This book has stayed with me for days. I saw the movie and was so touched I picked up the book. It has several threads: nuclear or other weapons that can destroy humanity, living with nature, women’s issues, and oneness with the universe.
The last point might be one of the most interesting. The character notes several times that entering the universal one in her situation is dangerous. It is because she needs to remain aware of the dangers of her situation as well as the potential for other human survivors to appear and potentially enslave or harm her. This resonates with her former lifestyle where she became enslaved to marriage and all the usual trappings society pegged as good and proper. It also resonates on its own level, because while we often strive to achieve oneness, there is actually danger there because we exist in physical form and need to defend that physical form.
A very thought-provocing novel that reads quickly, is riviting in surprising ways, and should be on the shelves of anyone with an interest in the various threads that appear.
5 stars!
Read more fiction where characters interact with their environments in the two-time award-winning Message Stick and the multi-finalist novel He Drinks Poison.