I was so excited about this book when I read the initial synopsis. I thought it seemed like really interesting speculative fiction, and had a beautiful theme of community and loss and life threading through. Then I started reading the book and unfortunately it fell incredibly far short of my expectations. I didn’t like the FMC, who felt so listless and unfocused as a person that I was bored by her own inner monologue. I thought Mia’s character was by far the most interesting bit, but there was so much interiority and exposition thrown at us that I couldn’t even get to it. I nearly DNFed, then just skimmed the last 35% of the story. Super underwhelming to me. 2⭐

*Thank you again to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

In Susanna Kwan's novel Awake in the Floating City, we meet Bo and Mia, two women living - or at least surviving - in a future version of San Francisco that has been devastated by an ecological disaster. It's hard for me to call this novel post-apocalyptic because the apocalypse is ongoing in Kwan's tale. I have read numerous books that try to imagine a world that is vastly altered by a climate disaster and this one is absolutely the best of the bunch. It is both devastating to see the ways in which climate change slowly erodes human life and also compelling to see the enduring promise of art and human connection in the face of it. Kwan has written a beautiful and haunting novel that will stay with me, much like Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC; all opinions are my own.

Review: In Awake in the Floating City, Susanna Kwan crafts a hauntingly beautiful debut set in a near-future, perpetually flooded San Francisco. Artist Bo, overwhelmed by grief after her mother’s disappearance, finds purpose when she becomes the caretaker of Mia, a 130-year-old woman embodying both memory and loss. As they share stories of the vanished city, Bo rediscovers her creative voice—transforming memory into shimmering holographic art that honors both the woman and the place they cherish. Kwan’s prose is lyrical and meditative, more elegy than action, inviting readers to weigh what it means to memorialize the inevitable decay of both place and legacy.

I DNF this title at about 40%. The oppressive mood of the setting is explored and communicated very well; I felt the soaked dreariness of the flooded, dying city viscerally. Unfortunately, I didn't connect to the characters in this story enough to slog through the close-in and reflective, but incredibly slow paced narrative. There's a great work here for somebody, but not for me. I'm sure I'll still find myself recommending this to any patrons who might find it meets their current mood.

This story was just ok for me unfortunately. It didn’t hit any of those “pull me in” moments.

This setting takes place in a near‑future San Francisco that is perpetually submerged by rain and rising seas where the residents cling to high‑rise rooftops amid the decay. At the heart of the novel is Bo, an artist paralyzed by grief after her mother's disappearance, who finds purpose again when she becomes the reluctant caregiver to Mia, a feisty 130‑year‑old neighbor.

The novel is a slow‑burn for sure and feels overly done as the story remained stubbornly still…aka, it had me loosing interest. Mostly about climate change and the FMC’s emotional dissection, I felt like I was walking through mud at times. Just not for me.

Thank you to the publisher for the advance review copy in exchange for an honest review.

“So why was she still here, in this disintegrated place, without the people she’d shared it with?”

Awake in the Floating City for sure makes you feel like you’re in that floating city, surrounded by that water, isolated, with just the two main characters Bo and Mia.

It takes place in a future dystopian version of San Francisco that is now under water. We follow Bo, an artist who's lost her spark after her mother goes missing and gets a job caring for our other character, a 130 year old women, Mia.

At times I deeply enjoy seeing the discussion of family relationships and seeing the relationship between Bo and Mia. We also watch Bo always having to find herself again and her way in the work. Parts of that I enjoyed as well.

However for some reason I just couldn’t connect with this story and the characters to where I felt fully invested in what I was reading. It just wasn’t also exactly what I was hoping for I think.

I do feel this was well written and deeply creative with having the backdrop that this story is set in. I am sure some of you will enjoy this and get more or of this than I could.

(I was late to the party but still, thank you ALWAYS NetGalley, the author, and the Publishers for an ARC for my honest review)

I loved this! Such an amazing story and writing. So glad I got to read it!

Thank you NetGalley and Susanna Kwan!

Confession time: Death is my greatest fear. This book, unfortunately, deals with death. It's not prolonged and it's not devastating but you know it's coming. So, it hits you and, at that moment in the book, you reflect on it. At least, I did.

However, I gave this book a 3-star rating because it was slow. Too slow for me and I spaced out and became uninterested at times. I also very much disliked all the scenarios I couldn't place. I couldn't picture the flooded city and the rooftop conversions with thriving food and entertainment. I couldn't picture a world where people are living until age 130. I wasn't sure which cities flooded? Not Vancouver, not China, not wherever Elliot was from.

Because of that, I didn't connect with nearly any character. I know Bo and Mia had a bond and I appreciate the storyline but it was a different world, a future world, that I couldn't comprehend and didn't care for.

Awake in the Floating City is a slow read about human connection and relationships in the midst of a climate-changed dystopia. Bo, our main character, lives in San Francisco, a city flooding more and more each day. Just as she is about to leave, she receives a request from her elderly neighbor, Mia, to become her caretaker. The story really begins here, as it is more about the relationship between Bo and Mia than the dystopian world they live in. I'd recommend for fans of deep, slow moving books focused on the human condition.

Almost all of Bo's whole family is leaving town or has already gone, and she is supposed to be leaving with the last of her relatives, fleeing a submerged future San Francisco and heading to Canada to build a new, drier life for themselves. Bo is an artist, but to pay the bills she also does supportive care for elderly clients, and a new job offer shows up to work for a woman in her building who is about 130 years old, just as she is about to leave town. And, while she cannot talk about it to anyone apparently, Bo has her own reasons to want to stay.

This is a great story about grief, death, loss, and how people recover from the major crises in their lives. It requires suspension of disbelief to buy into the setting, since many modern cities exist in very wet, humid places, and do not just rot and crumble because it rains a lot. And, at the rate that people can build things now, it is hard to imagine a major California city not just building on the new coastal lands as the coast shifts. The story requires this sort of abandoned, half-drowned cityscape, but it seemed overly contrived. And, most ecology scientists I know would be swarming all over the drowned city studying and measuring everything, so the one lone ecologist bravely gathering data after everyone else has left is also unrealistic. Scientists use boats, off-road vehicles, and backcountry gear to get to all the inhospitable places on Earth and in space, so a half drowned city would be no serious obstacle, just an opportunity to study a new modern ecosystem. So, this book has a few issues, but none that can't be ignored to enjoy the story. I'd give this book 4.5 stars but here a 5 is appropriate.
Good book, worth reading, and I could see it deserving recognition for book prizes, even if it gets a few things a bit wrong.

I wish I felt what this book wanted me to feel. The writing is incredibly detailed and sensory, and yet the atmosphere feels vague. Rather than feeling immersive, the whole thing felt long-winded and sluggish--much longer than its 300ish pages.

I wish, I wish, I wish. I'll keep an eye out for this author in the future, but this one just didn't work for me.

I did not finish this book, so this is a placeholder rating (unable to share without adding a rating). I was super excited by the premise of this book, climate/eco fiction are fascinating to me. Unfortunately I got ~50 pages in and was just not pulled in. I found myself not wanting to pick the book up. Others said it started slow, and to push through, so I may give it another shot down the line.

Thank you nonetheless for the eARC!

Climate change has taken its toll. San Francisco has become a “floating city”. Most people have left and it is time to move on if you haven’t already. But many remain, roof tops have become the new “streets”. Bo, an artist whose side gig is working as a caretaker. Bo is stuck, since the disappearance of her mother in a flash flood she hasn’t been able to paint. Her cousin wants her to leave the city but somehow she can’t. Then a note shows up offering her a caretaker job for an old woman, Mia, in her building. Taking this job is her excuse for staying on. Bo and Mia become the center of the story along with San Francisco and its Chinese community. As the layers of each of their lives are revealed Bo begins to create. It is a slow read but insightful in what it means to have a life, a past, to be forgotten, to have a connection to a place and history.

Awake in the Floating City takes place in a dystopian setting where the city of San Francisco has been flooded by constant rainfall. Our main character, Bo, becomes caretaker for an elderly woman named Mia who ends up really helping Bo and in many ways, becomes a caretaker for Bo as well. Mia helps Bo see that there is much more to life by sharing her own life stories with her that give Bo inspiration and hope. This was a very heartwarming story about the complexity of relationships and the magic of multigenerational connections.
I would recommend this book for those who are looking for a slow-paced, thought provoking read that is sure to shed a tear or two.

This is a beautifully written story of a possible future after climate disasters and flooding overcome San Francisco. It took a little while to get into the rhythm of the story. Once I was drawn in, however, the characters were moving. This story offers a unique commentary on home and history. I loved being in Bo's perspective as she grapples with loss and life through the lens on an artist and caregiver. It was really nice to read a story with a home care giver as the main character. I will carefully follow whatever Susanna Kwan does in the future. I strongly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a slower paced story full of emotional depth.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Pantheon for providing an eARC in return for my honest thoughts.

Awake in the Floating City may be something most readers won’t expect. The dystopian setting is but that while the real focus of the story is human connection.

To me, the question at the core of this book felt like this - to whom do we owe our loyalty? In an increasingly difficult world to survive in, our main character Bo has to choose what she owes to her family, to the vulnerable and, ultimately, to herself. Although I, as the reader, was frustrated with her decisions, this may well have been the point of the book - they were hers to make.

A beautiful story that caught me off guard.

It has been raining for 7 years. It is impossible to get around and residents are either trapped on high floors or have fled. Water is everywhere as is the decimation.
But Bo is loathe to leave. After her mother is swept away by the waters, an elderly neighbor in her building , trapped on a high floor, asks her to be her caretaker and helper. It turns out to be a good arrangement for both of them. After all the years of rain, flash floods impossible flooding,, and utter destruction, will helping another person help Bo survive this? Mia is no wilting flower either. She needs the help but she has a difficult side too. She has a daughter who has her own life and hasn't seen her mother in a very long time, but she calls.
Loneliness vs connection, friends, and the rare person who cares, can change the spirit from darkness to living again. Her budding relationship with Mia is opening the door to friendship, something we all felt during Covid's lockdowns when we felt isolated too. .
Being a caretaker means that Bo is relevant again, and to accomplish that , while helping an elderly person, is selfless and precious. It is helping her to find meaning in life, and come back to living her life after the disappearance of her mom.
Bo has started to paint again after the flooding, devastation separation loss and isolation..
At times, the story seems to slow down, and given the situation, it seems very natural. Bo actually takes on an art project and struggles to find inspiration.
While I was reading, it struck me that the environment is an important element in our own lives, and we need to take better care ofnit. Could the water have been mitigated by preparing better? I had to take a break.
This book made me think, reflect, and pause on climate change, pollution, and water everywhere in a world that had not been cared for and spun away too quickly. It also highlighted the human spirit which teaches us the possibility of our own unknown strengths. The writing was pretty in the midst of the bleak surroundings
Bo deserved so much more.

Thanks to the author and the publisher for the ARC copy. All opinions are my own.

This is a quieter story. It's beautifully written, but it was not a page turner to me. I was in awe of the author's writing ability and style, though.

A thought provoking book with characters that stay with you long after the book is over. A dystopian world with beauty and heart.

I will say this was beautifully written. However, it's very slow, not much happens, and I really didn't care for any of the characters - they felt flat and unlikeable. It just didn't do much for me. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Thank you to NetGalley and Pantheon for the ARC.