The Morningside of the title in Tea Obreht’s latest, is a place, a building which houses the main characters of this story set in a near-future in which climate change has restructured the way people live and work, and the food they eat. The world Obreht creates is visceral, with images of flooded streets, elevated railways crumbling from disuse, deli’s selling illegal meat, roads that can only be traversed at low tide, abandoned houses folding into themselves on the outskirts of a city that feels doomed despite the optimism and dogged determination of the characters. The strongest parts of this story are the mystical nighttime treks of the young protagonists, the mysterious penthouse apartment, the radio voice that provides an outlet for everyone’s fears and gripes and serves as a means to draw together a community of people who have become disheartened by the ways their government has abandoned them. An inventive, sometimes startling novel about the stories we tell, and those we bury, in our quest to understand our past and move towards a future that feels authentic.

In "The Morningside" by Tea Obreht, Ireland is unrecognizably reshaped by the relentless grip of climate change. Obreht, known for her rich storytelling in works like "The Tiger's Wife," crafts a haunting narrative centered on Silvia, a 10 year old girl navigating a world transformed by environmental upheaval. Silvia and her mother seek refuge in The Morningside—an imposing 32-story structure defiantly standing amidst an island submerged by rising waters, a testament to a past world.

Obreht deftly weaves a tapestry of uncertainty, blurring temporal boundaries and leaving readers questioning whether this reality is a prophecy of the future or a recollection from a forgotten past. Silvia's journey, marked by transient migrations and survival rituals, paints a vivid portrait of a society grappling with the aftermath of environmental devastation.

The sudden passing of Aunt Ena thrusts Silvia's mother into the unacknowledged role of superintendent, plunging them further into the precarious existence within The Morningside. Silvia's kinship with the lone child amidst the building's confines becomes a beacon of hope amid eerie and threatening surroundings, fueling a journey of exploration, suspense, and gripping peril.

Obreht's signature strengths shine in "The Morningside," with her evocative portrayal of a dystopian world and the stringent edicts enforced by the Repopulation Committee—where meat consumption is forbidden, and strict food rationing becomes the norm. The interplay of characters, notably Silvia and her newfound companion, infuses the narrative with hope amidst desolation, propelling the story forward with urgency and depth.

Obreht's seamless storytelling unravels each chapter like a new revelation, inviting readers to immerse themselves in this unsettling yet strangely familiar setting. Her skillful blend of authenticity and emotional depth offers a nuanced exploration of life in this altered reality, resonating profoundly with readers.

While the novel excels in world-building and character dynamics, a more explicit tie to the causative factors behind the environmental upheaval could deepen the narrative's impact. Furthermore, refining the pacing to sustain tension throughout the narrative could enhance the overall reading experience.

In conclusion, "The Morningside" by Tea Obreht is a thought-provoking and immersive narrative that seamlessly merges dystopian elements with an emotionally resonant depiction of human resilience. It stands as a poignant reminder of the consequences of environmental neglect, inviting readers to contemplate the fragility of our world while celebrating the indomitable spirit of humanity amidst adversity—a hallmark of Obreht's remarkable storytelling prowess.

I remember really liking Tea Obreht's The Tiger's Wife when I read it years ago, so I grabbed this one. It was pretty intense compared to the romances I've been binge-reading lately, but it was a really compelling and well-paced narrative with interesting characters. Our main character is Silvia, 11 at the start of the story, has ended up in a place called Island City with her mother, sharing an apartment with Aunt Ena, the superintendent of a building called The Morningside. Time-wise, this seems to be set in a near future dystopian society that has been severely damaged by both climate change and war, and Silvia and her mother are trying to scrape by in a time of limited resources. They have traveled from a homeland that has been ravaged by a long-lasting war (that seems to be reminiscent of the fighting in the Balkans in the late 20th century), and Silvia has been cautioned by her mother to hide their background. Silvia is lonely and a bit bored, and becomes fascinated with some of the mythology that Ena shares from their original homeland, getting a bit obsessed with a mysterious figure who lives in the penthouse of The Morningside. Eventually a young girl about her age moves into the building, and that's when things actually start to unravel. A very compelling plot with great writing, though definitely overall quite sad.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

The book is set in the future and that is what drew me in.

I tried many times to get into this book. I found myself re-reading pages to try to.folliw the story. I would put it down, come back and try again to get into it.

It was not a book I would recommend. There are way to many disconnects and odd events that seemed to have no meaning or connection at all.

Not worth the read.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for this digital ARC of The Morningside by Téa Obreht.

I struggled to connect with this tale of a climate change-caused dystopia in a familiar but unfamiliar geography,

Silvia's family arrives in Island City, a half-drowned former major city, as participants in a grand repopulation scheme, complete with bright and optimistic billboards.

We follow Silvia's life in The Morningside - a once grand apartment block - where she lives with her mother and 'aunt' and all three work as superintendents to the well off occupants. We meet Lamb - a garrulous interloper and we learn about The Despatcher, a continual presence in everyone's lives through his unceasing pirate radio broadcast. A mysterious artist - Bezi Duras - lives in the penthouse and becomes the subject of Sil's fascination. Where does she go every evening, what's the story with her three wolf-like dogs. Sil's life is upended by death and the arrival of a new friend and family, which leads to upheaval. Their past lives catch up with them and dictate their futures.

There was a lot going on - climate change, political extremism in a former life, folk mythology and surrealism, past and present corruption, class politics - and, as I said, I found it difficult to connect with much of it.

I really wasn’t sure where this book would go - there were so many options! But I ended up totally enthralled and in love with the book.

Obreht has expertly crafted a novel that is most at home in liminal spaces: between childhood and adulthood, fantasy and reality, ecofuturism and environmental collapse. The protagonist, Sylvia, and her mother are recent immigrants to an island city beset by rising waters. Upon their arrival, they join an estranged family member as caretakers of an old, statuesque apartment complex known only as the Morningside. They navigate broken pipes, failing elevators, and cantankerous residents clinging to an era of former wealth and glory - but also a strange and fantastical legend of mountain spirits and transmogrifying humans centered around the penthouse and its sole, mysterious resident. Between the dystopian future of the Repopulation Program and convictions driven by Sylvia's severe OCD and childhood imaginings, it becomes difficult to separate truth from fiction.

There is a lot to admire in Obreht's spare, lovely prose and the painful realities of xenophobia and post-war resettlement politics reflected through this fictional mirror. Sylvia's mother's startling reticence and her aunt's competing confabulations about life in their Eastern European-inspired country pre-wartime mirror my own elder's reactions to and discussions of life in Lithuania prior to World War II - alternately pained and silent or nostalgic and idealistic. Obreht thoughtfully captures the impact of generational trauma on refugee families, but also acknowledged the pressure they face to conform and perform in their adopted nations, and the conflicting desires to embrace native history, myth, and language while also staying safe in anonymous in a hostile and unfamiliar place.

Even by the end of the story, it is unclear how many of the events are true versus filtered through the lens of a young, unreliable narrator. I was actually greatly impressed by Obreht's depiction of Sylvia's OCD: while it is never explicitly stated, Sylvia's compulsive rituals of protection and overwhelming fear of harm coming to those around her if her routines are disrupted reflect the unspoken realities of a debilitating disorder. It also becomes a unique frame for storytelling, as we are left wondering about the role of Sylvia's beliefs and actions in impacting the world around her versus their role in making sense of a chaotic, uncertain world. Overall, I would recommend this novel for fans of magical realism and dystopian near-future fiction.

(4.5 stars) I don’t remember my reaction to Tea Obreht’s The Tiger’s Wife. I read it long ago when I was not yet on Goodreads. This made me a little apprehensive going into The Morningside. But I shouldn’t have worried. I loved this book. At its core, it’s a literary novel infused with mystery and folklore, just the kind of thing I enjoy. It tells the story of Silvia and her mother who, after being displaced from their home country, come to live in the crumbling edifice in flooded Island City called The Morningside. Silvia’s aunt Ena is superintendent of the building and, whereas Silvia’s mother is reluctant to tell Silvia about their home and the secrets of their past, Ena is forthcoming about what she believes. Of particular interest to Silvia is the mystery surrounding the secretive woman who lives in the penthouse of The Morningside. Ena’s hints as to the double-life of this woman – Bezi Duras – drive Silvia to spy on her and follow the woman and her three massive dogs on their secretive walks late at night. This mystery, along with the emergence of a haunting man from the past, cause Silvia’s tentative hold on the world to break down.

This book should please most readers, but it's especially apt for fans of Mona Awad and Ottessa Moshfegh. The world it describes and the magical stories it tells are solidly constructed and highly entertaining. Highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for early access to this title in exchange for my opinions.

Tea Obreht's newest book tackles the current and future struggles of climate refugees. While Obreht's prose is striking, her pacing and character development I found a bit lacking. It took a while to understand the character's motivations and the payoff was not as strong as I thought it could be. The descriptions of climate devastation were vague enough to show that this is an inevitability and will impact all corners of the globe.

This dystopian novel by the author of “The Tiger’s Wife” is set in the future in what once was a huge thriving city (think New York, Miami, Singapore) that climate change with its rising waters has reduced to a place people displaced worldwide might come to to live in the mostly abandoned high rise apartments.
Silvia and her mother come to live with their aunt who manages The Morningside – one such apartment building. Silvia believes in magic and curses and becomes obsessed with the mysterious woman who lives in the penthouse with her 3 dogs and who, she’s sure, is not what she appears to be. Into one of the apartments move another family with a girl her age and Silvia learns the girl’s father speaks Silvia’s original language which her mother has warned her never to speak as it will bring danger to them.
With these two and a couple more twists to the plot, the reader is drawn to Silvia and the life she and her mother left and now have, the secrets her mother’s kept, as well as imagining the world that may come.

The Morningside is a hotel. What a Wes Anderson movie feels like. Love the narrator as an 11-year-old girl. Somewhat sci-fi as it takes place in a futuristic, precarious society, also incorporates fantastical, mythic elements. Fascinating characters, fun multi-layered mysteries at play. There are quite a lot of plot points going on in quick succession - whiplash of outlandish scenes. Relatively slow pace, but a beautiful portrait of single mother and only daughter.

Coming of age genres are one of my favorites and that was the main attraction for me on this choice. Dystopian based novels are not of interest to me, however a touch of magical realism can be enjoyable. I really tried to finish this one, but could not. It looks like many readers found this a pleasurable read, so I’m glad for that. Thank you NetGalley for this copy and opportunity!

I was intrigued by the premise here but the writing, well very strong and descriptive, just did not draw me in at all. I think this is a case of wrong reader wrong book... There's nothing wrong, I just didn't connect with the characters or the story at all and was not able to finish as a result.

I wasn't super gripped by this story. I felt like it was a really paced out novel, but in a way that does not demand my attention. I like the narrative structure. I guess I just wanted a bit more from the writing and the writing style.

Picture an island, due to climate change, is not longer connected to the mainland, where you can only go a few blocks before you are walking in water. Picture the infrastructure suffering from water and mold. Picture a penniless mother who has suffered greatly, escapes her home and takes her daughter to various places trying to find a better life. Now picture that mother and daughter being accepted into a repopulation program that will allow them to go to this sinking island, where the mother’s sister is superintendent of a once prestigious hotel. She has been promised a new life would follow.

The aunt welcomes them and teaches mother and daughter, Syl, her trade. Syl, the only young person in the hotel, cannot start school and finds time on her hands. Her aunt told her a folk tale about a mythical creature, who lives on a mountain with three minions to do her bidding, and extracts sacrifices in exchange for protection. Syl begins to believe that an artist who lives in the penthouse is actually the creature and her hounds are her minions.

Eventually, another young girl moves into the hotel. Syl tells her about thoughts. Mila likes to push the envelope and wants to learn the truth. Meanwhile, the aunt has died and the mother in addition to being superintendent has taken on a job as a salvage diver leaving Syl alone. Syl also forms an unlikely friendship with a journalist.

Amid this coming of age story is a dream for a better future. However, throughout the book you can feel the decay and deterioration of the physical surroundings of this insular society while understanding the plight of immigrants being forced to take on the worst and most dangerous jobs just to feed their families. Obreht does a wonderful job of making reality and magical realism integrate so seamlessly with her choice of language and pacing. When an author can make you feel the oppressive atmosphere while not being sucked in but lifted along the story was a rare treat.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

I enjoyed this book so much more than I thought I would. I was totally engrossed in it, that time got away from me! I read it in one day! I would definitely recommend this book!

Excellent futuristic and dystopian novel about a post climate disaster world where climate disasters cause mass migration and loss. Corruption and disception abound but love and human decency are the ultimate saviors. Well written and compelling read.

Obreht conjures up some vivid imagery and a fantastic sense of place in this oddly enchanting tale set in a (future?) world just a little off from our own. Strong characters and a strange, unpredictable story.

In a world that might be our own, on an island that might be Manhattan or not, the 12-year-old narrator and her mother live in a crumbling luxury apartment as the sea slowly claims the city. The west is burning and the east is drowning. The Repopulation program promises to lure citizens back to the city and provide them with free housing - but where is the evidence? Among all this all-too-possible and not-too-distant glimpse of our own climate-crisis nightmare, this small family struggles to escape the memories of the country they fled due to violence and war. Is the lady in the penthouse a fighter for social change or a malevolent guardian spirit? Who is the radio DJ who anonymously spreads truth to the city? Obreht weaves together her own Eastern European past and folklore with an eerily parallel world from which we are only years away. And she reminds us that family will be with us always - no matter the conditions, for better and for worse.

I was really interested in the premise of this book, but unfortunately it didn't grip me. I found myself reading quickly and not invested in the story.