Loved this series of vignettes. I liked how the characters were introduced and then expanded on in their own stories. I enjoyed time passing and seeing slices of the characters lives from other characters perspectives. The characters were so full and I found I connected with almost all of them. I usually don’t like books that make me cry, but I didn’t feel that Vincent Lam was explicitly trying to make me cry in order for me to associate strong feelings with his book, which is the usual reason why I’m so annoyed when a book makes me cry.
Reading a book about the beginning of the SARS outbreak after living through the COVID pandemic definitely put the book in a different light. Living in a smaller urban area, I had no direct experience with SARS. It happened somewhere else. I remember thinking that about the COVID pandemic too, in the early days.
I wish I had read this book prior to the COVID pandemic. It would have given me a glimpse into those tough decisions, how easy it happens and what it does to the people around you, without making my chest feel tight with anxiety and panic. The description of the lottery for the nurses or the panic about feeling warm struck really close to home and took me right back to the first years of the COVID pandemic.
All in all, this was an excellent book.
Highlights:
– Complex and well developed characters that I really connected with
– Innovative construction, a series of short stories from different characters perspectives
– Excellent job capturing the unknowns of an outbreak from the perspective of people actually in it
Lowlights:
– Too short!
– definitely triggered COVID pandemic related anxiety and stress
– I’m out of lowlights, I really liked the book
Based on this post I would like to ask if you mind getting a hold of the King in Yellow and sharing your thoughts on it (although there are decent odds you already read it, I suppose)