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Title details for The Past Is Red by Catherynne M. Valente - Available

The Past Is Red

by Catherynne M. Valente
ebook
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"The Candide of our #@$\*%?! age."— Ken Liu, award-winning author
Catherynne M. Valente, the bestselling and award-winning creator of Space Opera and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland returns with The Past Is Red, the enchanting, dark, funny, angry story of a girl who made two terrible mistakes: she told the truth and she dared to love the world.
A Hugo Award finalist! An inaugural Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction finalist! A Locus Award finalist!
The future is blue. Endless blue...except for a few small places that float across the hot, drowned world left behind by long-gone fossil fuel-guzzlers. One of those patches is a magical place called Garbagetown.
Tetley Abednego is the most beloved girl in Garbagetown, but she's the only one who knows it. She's the only one who knows a lot of things: that Garbagetown is the most wonderful place in the world, that it's full of hope, that you can love someone and 66% hate them all at the same time.
But Earth is a terrible mess, hope is a fragile thing, and a lot of people are very angry with her. Then Tetley discovers a new friend, a terrible secret, and more to her world than she ever expected.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 20, 2021

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781250301123

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781250301123
      • File size: 3758 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      June 1, 2021

      The world is underwater, and people live on floating continents made of the refuse disposed of by their predecessors, where they create cities and homes centered around different types of trash. In the first half of the novel, Tetley Abednego is 19, in love with her world, and questioning others' dreams of dry land. Then she makes a decision that will forever mark her as the most hated person in Garbagetown. Ten years later, Tetley recounts the journey that brought her to her present; one filled with possibility, stagnation, friendship, and even love. As Tetley discovers some truths about the world, she is predominantly cheerful in the face of her struggles and ill-treatment but also critical of the humanity that destroyed the world. Expanded from Valente's (Deathless) 2016 short story "The Future is Blue," this novella is both humorous and wistful; its protagonist Tetley is pragmatic as well as idealistic. Tetley's race is not specified. VERDICT Valente's prose presents a stark image of humanity surviving climate ruin, corporate greed, and rich escapists. Tetley's voice is engrossing, creating a read that will make readers think about our possible future.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

      Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      June 1, 2021
      Tetley Abednego knows that Garbagetown is the most beautiful place on Earth. Everyone else, even her twin Maruchan and the boy named Goodnight Moon, is caught up in the futile dream of an easy life on land, impossible as that is. There is no solid green; that is just a lie the actors tell. Tetley won't let Garbagetown die, no matter what. Now, years into her punishment, she has a new friend, part of a trousseau offered by the mysterious King Xanax. The world, as it turns out, is still much bigger than Garbagetown. A world in which the great Pacific garbage patch has become the most beautiful place to live (if one has the patience to see it) might seem unbearably grim, but it is a more hopeful story than we deserve, a story where hope survives despite its fragility, and there are beautiful moments in the most unexpected corners. Tetley is a charmingly nonlinear, surprisingly amiable, not very reliable--she likes to imagine how things might have gone--narrator, and Valente's latest is absolutely worth taking some time with.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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