60 pages • 2 hours read
Sequoia NagamatsuA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The rituals surrounding death become increasingly elaborate in the plague and post-plague era, much of them driven by commodification and desperation. The novel explores three new death rituals: elegy hotels, bodies being turned into ice sculptures, and communal urns. Accenting these rituals are the cemetery skyscrapers, which once housed the living and now house the dead.
Death rituals in the novel are complex, reflecting both the need of individuals to channel their mourning and the capitalist push to commodify needs. People explore new ways to say goodbye through extended memorials, art, and new forms of connectivity. However, capitalism complicates much of this grief because the rituals require payment. At Dennis’s hotel, different suites are worth different amounts of money, lending a clear classist undertone to farewell procedures. Visitors must pay to visit the urns containing the remains of their departed loved ones in cemetery towers, and advertisements surround the visitors as they do so. These moments raise questions about the intersection of mourning and money—a critique of modern society and the expenses related to death rituals today.
Asian American & Pacific Islander...
View Collection
Climate Change Reads
View Collection
Community
View Collection
Family
View Collection
Fantasy
View Collection
Fear
View Collection
Friendship
View Collection
Grief
View Collection
Memory
View Collection
Mortality & Death
View Collection
Popular Book Club Picks
View Collection
Science Fiction & Dystopian Fiction
View Collection
The Future
View Collection
The Past
View Collection
Valentine's Day Reads: The Theme of Love
View Collection