Chris Adrian

The novel begins with third-year medical student Jemma Claflin attending a birth in the hospital where she works, and ends with her giving birth herself on the rooftop of the same hospital. In between, the world is submerged under seven miles of water and the hospital becomes an ark, the thousand or so sick children, hospital staff and visiting parents the only humans left on earth. That the hospital can float and support the remaining population for the months to come is due to the planning of the preserving angel, one of four angels that are required to oversee an apocalypse. The book itself is the work of the recording angel, who is witnessing all of Jemma's life to serve as scripture for the generations to follow.

That's an awful lot to swallow, but this amazing book stays true to the world it builds. The story of Jemma's life is so captivating (both before and after the end of the world as we know it), the reader is easily able to suspend disbelief. The Children's Hospital is just a terrific work of the imagination, full of sadness, grief and beauty.… (more)

Jane feels betrayed following her husband Jim's death when it turns out he's secretly paid a cryogenics company to remove and store his frozen head after death in order to revive him in the future. There's some interesting sci-fi exploration of what the future holds for the frozen headed, and of why a person might want to do this (atheism seems a necessary component). Then there's the completely inadequate attempt to give Jim and Jane a background of passionate love for one another as the book quits all that prior stuff. Interesting premise drowned under the same waves that swamp hundreds and thousands of other contemporary lit reflections on modern relationships that fail to stand out.… (more)