The Hot Zone

 The Hot Zone by Richard Preston (1994, 300 pages)

Hidden all over the world are incredibly infectious and fatal diseases, waiting to make the jump from non-human animals to humans. Filoviruses, including Ebola and Marburg, started spreading to humans in known cases in the 1970s. At least two people contracted Marburg after visiting Kitum Cave in Kenya, which was also later identified as a possible origin point for HIV. These viruses are known to cause quick and violet deaths, with continuing spread from the blood and vomit of those infected to the ones caring for them. The book gives backgrounds and initial known cases for the filoviruses, and tells the story of a 1989 outbreak of something in a primate research facility near Washington, D.C.

I thought this book was well written, although its age can be evident at times. Richard Preston is thorough and includes his own anecdotes along with scientific facts. Absolutely terrifying and sad, and includes depictions of graphic deaths as a warning.

★★★★☆

The Vulnerables

The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez (2023) 242 pages

The Vulnerables is a novel that reads like a memoir, set during the pandemic: people fleeing New York City for their second homes, others living in a suddenly quiet New York City, and yet others who are trapped far from home. Nunez's unnamed protagonist‒a writer who is also a creative writing professor‒ends up living through much of the pandemic in the very upscale Manhattan apartment of a married couple trapped in California at the time of the lock-downs. A college student who was house-sitting for them, caring for their beloved parrot, has left abruptly for his parents' home. Later, after a fight with his parents, the young man comes back to the apartment, which makes the narrator less happy; but she continues to stay there too because she has lent out her own apartment to a pulmonary doctor who came from out of town to work at a local hospital.

Nunez's writing style reminds me somewhat of Elizabeth Strout's Lucy By the Sea, which is also set during the pandemic. Not a lot of activity occurs, but the story keeps one engrossed anyway. The writer's narration is understated, seeming dream-like at times. She ruminates on the present and reflects on the past, including bits of her own history, especially with regard to a friend who died just before the pandemic hit. She has a lot to say about a number of famous writers, which I found interesting, too. The college student's role becomes more important. A book definitely worth a second read.

Lucy By the Sea

Lucy By the Sea by Elizabeth Strout (2022) 288 pages

I still have not read the original Lucy book, My Name is Lucy Barton, but have read Strout's other books which have offered snippets of Lucy's life. The most recent chronology of Lucy's life occurs during the pandemic. Her ex-husband William, a parasitologist/microbiologist, is driven to get Lucy and their adult daughters out of New York City as the pandemic gets underway. He has found a remote place on the shores of Maine where he has rented a house for Lucy and him to live in, while their daughters find other places to stay during the lockdown.

As with Strout's other Lucy books, Lucy's story is told in first person, in her conversational and understated way, even when she feels the pain of isolation impossible to bear at times. Other times, she feels joy at the little things that make her days better, like taking a walk near the ocean and waving to neighbors. Her relationship with William is intriguing; he seems difficult at times, but they still share quite a kinship.

Life is slow in Maine, but I still found the book to be a fast read.

The Q

 The Q by Amy Tintera, 352 pages

You're probably thinking--why in the world would I want to read a novel about a horrible pandemic right after a horrible pandemic? Well, I love dystopian science fiction, so that doesn't bother me. However, if you do not want to read about people getting sick and dying, skip this one for now!

This young adult novel takes place in what used to be Austin, TX. It is now known only as "The Q," the quarantine zone where a horrible virus first started spreading, and the United States reacted by walling everyone in the city inside. No one can leave, and no one can enter. The citizens inside who survived the virus have limited immunity, but most of them stay alive due to artificial organs. The main characters are Maisie Rojas, a daughter of the family who controls the South Q, and Lennon Pierce, the son of the Democratic nominee for president. He is kidnapped and dropped into the middle of the quarantine zone at the beginning of the book, and Maisie is tasked with helping him cross the North and escape through the only exit.

This novel was fast-paced, sometimes violent, and blessed with two likable main characters. I especially liked Maisie and her fiery personality. The world they inhabit is not black-and-white, but there is always a reason behind their actions. I'm also a big fan of banter in my young adult novels, and this one had some great moments. I actually would have liked for it to be longer, because I wanted to know more about this place and these characters, but the ending was satisfying. If you are a fan of young adult dystopia, then give this title a chance!

The Sentence

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich (2021) 386 pages

This was my first time reading Louise Erdrich, and it was riveting! It took me about 20 pages to start loving Tookie, a Native American who gets out of prison for a very weird crime and then begins working in a small independent bookstore in Minneapolis. So much happens in the year that encompasses the majority of the story, most notably the arrival of a ghost to the bookstore, but also the changes in Tookie's family. I loved learning about the various Native American characters and how they incorporated older traditions into their lives. We also see the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic and the shocking murder of George Floyd from these characters' viewpoints. I think there is much more in this deep story, but I'll have to read it again to pull out those details. I highly recommend this book.

Goldilocks

Goldilocks by Laura Lam, 340 pages

I read this book about female astronauts stealing a spaceship last year, so I won't rehash the plot here. I read it again for our Orcs & Aliens discussion this past Monday, and I loved it both times. And it was great for discussion!

The Mother Code

The Mother Code by Carole Stivers, 337 pages

When the U.S. military unleashes an unstable biological weapon, a team of scientists and engineers must figure out a way to stop the resulting pandemic — or barring that, sort out some way to create babies that will be genetically immune to the biological weapon. As their attempts to stop the rapid pandemic fail, all their hopes are pinned on the babies and a set of Mothers, robots who will incubate and care for the babies after the rest of the world has died.

This is an interesting premise for a novel, one that is particularly intriguing given the advances in artificial intelligence and robotics in real life as well as in the novel. That said, it's not particularly easy to care much for the adult humans who caused this whole mess, or even those who are attempting to clean it up. The relationships between the kids and their Mothers are what really make the book interesting.

A Beginning at the End

A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen, 390 pages

Six years after a pandemic has knocked out 70% of the world's population, life is starting to return to a sort-of normal. People have settled into Metro areas or hippie-esque Reclaimed areas, though there are looting gangs that still rove around the countryside. In San Francisco Metro, former pop star Moira is trying to shed her past identity, despite her estranged father's controlling attempts to track her down, while widower Rob is trying his best to raise his 7-year-old daughter Sunny, who thinks her mom is coming back. And then there's Krista, who, even before the pandemic, decided to move forward and never look back. But the reemergence of a flu strain like the one that caused the pandemic heightens anxieties, throwing these four into each others' lives in ways they never imagined.

Oof. This was a hard one to read right now, as COVID-19 cases keep rising in the U.S. I certainly wouldn't have read this if I didn't have to for a committee I'm on, especially because of how realistic all of the press releases and politicians' speeches are, despite the book being written and released BEFORE COVID-19 hit. (Really, the least realistic thing about the whole book is the president taking the disease seriously... and the fact that the president is a woman.) I can't recommend reading this one, at least not for several more years.