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How High We Go in the Dark,
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Bhavishya Mandalapu
This answer contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[Well, in short, there is an alien amongst humans who came here during the ice age. She has a daughter and a husband on a planet in a galaxy far far away. She has a daughter with a human. Because of a lack of understanding of human physiology, the alien's daughter is born with an issue that later develops into a virus that kills everyone in the tribe.
(this connects the last chapter to findings in the crater cave).
After every few years, the alien assumes a new form and starts over and tries to make the earth a better place to live. She was in her child form and went by the name Clara when she was adopted (so basically Clara from chapter one is the alien).
She later takes a human form goes by the name Theresa (Clara never died she just took new form, hence the locket reference). She helps humanity escape the planet by helping with creating intergalactic travel with her then husband.
She loves the planet earth and hopes one day her alien daughter might reunite with her. (hide spoiler)]
(this connects the last chapter to findings in the crater cave).
After every few years, the alien assumes a new form and starts over and tries to make the earth a better place to live. She was in her child form and went by the name Clara when she was adopted (so basically Clara from chapter one is the alien).
She later takes a human form goes by the name Theresa (Clara never died she just took new form, hence the locket reference). She helps humanity escape the planet by helping with creating intergalactic travel with her then husband.
She loves the planet earth and hopes one day her alien daughter might reunite with her. (hide spoiler)]
Catherine
This answer contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[The alien started life on earth. Earth was her project and responsibility. As life developed she was lonely and decided to take human form and start a family. Her daughter was Annie, the body that was discovered early on and by that time she had taken the form of Clara and tried to help humanity by working on global warming. She knew that if the ice melted it would release the virus that had killed Annie and the tribe they lived among. The rest is her telling all the various forms she's taken, the historical figures she's had contact with and the times she lived through. (hide spoiler)]
Maria Mason
I am so glad I read your take on this book Catherine. This is exactly how I interpreted the book as well. I also thought the main character of the sto
I am so glad I read your take on this book Catherine. This is exactly how I interpreted the book as well. I also thought the main character of the story began as an alien and ended the book with the same alien. I read so many reviews and thoughts about this book on GR's and wondered if I had it all wrong. Your explanation was perfect. Great job!
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Aug 14, 2022 02:37PM · flag
Aug 14, 2022 02:37PM · flag
Sdgoldman
Thank you so much for this explanation. I was listening to this book on audible and was usually multitasking so I might have missed some stuff. I did
Thank you so much for this explanation. I was listening to this book on audible and was usually multitasking so I might have missed some stuff. I did go back and read the last chapter on my Kindle and the following are my assumptions based on your summary and my re-read. So basically, she was only supposed to create and not interfere with the new planet (Earth)? If she hadn't interfered, the virus would not have entered the human population, I assume and the plague would have never infected the tribe? If she had known that humans would cause global warming, maybe she could have burned the body, rather than bury her under ice that she thought would never melt (all going back to the probabilities of the seeds). Also, were they building new planets as they knew their planet would die one day? My second assumption is that the planet the spaceship lands on 1000's of years in the future is the alien's home planet that long since died out? Also did she try to change the course of humanity again by putting the singularity in her husband’s head to allow a spaceship to have fuel to get out of the galaxy and also provide the cure to the virus to repopulate the earth? All of those external events were supposed to be just observed by her, but she seems to have missed her family so much back at home, that she ignored the major rule of planet making, which is not to interfere.
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Nov 17, 2022 09:58AM · flag
Nov 17, 2022 09:58AM · flag
Philip Higgins
If a book needs an explanation, we're screwed.
Melissa Taylor
I don't know the answer to this question because I'm debating if I want to finish this book, and this immediately made me laugh and put a point in the: don't finish, read the spoilers.
Amanda
This answer contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[The ending of How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu is a complex, multi-layered conclusion that ties together the novel's central themes of grief, loss, and the cyclical nature of existence, culminating in a revelation about the origin of life on Earth.
The narrative begins with a scientist at a research outpost in Siberia, studying an ancient virus released by melting glaciers, which is linked to the death of his daughter, Clara. The novel then unfolds through a series of interconnected stories spanning different times and characters, all grappling with various forms of loss and the aftermath of global catastrophe, including a pandemic and climate change. The final chapters expand the scope dramatically. One story follows a generation starship carrying humanity's survivors on a journey to a new planet, seeking a fresh start after Earth's destruction. The other, a profound revelation, reaches back into the cosmic past to explain Earth's origins.
The key to the ending lies in the final story, which reveals that the planet Earth was created by an ancient, non-human entity. This being, who has lived for eons, is not a visitor but a creator and caretaker of the planet. She fell in love with life on Earth, particularly with a human form she took, and had a daughter named Annie, who died tragically. The virus that later threatens humanity is a consequence of her daughter's death, which occurred because the alien being did not fully understand human biology. This entity has since lived through countless lifetimes, taking on different human forms to try to help humanity and prevent the planet's destruction, driven by her love for Earth and her lost daughter. The character known as Clara in the first chapter is revealed to be this entity in a child's form, having been adopted and living a human life. Her later form, Theresa, is another incarnation, and the locket she carries is a symbol of her enduring connection to her past and her daughter. The final chapter suggests that the entity, having helped humanity escape Earth via the starship, still holds hope for a reunion with her alien daughter in the future.
The novel's refusal to provide a neat closure is intentional. The open-ended nature of the ending, particularly the narrator's ambiguous fate in the first chapter, reflects the book's deeper purpose as an elegy for humanity and the planet. By denying catharsis, the story resists the idea of simply mourning the world's end and instead urges the reader to remain engaged with the possibility of hope and connection, even in the face of inevitable loss. The final stories, while offering a sense of continuity through the starship and the creator's enduring presence, leave the ultimate fate of humanity and the planet unresolved, emphasizing the ongoing struggle against despair. -AI (hide spoiler)]
The narrative begins with a scientist at a research outpost in Siberia, studying an ancient virus released by melting glaciers, which is linked to the death of his daughter, Clara. The novel then unfolds through a series of interconnected stories spanning different times and characters, all grappling with various forms of loss and the aftermath of global catastrophe, including a pandemic and climate change. The final chapters expand the scope dramatically. One story follows a generation starship carrying humanity's survivors on a journey to a new planet, seeking a fresh start after Earth's destruction. The other, a profound revelation, reaches back into the cosmic past to explain Earth's origins.
The key to the ending lies in the final story, which reveals that the planet Earth was created by an ancient, non-human entity. This being, who has lived for eons, is not a visitor but a creator and caretaker of the planet. She fell in love with life on Earth, particularly with a human form she took, and had a daughter named Annie, who died tragically. The virus that later threatens humanity is a consequence of her daughter's death, which occurred because the alien being did not fully understand human biology. This entity has since lived through countless lifetimes, taking on different human forms to try to help humanity and prevent the planet's destruction, driven by her love for Earth and her lost daughter. The character known as Clara in the first chapter is revealed to be this entity in a child's form, having been adopted and living a human life. Her later form, Theresa, is another incarnation, and the locket she carries is a symbol of her enduring connection to her past and her daughter. The final chapter suggests that the entity, having helped humanity escape Earth via the starship, still holds hope for a reunion with her alien daughter in the future.
The novel's refusal to provide a neat closure is intentional. The open-ended nature of the ending, particularly the narrator's ambiguous fate in the first chapter, reflects the book's deeper purpose as an elegy for humanity and the planet. By denying catharsis, the story resists the idea of simply mourning the world's end and instead urges the reader to remain engaged with the possibility of hope and connection, even in the face of inevitable loss. The final stories, while offering a sense of continuity through the starship and the creator's enduring presence, leave the ultimate fate of humanity and the planet unresolved, emphasizing the ongoing struggle against despair. -AI (hide spoiler)]
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Sequoia Nagamatsu (Goodreads Author)
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