A review by yellowbrickfly
Here by Richard McGuire

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

‘Here’ broke my heart and put it back together - not necessarily in that order, and not just once. It made a single human life simultaneously seem miniscule and irrelevant, while also holding it as the most important and grand event in the scheme of history. The book’s narrative roots you strongly in place while it jumps around in time. As I read and stitched pieces together, my understanding of “here” started to mirror my understanding of history and time - linear and fragmented, the personal intersecting with the universal.

I read ‘Here’ in a state not fully recovered from my first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Feeling grief, relief, sorrow, anxiety and hope all at once, ‘Here’ made my moment make sense. In the story of right here and right now, my story matters more than anything can and should - and even in the story of right here and right now, my story is just a blip that hardly matters. We’re all background characters of central importance.