A Pandemic Novel
This novel was published in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and not coincidentally features a character who has written a novel about a pandemic. It is within that novel that a metaphor about the original of these viral spreads appears:
“Pandemics don’t approach like wars, with the distant thud of artillery growing louder every day and flashes of bombs on the horizon. They arrive in retrospect , essentially.”
Moon Colony Two
Although one never really stops often to think about it, first colonies on the moon or Mars would have to be the equivalent of planned communities. If there is one locale you don’t want to leave to random chance, it is one 240,000 miles away from the nearest town:
“Colony Two was soothing in its symmetry and its order. Sometimes order can be relentless.”
A Significant Moment
One of the novel’s most significant moments is conveyed through dense metaphorical imagery. Out of context, it may not seem worthy of great attention. But appearances can be deceiving:
“I was standing there in the forest in the sunlight, and then all at once there was darkness, as abruptly as a candle snuffed out in a room, and in the darkness I heard the notes of a violin, an inscrutable noise, and with this a strange impression of being somehow fleetingly indoors, in some echoing cavernous space like a train station.”
And Nothing Was Ever the Same
Speaking of significant moments, another occurs very early in the narrative. It is merely a comment during a dinner party. And it only changes everything for the character who makes the comment. Only later will he fully appreciate the gravity of this moment:
“Sometimes you don’t know you’re going to throw a grenade until you’ve already pulled the pin.”
Leaving Earth
What might it be like to leave the planet on a routine basis once the moon becomes colonized? Who knows? Well, the author has an idea of what it might be like, but the metaphorical aspect of the description is surprisingly sparse:
“The atmosphere turned thin and blue, the blue shaded into indigo, and then—it was like slipping through the skin of a bubble—there was black space.”
