“In suffering, he said, we found our heart. In suffering, we found new traditions, a way forward.” (269)
"The very nature of my existence.. that I can help others in need, demands that I reinvent myself, though I still dream of my children." (281)
“I think it would be strange at this juncture for writers and readers to completely ignore what we’re going through, and I think more people are ready to articulate how we’ve already changed individually and as a society. What do we want to reclaim of a pre-COVID life? What do we never want to go back to? And perhaps most importantly, how can being pulled out of our old life give us an opportunity to reimagine a better future? … a novel like How High We Go in the Dark can be a part of those reflections.” (292)
“You told me sometimes people and places serve a purpose for a finite amount of time to help you think and grow and love and then you move on.” (248)
“Maybe this [letter] will be lost in a stack of your unopened mail; maybe you’ll read it and throw it away, saying it’s too late. Or maybe you’ll peek out your window and wonder about coming over and saying, Hey, me too. I’m hollow and cracked and imploding. All I do know is this: I will continue to wake up and tell my family I love them, something I never did enough when they were alive. I will go grocery shopping at midnight. I will tell strangers online that I’m sorry for their loss, and I will eventually wash the bedsheets and their clothes and be okay with a quiet home. Maybe, with help, I will wave at you when you cross the street. I will begin setting the table for one.” (218)
"By early 2020, as the COVID-19 crisis unfolded, I had been revising my novel with my agent for three-plus years, and we were preparing for submission. I had never been prouder of anything and feared my life’s work would be roundly rejected by editors. Would people still want to read a story about a plague? I’ve since come to realize that How High We Go in the Dark isn’t really about a virus at all; it’s about memory and love and resilience. It’s a book that reaches for a beating heart somewhere deep in the cosmos. And because of the ride in hate crimes and racism incidents targeting Asians amid the pandemic, I found it urgent to share stories of Asians and Asian Americans who aren’t the enemy or 'the other' but family, friends, and lovers who are just holding on like everybody else.
Writing this novel changed me, and I hope that reading it might help inspire you (in some small way) to discover new paths for thinking about who we are, who we might be, and how we can better reach out for each other in the dark." (292)
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4/5 I loved this book! I don't usually read science fiction, so I'm glad I have friends who help me branch out. The stories were so beautifully inter-connected. And the end just tied it all together that I still can't stop thinking about it. I am so in agreement with the author that it is good to remember what we've changed and evolved to in our suffering, the power of love, and the resilience of the human spirit.
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