Obsessive and withdrawn, Aster lives in the low-deck slums of the space vessel HSS Matilda. When the autopsy of the ship’s sovereign reveals a link between his death and the suicide of Aster’s mother, she begins sewing the seeds for civil war, and learns there may be a way off the ship if she’s willing to fight for it.
The smartness of this book reminded me so much of Margaret Atwood. And like Atwood, it is not a comfortable read (be ye warned). But Solomon’s voice is wonderful, the book’s protagonists are lovingly drawn and relatable, and the plot builds on classics while offering something thoroughly unique. Brilliant scifi and one of the best books I’ve read this year.
This was one of the many dreaded books that have been assigned to me to read for a college level literature course.. and I absolutely loved this book. I don’t usually enjoy books that I’m assigned to read for the very fact that they’re assigned. I read this book in a couple days (I’m a full time student, working part time as well). Months later, the story still sits in my heart.
I listened to this on audio and it’s a sci fi Jim Crow space travel story. Fascinating and deep.
This is one of the best books I’ve ever read. There is not one story in this book but many layered stories that are interlocking, developing, dying, and living within the text. While reading An Unkindness of Ghosts I lived, breathed, ate, thought, felt as the characters felt. I did not read this book I inhaled it.
Within the first two chapters of An Unkindness of Ghosts I went to Amazon knowing that I must read everything Solomon offers. As a writer, I would learn from her and as a person I would grow to understand humanity from Solomon. Sadly, the only full-length book Solomon has out is An Unkindness of Ghosts. I hope this brilliant writer has more books published in the future. I will surely read them all.
I’ve been sitting with this for a few hours and I still can’t quite wrap my mind around how I feel about it.
This is an incredible book. Aster is an unusual main character – unique, off-kilter, brilliant and socially awkward. Born into the lower levels of a spaceship that is supposedly looking for the promised land. The ship is a caste system of white supremacy and getting worse every moment. Aster is almost an anti-hero – she doesn’t necessarily want to be the one to fix things, she just wants to understand what happened to her mom.
Theo was a delightfully well-developed character, as was Giselle. This book was, in places, hard to read, but ultimately worth it.
Potential slight spoiler to follow:
The ending was unsatisfactory to me – not because it wasn’t well-written. It was. But, as with Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, it really couldn’t have ended any other way and still been true to the story. Anything else would have felt contrived. So, in a way, it was a perfect ending, but in another way, I can’t help but feel horrible and anxious about it.
All in all, I highly recommend this book, even if you aren’t into science fiction, because the spaceship is really just the backdrop. The real gem here is in the characters, the race relations, and the family dynamics that continually evolve.