DNF - Althought I was eager to read this book, it didn't end up working for me in the end. I'm sure there is an audience out there who will appreciate the story for all that it holds.

I’ll buy this book didn’t keep my interest 100% throughout the end, this still had some settings and characters that I did find enjoyable. I just wish that it would’ve kept my interest.

This is a unique idea and the stories flowed naturally, but there were times where I was unsure what was happening. The cover is beautiful.

Thank you Netgalley for this eARC!

The storyline wasn't super linear, so I would say its more 'vibes" than story which I think I just wasn't in the headspace for. Overall not a bad read.

The concept is super interesting but I did struggle to get through it. There were a lot of characters and stories to follow that I found myself getting lost with. Overall, a pretty good read.

This one was such a fascinating read! I probably would have enjoyed the themes and topics in this one even if the writing wasn't gorgeous, but Bergman's writing flowed beautifully. Thank you so much to Tin House for the ARC of this one.

This might be a little to dense with too much going on for this reader. I know several other people really loved this book and found it inventive and ground-breaking. I personally found it a struggle to finish.

What a truly beautiful piece of literary fiction. Rebekah Bergman's writing is sparse and evocative, and there were several scenes that brought tears to my eyes (and one that had me fully sobbing). This book posed so many philosophical questions/dilemmas about what it means to remember, to forget, to grieve, to live, to love. I took my time working my way through it because it was thematically heavy at times. It was also a little challenging reading this one at such a slow pace, because there were so many different storylines running parallel to each other (and then coming together towards the end), and I found it difficult constantly switching between different characters and plots. I'm so glad that I read it, and I do recommend this one to readers who love lit fic with a bit of philosophy and a smattering of dystopian elements.

- thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc to review!

- a story about humanity and how others perceive those in peril/those who have suffered. the story was detailed in a way that was new to me, but i enjoyed this detail, when i usually don't. the characters were not as developed as i hoped, but i still enjoyed the work.

Rebekah Bergman's THE MESEUM OF HUMAN HISTORY is such a fascinating read. It's one of those novels where you have no idea where any turn will take you as a reader and yet you can't quit reading. Even at tragic moments, I was compelled to keep going ... and yet, I wasn't always sure I should believe what I was reading at the surface level. Nothing felt exactly like an indisputable fact (another reason to keep turning the pages).

The voice of the novel, the characters, and the imaginative turns are true stand outs. I'll be using at least one excerpt from it for my creative writing class and encouraging students to read the book in its entirety.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for this free eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately this novel was not for me and I ended up DNFing at 40%. However I think this book definitely has its audience! If you liked light scifi, character based literary fiction titles such as The Memory of Animals or Tell Me an Ending, I would recommend this to you.

Just like the similar titles mentioned, this book is character-focused but switches between the POVs of several characters. Unfortunately that is usually a format that I don’t like because I usually don’t feel invested in any particular character, and that is mostly how I felt here. I was invested in Tess though, and would have liked a story all about her.

An incredibly empathetic, melancholy book with a slow start and, for me, some characters that gripped more than others. I'll definitely be handselling to people who liked Sea of Tranquility and other speculative literary works.

There’s a mystery at the heart of Bergman’s skillful and intriguing work of speculative fiction. Twenty-five years before the story opens, an eight-year old girl, Maeve Wilhelm, was retrieved from the bottom of a swimming pool, having spent an indeterminate period of time under water. After initial treatment in hospital, she was sent home with a dire prognosis. Defying the odds, she’s been “undead” for a very long time. Hooked up to monitors and receiving nutrition through a nasogastric tube, Maeve can breathe on her own. To all appearances, she is simply asleep. (the tale of Briar Rose is alluded to more than once.) What is most remarkable is that the child has not aged. Only her hair and nails grow.

Shortly before the accident that left Maeve in this vegetative state, her mother died. Since her twin sister, Evangeline, was too young to assist, it was left to Maeve’s oddball father, Lionel, to manage her care. Early on there was medical support, and a half-dozen researchers studied her. A cult of worshippers—the orange-robed “Congregants”— also formed around Maeve. The latter were permitted entry into the home to breath in bedside synchrony with the child.

The story of Maeve’s mother is significant. Before being hired by Genesix, one of three biotech firms in Marks Island City, Naomi Clarke Wilhelm had been a promising paleobiologist. She’d completed a doctorate on the complex ecosystem around nearby Marks Island, an area subject to seismic activity. Years before Naomi began her studies, the remains of members of an ancient indigenous tribe had been recovered from caves there. A peculiar doll carved from red rock was also unearthed. Dr. Wilhelm had been particularly interested in the role of phosphorescent red algae in the waters around the island, and she’d hoped for a post-doc that would allow her to continue her investigations. With funding for academic work in “the ancient sciences” drying up, however, the young woman was forced into pragmatic compromise: she accepted a senior research position with Genesix. The project assigned to her was highly specialized, tightly controlled, and secretive, its purpose hidden from Dr. Wilhelm herself. Communication among the biotech’s departments was strictly forbidden. Ultimately, the company would launch Prosyntus, a procedure to arrest aging.

In addition to Evangeline, Maeve’s identical twin, Bergman has created a well-developed cast of characters, all within six (or fewer) degrees of separation from the Wilhelms. Among them is Kevin Marks, founder-curator of the Marks Museum, situated on the site of the original caves; he’s the grandson of the paleoanthropologist who discovered the ancient tribe. Monique Gray, a performance artist and indigenous refugee from an island ravaged by an addiction epidemic, is another interesting character. Finally, there are two couples who play important parts in the story. Luke and Tess are trying to cope with the latter’s terminal illness. Syl and Abe have a nine-year-old son, a classmate of Evangeline’s. Abe, a historian, is 23 years older than his wife. These characters allow Bergman to explore a number of themes. The novel includes reflections on history, impermanence, aging, loss, and memory. There are penetrating insights sprinkled throughout. Bergman has a distinctive voice—philosophical with a dash of mystical and a pinch of quirky.

Those who prefer chronological storytelling may find the author’s shifting backwards and forwards in time frustrating. In many ways, the novel compares to a jigsaw or mosaic. Each chapter provides pieces or tiles which gradually fill in the picture. Prospective readers should be forewarned that if they expect to understand the formulation of Prosyntus or its physiological mechanisms, they’ll be disappointed. Bergman addresses these things in only the vaguest of ways. This may be considered a weakness by some. Having said that, I think there’s much to appreciate overall. I really liked this novel and would certainly read more by Bergman.

Rebekah Bergman's "The Museum of Human History" takes readers to a speculative future to explore love, loss, and family while also commenting on the environment and the pharmaceutical industry. Told through the perspectives of an interconnected web of characters, the book doesn't necessarily have a strong throughline, but we do meet Maeve, a young girl who falls asleep and stays asleep, along with her twin sister who keeps growing and changing without her. We also meet a man who runs a museum, a woman who is dying, an experimental artist, and a brilliant scientist, all of whom encounter one another, sometimes deeply, sometimes briefly, and sometimes distantly.

Like a lot of speculative fiction, this book is experimental and uses some lyrical techniques like weaving character stories. As such, it's not heavily plot-driven, nor do we get deeply into characters. Instead, the connections they have with one another is the central focus. I think the enjoyment of this book will suffer from readers/reviewers who are looking for those other elements rather than focusing on its commentary, so pick this up with those thoughts in mind.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tin House for providing me with an eARC of this book!

Jacob’s Circle is where 8-yr old Maeve Wilhelm nearly drowns, and then falls into a strange sleep state, from which she does not age for 25 years. Her scientist mother Naomi drowned a year previous, near a mysterious red algae bloom that she might have been investigating, but her death was ruled a suicide; she worked for sinister Dr Gregory Dean at Genesix, whose sole mission was the cure for aging, via Prosyntus which was all the rage until its side effects came to be known to include permanent memory loss for younger patients and premature death for older ones. Maeve’s father Lionel ran a bug museum until Maeve’s care became a full-time occupation, when he had to send Maeve's identical twin sister Evangeline away to be raised by their grandfather. The Prosyntus formula seems to be based on briar palm, perhaps relating to a legendary site in Palmavja, where Maeve and Evangeline’s babysitter came from, and also associated with the Caves of Adina, named after Kevin Marks' grandmother and represented in an exhibit at the local Marks Museum of Human History. Owner Kevin Marks’s grandfather Francis had discovered a dozen bodies in the Adina caves, along with a doll called Xumu. Historian Abe Price wrote a book about Papa Marks, the lone elder body surrounded by youthful victims of the same sleeping sickness that seems to be afflicting Maeve.

I loved the entire network of characters here, who all loosely came together and interacted although they never quite interlocked for me. I love all the imagery, the topic of “a society that preserved only so that it could consume,” and the connection between pain, age and memory. I must say I didn’t understand how a knocking sequence could be quick, quick, long; quick, quick, long. Does the rate of speed refer to the space in between knocks? I can’t figure out how to make a long knock.

Thank you to Tin House & NetGalley for sharing this title~

This one had so much potential for me. Do I think the author did an apt job of weaving the multiple story lines? Yes. Do I think the author skillfully sequenced information in order to unveil this multi-layered story? Yes. Is the metaphor/connection to the real-life pharma industry relevant, current, urgent? YES, YES, YES.

The author wrote a good book that was worth writing.

With that being said, it wasn't necessarily my cup of tea. I found the characters hard to care about, except for Dying Tess. That happens, though. Not every single story is for me. Excited to see more from this writer however, and nothing but good things to say about the craft.

I liked the idea of this book a whole lot and the themes it examined were well done. But the execution was rough. I struggle reading when there are more characters and POVs than I can keep up with. Understanding whose perspective I was reading was lost to me at times. If that's not something you have any issues with this book will definitely work better for you than it did for me, and I think you'll like it a whole lot.

Thanks to Tin House and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so enticing, with its intriguing title and beautiful cover. The premise sounded fascinating. I think to some extent I wasn't in the right mood for this book, but it also stumbled in its execution.

Bergman has created an extensive cast of characters whose lives are all intertwined. It's fun and engaging to try to figure out how everyone is connected as you go. However, you always feel a lot of distance from the characters, so I didn't feel any emotion even though the subject matter was heavy. It was confusing to jump to a new set of characters just as you had started to get your bearings with the previous set. Exhausting!

I anticipated this would be 3 or 4 stars throughout because I expected the ending would pull everything together beautifully and I'd be blown away. Sadly, that does not happen. It seemed like the book struggled to find a place to end, and just rambled on philosophically/vaguely until it stopped. While it's interesting to consider how pain and memory are intertwined aspects of our humanity, and how death comes for all of us, it felt like this book was trying very hard to be deep and it lost a lot of the emotion and punch as a result.

It may have just not been my cup of tea! I think folks would love this if they enjoy: philosophical books, novels with a large cast of characters whose lives are interwoven, and thought-provoking fiction.

4.5⭐️

The Museum of Human History is a beautiful, haunting meditation on time, memory, and death- and the many ways we find to try to deal with them- and the repercussions of our choices.

The various characters connect throughout, often without realizing it (or, in the case of the twins, mistaking which they’ve met, as no one seems to be able to tell them apart).

Both a lot and somehow nothing happen, and so much is left for the reader to interpret. I know I’ll be chewing on this one for quite awhile.

Thank you Rebekah Bergman, Tin House, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

I thought this was a very original book but it was slow going in the beginning and I didn't really connect with the characters. That can be hard in book with such large "cast" and I don't think the slowness of the beginning helped at all. I really liked the idea and it was clever but without connection to the people, I found it difficult to focus on.