4-1/2 stars, rounded up. This book turned out to be different than I expected, but in a good way. It's still a dystopian novel, set in a future San Francisco at a time when constant rains have created massive floods, forcing residents who haven't fled the city to live on upper floors of high rise buildings, traveling from one building to the next via shaky rooftop bridges. But the primary focus of the novel is the relationships that develop among the characters.

The main character is Bo, a Chinese-American female artist, who has found her artistic vision and energy stalled since her mother disappeared in a flood some three years earlier. She supports herself by taking on caregiver positions for elderly clients in need of in-home care. Her newest patient is Mia, who finds herself alone and increasingly frail at the age of 130, and reluctantly welcomes Bo as a part-time assistant. Both Bo and Mia have been living rather isolated lives, and though they are both slow to warm up and open up to others, they gradually develop a warm relationship that benefits both of them.

Included in the narrative are vivid descriptions of the changes to the environment wrought by constant rain, as well as descriptions of a major art project on which Bo is working. I wish there were a way the author could have included some visual representations of Bo's work, which sounds both fantastical and amazing. Kwan's writing is both straightforward and lyrical, and her characters and their environs come vividly to live in her writing.

Thank you to the publisher, Pantheon, and #NetGalley for providing a complimentary eARC in exchange for an objective review. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and recommend it highly. I love Kwan's final dedication: "To caregivers everywhere, tending to people, places, and planet, in generations gone, here, and to come: thank you."

4.5 stars. (i might change this to 5 stars after sitting with it for a bit.)

in the flooded san francisco of the not so far future, we meet an artist, bo, who has let her creativity fall to the wayside. bo recently lost her mother and is adrift in a lonely, hopeless world…deep in the depths of a depression that is brought on by the tremendous loss. she works as a caregiver in her high-rise apartment building that sits in the murky depths of the ocean/rain water that never recedes. the third floor is the lowest they can now visit. the rain never ceases. city dwellers have mostly abandoned the area and those who stayed behind travel from rooftop to rooftop using a highway of bridges. everything that was once on the ground has moved up - marketplace stalls with vendors, travel paths, and basic socializing (what little is left).
one day, a note appears under her door. a neighbor, one hundred and thirty year old mia, is looking for help with life tasks. after a break since her last client died, bo’s caregiving hat is put back on and she starts to build a bond with mia that will see them through her final days here on this damp, gray earth.
bo is encouraged and inspired by mia and her life and tries desperately to finish a work in mia’s honor before she dies. she wants to give mia a preview before she releases the entire project into the world. i enjoyed watching bo’s “creative block” move out and her full process move back in. even in a world where everything seems hopeless, the artists will still find a way to create.
there is a section of this book where mia and bo are open and vulnerable with each other in a way they hadn’t been before. their relationship shifts from caretaker and client to a much more intimate, familial one. “i’m glad you answered my note.” “me, too.” when i read those lines, the lump in my throat expanded and caught my breath.
this fabulous work by susanna kwan reminds readers that kindness and care in the smallest of microcosms can have a tremendous impact on our immediate worlds and the greater environment. we may not be able to fix everything around us but honoring and tending to those we coexist with can repair our hearts…and theirs.

thank you to knopf, pantheon, vintage for providing this book for review consideration via netgalley. all opinions are my own.

The premise of this book was so interesting and had so much potential. I loved the setting and how realistic the author was able to portray it. I wasn’t able to really connect with any of the characters though which made the book drag out for me

As a San Franciscan girly who worked in healthcare working with adults with dementia and Alzheimer’s. THIS BOOK HURT ME in the best way possible. I felt all the emotions reading this book. Telling everyone to read this book in 2025.

The non-stop rain is a whole mood, but as much as the rain is part of the story, it isn't. The rain is just there. The real story is with Bo and Mia. Their relationship, the act of connection, allows them both to open up and share after years of being isolated, whether by choice or circumstances. The pacing is slow, but that really allows the reader to sit with both women and be immersed in the story.

Okay, this book was actually so cool
it seems like such an underdog book
like it seems very unsuspecting but it is actually so deep.
I honestly originally requested this because of the cover...
and then the premise did sound very cool with a dystopian city that doesn't stop raining
I really liked the characters, I just think that at points, the pacing was very slow, and I don't know how memorable this will be for me.
overall really enjoyable though.

This probably would have been a good short story.

This is the most boring novel. It wanders hither and thither, in no hurry to get to a point, any point. Bo’s reasons for staying in the flooded city make no sense when she can barely find food to eat, and the option to move north with her family is right there for her. I became very angry with her for not leaving, especially the second time. Her poor cousin bent over backwards to help her, and she basically spit in his face each time.

I kept confusing "Bo" and "Mia" for some reason. This is set in the near future, and Mia spent a lot of time reminiscing about the way things used to be, and I wished she was actually from my generation so that I could recognize the world she described, but it didn't seem that way.

Because of the amount of detail given to Bo's art, I suspect that artwork was the actual impetus for writing this novel. Sadly, it was the least interesting part of the story. It's a neat idea, and if I saw an art installation like that I might be spellbound, but it's not very interesting to read about. At some point I just started skimming pages when it was describing Bo's art. I feel bad about that, because I can tell a lot of heart went into it, but it just didn't connect with me.

I couldn't help comparing this book to Private Rites, which I just finished (I didn’t like that book much either, but it was better than this one). Both are books set in the near future, with endless rain, in flooded cities. Is endless rain really scientifically possible?

My thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the gift of this free e-book for my review. I'm sorry I don't have a better review to write.

This book is one of those stories that creeps up on you and stays in your heart long after you’ve closed the book. It’s set in a future San Francisco that’s been swallowed by endless rain and rising waters. The streets are gone, the ground doesn’t exist anymore—people live on rooftops, connected by rickety bridges, surviving in this strange, drenched world.

At its core, though, this isn’t really a story about climate change or dystopia. It’s about two women: Bo, a lost artist drowning in her grief, and Mia, a fiercely independent 130-year-old who needs someone to help her in her final days. When Bo takes a job as Mia’s caregiver, at the beginning of their relationship it starts out pretty awkward and tense, but over time of Mia’s employment, they find something deeply meaningful in each other. As Mia begins to share her life story, Bo starts to find herself again.

This isn’t a fast-paced book—it’s quiet and slow, like a rainy day. But that feels intentional, almost like the story is
asking you to sit with it, to feel the weight of loss, regret, and hope. And when the moments of connection hit—when Bo and Mia’s relationship deepens—they hit hard.

The writing is simple but beautiful, and the world Kwan creates is hauntingly real. It’s not just a story about survival, but about art, memory, and how even in a sinking world, people can still find a way to hold each other up. It’s not a flashy novel, but it’s one that lingers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor.

This book delves into human nature of what happens when a person gets old. And how a relationship can develop between the client and the caregiver, in this case an elderly woman and a young woman. The young woman gives up her personal life until the elderly woman passes away. You see how much affection can truly develop between caregiver and client. And this happens almost right away. If you want a touching, emotional book, this is the one for you. I give this book 3 stars.

*Awake in the Floating City* by Susanna Kwan is a mesmerizing and thought-provoking novel that blends elements of fantasy, dystopia, and rich world-building. Set in a floating city where social and political hierarchies shape the lives of its inhabitants, the story follows a young protagonist navigating this complex and often oppressive world. Kwan’s writing is immersive and lyrical, drawing readers into a vividly crafted setting that feels both alien and familiar. The novel delves into themes of identity, power, and the desire for freedom, with the characters’ personal growth and struggles offering emotional depth. The plot is engaging, full of twists and turns, keeping the reader invested in the journey. With its beautifully realized setting, strong character development, and exploration of deep, timely themes, *Awake in the Floating City* is a captivating read that will resonate with fans of speculative fiction and dystopian narratives. Highly recommended for those seeking a rich, immersive story.

Gorgeous debut novel that blends together the dying of a city (future San Francisco, slowly sinking under water and climate change a la Venice) and the dying of an individual woman via her artist caretaker. The caretaker uses the woman's life to make an amazing futuristic art exhibit and memorial, as well as sits hard with the act of dying and the aftermath of it as well. Wistful and definitely a book I recommend picking up next spring.

I thought this was such a beautiful story! I opted to have my app “read aloud” which was a bit robotic in delivery, but I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Bo and Mia. The story of two people determined to stay found comfort in each other. I can’t imagine what this world would be like to actually live in, but it doesn’t feel too far from impossible in our future. Thank you!

In a future that seems closer than is comfortable, San Francisco has flooded, and people are living only in the top floors of high rise apartment buildings (those who have opted to stay despite how dangerous and inconvenient life has become). The roads are under water, vendors set up small shops on the rooftops, and everyone walks across bridges between buildings to get where they need to go. Bo is still there, hoping against hope she’ll find her mother who was swept away in a flash flood. Mia is there because it is where she has spent most of her life, and at 130 years old she is no longer physically able to leave. When Bo becomes Mia’s personal care aid, an unlikely relationship unfolds, in which they share stories about their lives, and Bo, an artist, is inspired to create a visual memorial to Mia’s life in the city they both love. This is a beautifully written exploration of place, of what it means to listen, of relationships between mothers and daughters and what it feels like to open up to a stranger.

I really liked this book. It's a quiet sort of novel, filled with everyday activities, but the setting is a future San Francisco, flooded and always raining. The narrator is Bo, an artist who no longer does art, she's alone, grieving, and cannot bring herself to leave the city, her home, even though everyone tells her she should join what remains of her family in Canada. She takes a job caretaking for a VERY old woman in her building, Mia. They build routines, Bo learns a lot about the history of the city through Mia's stories, she gets back into making art, and the ending is bittersweet. A really lovely book.

I found the story unsettling. I don't know if it was Bo's indecisions about leaving or how she felt about living in a city that could vanish at anytime, all I know is that the story made me anxious. I loved that Bo like helping people and how dedicated she was to Mia, but I don't know if Bo liked anything she really did and if she was really present in her life. The way Bo described the city made me feel like it was a matter of time before everything would be swallowed up by the sea. I like that Bo knew there was a community of people wanting to make living in the city normal, but everyone was leaving one way or another, and it felt like everything was disappearing, so I wonder if Bo is like those people who just can't leave a place even if it kills them, and I felt pretty sad for her when she cancelled a chance to leave.

I want to thank Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Pantheon and NetGalley for an advance copy of a strange world.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“She felt a rippling under her lungs, wishful and terrified. The cool light seemed to touch every surface of the city—the buildings silver, her hands on the ledge aglow.
For a moment she felt the tides holding all their lives in place. For that one illuminated moment she knew her exact position in the great net of things.”

Awake in the Sleeping City is a book about a young woman named Bo who lives a detached, quiet existence in the remnants of what once was San Francisco, wallowing in the grief and guilt of the death of her mother some time prior. It isn’t until the day she’s meant to leave to start a new life in Vancouver that she takes on the decision to become a caretaker for a “supersenior” in her complex, an ancient Chinese woman named Mia whose roots in the city run deep. Over time they build a friendship and as Mia’s health takes a turn for the worse, Bo begins to realize it may be time for her own roots to seek out a new home.

This was a treasure of a book. It was quiet, reflective, and sad, but so, so hopeful. The setting was immaculate. San Francisco has become a place where rain never stops, not even for a few minutes; the city has been lost to the ocean and the only way to traverse the land is by rooftop bridges. History has been lost in a lot of ways, left to mold or to be washed out to sea (there’s a tidbit about a memorial for Chinese immigrants being washed out to sea and lost forever that made me cry).

In a lot of ways, this was an extremely depressing book. I spent a lot of my time reading it, in tears lol. It’s a grim look at what our near future might look like and how things might change. So that scares me. But I found this book healing in a lot of ways too. I’m not sure what else to say about it beyond the fact that I’ll be buying a copy the minute it releases to the public.

Also, the cover is beyond gorgeous.

“To honor Mia was to honor their shared city, too—their home.“

3.5/5 stars
this was a slow but sweet read. my one critique that stops me from giving this a higher rating is that so much of the setting, context, and plot feel like they’d lend themselves better to a visual storytelling format than to a novel. i rarely say that, i love getting to use my imagination to picture a place, and i love when visually-complex descriptions are used in writing, but i was having trouble getting myself to visualize some things in this book. namely the setting (a future flooded san francisco, with rooftop vendors and markets and floating art galleries and abandoned libraries, whole floors of housing flooded out) and the culminating art piece created by our main character (many projected slides with collage, photo, painting, etc somehow drone-flew projecting images onto various buildings and the sky). would love to see this made into a beautiful, different take on a coming-of-age film.
i liked:
-themes of grief and mother-daughter relationships
(“to a daughter, a mother was an entity to vast to know”)
-discussion of history and how we remember, who decides what we collectively remember, and how we can impact that
-descriptive in regards to setting and how people are feeling
i disliked:-a bit slow for me, had difficulty getting invested until i was further along
-some of the descriptions of our main character’s art journey felt a little tacky. perhaps it’s because i’ve read multiple art-related books lately, but some of the things intended to be bo’s meaningful artistic choice to the reader just felt blasé to me.

overall a simple but enjoyable read! thank you to netgalley & the publisher for this eARC.

Awake in the Floating City by Susanna Kwan is a debut novel set in a near-future San Francisco, now submerged by relentless storms. The story follows Bo, a reclusive artist living in the decaying remnants of a city abandoned by most of its inhabitants. Just as Bo plans to leave, she receives a plea for help from her elderly neighbor Mia, who is 130 years old. Mia asks Bo to care for her, and despite her initial hesitation, Bo’s growing bond with Mia pulls her back into both her art and the fading history of the city. In addition, Bo holds on to the hope that her mother may one day return, adding to her decision to stay. As the city literally struggles to stay afloat, their connection highlights the power of human relationships to inspire purpose, even in the bleakest of circumstances.

The novel thoughtfully addresses themes of memory, loss, and resilience, as Bo grapples with preserving a way of life that’s rapidly disappearing while confronting the inevitability of change. Though the book was marketed as being similar to Station Eleven, it has a slower pace and lacks the same emotional pull from its characters. Bo’s effort to document the city’s history and Mia’s story is a compelling idea, but it ultimately didn’t captivate me as I had hoped. The book was written beautifully and I believe others will enjoy the uniqueness of the story.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

i can't believe how much i enjoyed this story and for it being a debut novel is INSANE.

a domestic/dystopian fiction about the city of San Francisco after a natural disaster.

Northern California is drowning because of the never-ending rain. this climate changed focuses a story about Bo, an artist in her 30's + a part time care-person and her 130-year-old neighbor Mia. they're two of the last people living in a flooded city of the future, but neither of them are ready to leave. Bo stayed in the city even though her cousin and uncle have tried repeatedly to rescue her and bring her to safety in Vancouver, she still have that glimpse of hope that her mother, who disappeared in the flood, will re-appear. butas she's ready to sail north, she gets a note from Mia under her door offering her a caregiver job so she decided to stay.

Mia can be rough but her and Bo created a connection deeper than any Bo has had with a client. Mia would share stories about her life and that will inspire Bo to make art again that she has abandones after losing her mom. they're both people who isolated themselves from the world because of life circumstances.

i find the story so so beautiful because these two found out each other because need each other to face their demons. they helped each other find joy while living in a place that is becoming more inhospitable day by day. it made me cry because how depression, loneliness and grief was describe is really relatable and you cannot help but be inspired and question your life choices now and how it would impact you in the future.

this is a perfect book for anyone who loves a story about human connection. pick this up if you need a heartfelt read. it comes out May 2025 so make sure you add it on your tbr!

thank you PANTHEON BOOKS.

This story is not your traditional sci-fi. It takes place in a future where climate change has decimated the United States. There has been a mass migration of people to safer climates. But some people stay. And this story is about the people who stay. Mia is a woman nearing the end of her life. He family lives overseas. She is alone and isolated. Bo is a young woman with her entire life ahead of her. However, due to life circumstances, she can't bring herself to leave and join her family where it is safer. This story is really about Mia and Bo. It's about how they need each other to face their demons and grow. It's about how they help each other find joy while living in a place that is becoming more inhospitable by the day. This story is about their relationship, and about their personal growth and change. The characters in this story had a lot of depth. They were relatable. This is a sci-fi story that focuses on human relationships. I very much enjoyed this book.