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A review by literaryintersections
This Great Hemisphere by Mateo Askaripour
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Thank you to @duttonbooks for my #gifted copy to review.
Have you ever had a book that just wiggles into your brain and won’t let go? Black Buck was deff that for me in 2021 and This Great Hemisphere has stuck in my thoughts. It’s ultimately a story about oppression and what you are willing to do when you see injustice. What side you’re on. It’s reminiscent of various conflicts, genocides, and violence in the past and currently - American chattel slavery, the Holocaust, the genocide in Gaza. Some of what happens feels too on the nose: plot lines feel lifted directly from history and present, switch out the names and it’s a headline. BUT that never bothered me and I still found the tension and complexity of the world very effective.
What if you were invisible? And invisible people were treated as less than: your movements tracked by collars, your body used violently, your communities ransacked, your food limited. That’s the world that Sweetmint/Candace lives in. And it’s a world that she fights to understand and change as she searches for her brother who’s accused of murdering the NW Hemisphere leader. Candace dives into rebellions, underbellies, sex work, “suburban” communities to find her brother and recognizes a lot about the world and herself in the process.
I loved Sweetmint. I enjoyed learning about the cast of characters - there are a lot and many different POVs so if that’s tough for you now you know - but Sweetmint was someone I rooted for through the entire book. Following her path, her inaction and action, her fear and vulnerability and anger grow made her feel real.
And the ending. Is actually wild. I want a sequel but also don’t - I liked the ambiguity. The realism. The questions I’m left with because I keep thinking about it.
Have you ever had a book that just wiggles into your brain and won’t let go? Black Buck was deff that for me in 2021 and This Great Hemisphere has stuck in my thoughts. It’s ultimately a story about oppression and what you are willing to do when you see injustice. What side you’re on. It’s reminiscent of various conflicts, genocides, and violence in the past and currently - American chattel slavery, the Holocaust, the genocide in Gaza. Some of what happens feels too on the nose: plot lines feel lifted directly from history and present, switch out the names and it’s a headline. BUT that never bothered me and I still found the tension and complexity of the world very effective.
What if you were invisible? And invisible people were treated as less than: your movements tracked by collars, your body used violently, your communities ransacked, your food limited. That’s the world that Sweetmint/Candace lives in. And it’s a world that she fights to understand and change as she searches for her brother who’s accused of murdering the NW Hemisphere leader. Candace dives into rebellions, underbellies, sex work, “suburban” communities to find her brother and recognizes a lot about the world and herself in the process.
I loved Sweetmint. I enjoyed learning about the cast of characters - there are a lot and many different POVs so if that’s tough for you now you know - but Sweetmint was someone I rooted for through the entire book. Following her path, her inaction and action, her fear and vulnerability and anger grow made her feel real.
And the ending. Is actually wild. I want a sequel but also don’t - I liked the ambiguity. The realism. The questions I’m left with because I keep thinking about it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Sexual assault, and Violence
Moderate: Racial slurs and Sexual harassment