A young girl and her mother have been moving from place to place for sometime. Running from their past lives and displaced due to weather related destruction. The story is interesting and nicely written. I just had trouble really connecting with the characters or what was going on around them. The various stories and what they are running from feel disconnected. I’m just not sure what to think about it all. In one sense it had the feeling the story is from the past until they mention looking things up on the internet. I was quite sure the point of the story. I truly wanted to like it. I give it three Stars because it’s written well it’s just not my cup of tea.

This is the second book I have read by Tea Obreht and will not be the last! As with her other books, I love the way Obreht includes magical realism in her stories in a way that feels believable. I was captivated right from the start of this one, both in the way Obreht builds the world and in her characters. Highly recommend!

Beautifully and lyrically written - the story in a futuristic setting was beyond my understanding of magical realism. This book will appeal to those who enjoy that genre.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House for the opportunity to read this ARC.

The author has a beautiful writing style, and she does a good job of weaving together many elements: post-apocalypse, coming-of-age, mother-and-daughter relationships, friendships, the power of storytelling, what’s real and what isn’t, and so much more.

This was a very unique and beautiful book. It is one of the most unusual and strange books I have ever read. It is a novel of a future set in a city on the eastern coast somewhere, in the not too distant post apocalyptic future, the unnamed city has been inundated with flooding, and this is where a girl and her mother have come to live after leaving their former country. The Morningside is a complex mother-daughter relationship explored and told through the eyes of the daughter, a young girl named Silvia. It is about secrets, discovery, and keeping the people we love safe in a world that is suddenly unfamiliar and fraught with danger. I was fortunate to receive this novel from Netgalley as an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an objective review.

The Morningside is a lyrically imaginative story with a plot that is striking yet a bit scattered. While I enjoyed getting immersed into a near-future world where climate change has reshaped the coasts of Island City, which is reminiscent of our New York City, I struggled at really connecting with the characters and the plot in the same way.

The story follows 11-year-old Silvia (Sil) and her mother as they are forced to relocate to a now-crumbling luxury building called The Morningside as part of a repopulation program for those that had to leave their ancestral homes. Sil’s aunt Ena was a superintendent in the building and they became close during the time they spent together, with Ena always telling stories of folklore and magic. Sil later befriends Mila, a new girl that moved into the building, and together they embark on adventures to investigate the truth of some of Ena’s tales, specifically revolving around a mysterious artist that lives in the penthouse, as well as the truth about their own pasts.

There was a lot about this book that worked for me, but there was also a lot that left me unsettled and unsure. While it may have just taken some time to settle into the narrative and style of the writing, the first quarter or so felt particularly unsettling, without anything I could really grab onto to keep me grounded in the story. As it continued, the plot felt a little firmer and I could follow much more easily, but I still ended up struggling to connect with it despite the lovely and surreal prose. I really appreciated the mother-daughter relationship depicted throughout the pages, and I enjoyed reflecting on the messages and themes of how things and people change over time, and how we adapt to move forward. Although there weren’t an overwhelming amount of characters to keep track of, there were still times that the side-characters and tangential storylines strayed me away too far from the heart of the book.

There is certainly an audience that will be swept away by the descriptive, immersive writing in this surreal, lyrical story. While that part certainly worked for me as well, the characters and plot just felt like they were constantly right beyond my grasp, and I would’ve loved to connect with both a little more. Thank you so much to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This is a dystopian fantasy about a girl who lives with her mother in an apartment building after a catastrophic event caused their community to be underwater. Education is hard to come by in this new world and, the girl being 11, is uber curious about a secretive tenant in their building and decides she needs to investigate. The story is about her antics.

I had to sit with this one for a little while. I guess I don't even know what I read. I feel like I needed the backstory about what exactly happened to their world to make it the way that it was. I feel like THAT could have been the more interesting story? There was a lot of things that I am still confused about, the herons and their significance being one.

I would give this book a 3.5 star rating. The mother's found profession was interesting, and Mr. Lamb was a character.

I must have skipped the part of the synopsis about the fantasy as this is not my usual favorite genre.

Obreht provides a glimpse into a very possible future and masterfully weaves in the myriad systemic issues--climate change, migration, economic collapse, power struggles, income inequality--that will shape any near future. Introducing the reader to the world through the eyes of a child was an ingenious method of world-building and I loved the protagonist and her family, blood and chosen, despite their flaws and missteps.

I received this book from NetGalley for this review.

This dystopian story takes place in some future version of this world in which climate change has caused whole cities to be submerged by sea-level rise. People are forced to seek refuge from the flooding as well as the wildfires and landslides. This story is about a displaced family that has had to try to find a new life in an unfamiliar place.

Silvia, age 11, and her mother end up in a place called Island City, sharing an apartment with Aunt Ena, the superintendent of a building called The Morningside. Silvia is lonely and bored, and becomes fascinated with some of the mythology that Ena shares from their original homeland. She becomes obsessed with a mysterious artist who lives in the penthouse of The Morningside. Silvia’s life is upended by her Aunt’s death and the arrival of a new friend and family.. Their past lives catch up with them and change the directions of their future.

The dystopian nature of this book in combination with the magical realism didn’t resonate with me.

One of those thought provoking stories you can’t put down. For me to come back quickly to an Ebook means it must be captivating! Check this one out for something profound but also… idk a joy to read. Feeling like no time was wasted on this. Thank you NG for the ARC.

This was an ambitious and somewhat disjointed read. The author’s writing style is poetic and engaging, but I personally wish we got more of a story about life in this not too distant future flooded upper west side of manhattan fever dream, and less about the sorcery and folklore plot line. But that’s just my personal preference! Overall an engaging read and definitely creative.

The Morningside is an enigmatic and heterogeneous novel that is highly enjoyable. Set in the not-so-distant future, it is essentially the story of a young girl named Silvia. With a dystopian setting, it is a coming-of-age story of family, the aching need for one's history, and the desire to make sense of one's world. While melancholic, the story also contains elements of mysticism, magic, and adventure. Sil hears stories of her homeland, a place she has no memory of, from her aunt Ena, whom she has only recently met. She is enraptured with the folktales and accounts of the beauty of where she came from. Her dull existence is further piqued when she meets a mysterious man, and a girl her age moves into her building. These events and Sil's nosy curiosity about the woman who lives in the penthouse with her three mammoth dogs form the crux of the story. Téa Obreht has created a delightfully imaginative novel that I found entertaining.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC of this book.

Sylvia and her mother settle in Moringside a former luxury building. They were upended from their homestead when Sly was a young child and her mother doesn’t talk of the past.
They settle with Elena the superintendent of the building and ultimately Slys aunt who tells very different stories of the past and the old homestead. Her mother doesn’t want Ena filling Slys head with fables of the past that they both have very different versions of!
Slys stories come to abrupt halt when they find her Aunt dead in the hallway. Her mother quickly assumes the new role of the Superintendent of the building.
Her mother shows Sly a vacant building and shows her the dream she has to run a cafe-
Will she ever get success with her language barrier…..

I loved Obreht’s The Tiger’s Wife and was eager to read this new offering. The story takes place in some future version of this world in which climate change has caused whole cities to be submerged by sea-level rise. People are forced to seek refuge from the flooding as well as the wildfires and landslides. This story is about a displaced family that has had to try to find a new life in an unfamiliar place. Obreht’s descriptions are vivid and atmospheric and the story dances along the edge of magical realism (whereas The Tiger’s Wife inhabited it fully). While there were times I was frustrated with the young protagonist, the suspense of the story kept me turning the pages to see how things turned out. Lovely.

Thanks to Random House and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC, in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. The US publication date is March 19, 2024.

I am very torn over this book. This was my first novel by Tea Obreht and while she writes beautifully, I could not really get into the story itself. For me, it lacks a certain context because we have no real background on this dystopian world. We have characters who have fled "back home" due to the horrors of war, and now they find themselves in a city governed by the tides and overrun with flooding. At the heart of it is an exploration of the relationships between mothers and daughters, but there's also a certain folktale quality in the stories Silvia's aunt tells her and the stories she tells herself to try and make sense of her new home (and her lack of any real memory of her life 'before'). And because of this, the majority of the story centers around Silvia's obsession with a mysterious older woman who lives in her building, Bezi Duras. And it just got to be too much for me. Silvia believes only she can see "a world beneath the world," but I felt as though the author couldn't decide if she wanted to fully embrace the magical, or chalk it up to Silvia being an impressionable kid. I expected more of an explanation and was disappointed by the lack of one, especially since so much of the story revolved around the mystery, or lack thereof, of Bezi. Despite not loving this particular story, I would be curious to try more of the author's books in the future because I really enjoyed her writing style.

I adored this dystopian novel about family and secrets and why we protect ourselves and our loved ones and how and what it means to be a refugee and a child refugee. Told from the point of view of young Silvia, who with her secretive mother has traveled far and wide, the narrative is one of mistakes and attempts to rectify those mistakes, yearning for stability and beauty and more than just survival, how the broken world appears to a child, and how stories are created and transmitted. The language is translucent and airy, dark and thick with danger, fairy-tale like, beguiling, and plaintive, all as needs must. It's a stunning work of writing, thought-provoking and rich.

The morningside is a tender exploration of the relationships between mothers and daughters. It's set in an apocalyptic future where Silvia and her mother are forced to leave their ancestral home due to flooding. They are accepted as residents into 'The Morningside', a modern high rise tower in Island City. Silvia's mother takes a job as a superintendent there, handling repairs and maintenance of the building, assisted by Silvia.For a while Silvia is the only child there, but is soon joined by Mila and her family. Silvia's aunt had told her stories of their past and folklore, and insinuated that one of the residents is actually a type of witch. She also tells Silvia that this woman's dogs turn into men during the day, which is why she only walks the dogs at night.Silvia becomes obsessed with this character, Bezi, and is determined, with the help of brazen Mila, to get into Bezi's apartment to find out what is going on. This book is long and not much happens until close to the end where some of the supernatural items are addressed, and you learn why Silvia and her mother have had to leave their homeland so suddenly. Silvia's mother also is missing for a while and Silvia stays with Mila and her family and learns more about where she came from and some additional background about her mom's past. This book definitely could have been shorter. The ending leaves some threads unfinished, and the pacing is very slow. I see that this author's other books have won multiple awards, but don't see that happening here.

Enchanting little tale. This is not the type of book I normally read or enjoy, but this author is so good ((loved the Tiger’s Wife) I decided to try it and loved it!

Preteen Silvia and her mother are fleeing an unspoken trauma in their unnamed Southeastern European homeland, where their village was destroyed by vaguely sketched environmental degradation and paramilitary violence. A shadowy government repopulation scheme moves them into a decaying luxury high-rise full of cranky Upper West Side oldsters, where her aunt Ena is the superintendent. Meanwhile, her mother works as a salvage diver in the drowned urban ruins, seeking to make enough money to buy a local café and live a quiet life of exile.

Obreht provides pointillistic touches that make this future world feel like a lucid dream: streets drowning in the tide, elevated railways that end in midair, an ancient jar of fig jam, nests of rook crane eggs, delicatessens serving illegal meat, collapsing flooded basements. Her prose style is dependably evocative and poetic, but she couldn't make these disparate elements cohere despite the emotional stunner of the final chapter's revelations.

I am not quite sure what to say about The Morningside by Tea Obreht. For the most part I was left confused and looking for answers which didn’t seem to exist. The writing is good and very descriptive, but of what I am not sure.

Silvia and her mother arrive at The Morningside to live with her mother’s sister Ena as part of a repopulation program for people that have had to leave their ancestral home. Ena is the superintendent of the building and when she dies, Silvia’s mother takes over the position. Sil, as she is called, has no idea about her past. Ena feeds her folktales of the past and of there new location which Sil takes to heart. She befriends Mila, another girl that has moved in, and together they seek to find out if Ena’s tales are true. This island they are now living on is by the water and has flooded out in the past. Whether this country is in the future or past, or even it’s location, I cannot tell.

Ena put in Silvia’s mind that there is a Vila, Benzi Duras, living in their building. She and Mila seek to prove this. In doing so she almost looses her mother as a result. When Sil and her mother are forced to flee The Morningside, they do so accompanied by May who befriended Sil in her time of need. The three of them wind up far away. Sil moved west, with May showing up every now and again, and her mother travels south.

One thing the book says to me is that we grow up, we change, and we move to different locations in our life. We adjust to these as well as other changes. Everyone reacts and adapts to these changes in different ways, some good and some not so good. People that like unrealistic stories may love this one. I have a hard time with surreal.

Thank you Net Galley for giving me the opportunity to read this pre-release.