sci-Fi/Dystopia

Rating: 7/10

This novel takes place in a futuristic world that is in actuality a ship built to emulate the ideal aspects of life on earth. There is sky and ocean, there are cities and stunning architecture, there are a multitude of different cultural influences and there are so many beautiful things.  Also, plenty of ugly things, like poverty and slavery and classism.

Turns out while you may be able to immaculately design an exquisite framework for your floating world, the moment you add human beings to the equation it turns into something more like a monstrous machine.

Myrra is “employed” by an ultra-rich politician and his wife, counting down the days until she can escape her contract.  Late one night the wife call’s her up to the terrace.  When Myrra gets there, she is standing on the railing clutching her baby, ready to tell Myrra the horrible truth.

But there is an issue with the ship. There’s a crack forming on the exterior.  And it is irreversible. The ship, and everyone on it, will be crushed.  It’s not a matter of if they will die, but how soon and how badly.

This story takes us on Myrra’s journey as well as that of the young cop hot on her trail for breaking her employment contract, and maybe murdering her employers.

As the story unfolds, the author reminds the reader that truth is different from fact. And that there are as many versions of the truth as there are people to consider it.

While the book failed to fully render the premise it laid out, the author posits an essential question that becomes increasingly important with every passing day. 

What do we do, what can we do, when we know the world is dying?

Book Pairing(s): Severance by Ling Ma, The End We Start From by Megan Hunter, Brief History Of The Dead by Kevin Brockmeier