All These Things I've Done-- Gabrielle Zevin

All These Things I've Done-- Gabrielle Zevin

Recommended

Several of my friends had commented that they liked the level of worldbuilding and detail in this novel, and as a complete sucker for setting description (ex-historian/current Geographer/computer programmer here, I breathe setting), I had to read this immediately. Just my luck, the library's copy came my way in only a few days, and I devoured it in a few hours.

Literally. This book is about restrictions on caffeine and chocolate, mirroring Prohibition (and also mirroring the far inferior "White Cat" which I had nothing nice to say about so I will say nothing at all!), so of course, I consumed one large coffee beverage and several samplings of Halloween candy while reading it.

Was the world building entirely convincing? Anya Ballantine is struggling to keep her fractured family together as rivalry builds over control of her extended family's black market chocolate empire, and of course falls Romeo and Juliet-style for someone who is just out of reach. From the first few pages, it becomes clear that rules and order are her lifeblood. Cutting across the treacherous reaches of Central Park (which turns out to be disappointingly one of the few times there is a super concrete setting mention, but as someone who has nearly fainted of dehydration in said park, it isn't hard to see things go completely bottoms up with water rationing). But we never really get why...is it climate change? Is it some sort of water rights along the Hudson with territorial encroachment of Canada/etc?...I do of course have a theory, which has to do with the crazy amounts of control the government attempts to exert while still being absolutely corrupt--but that element puts my theory into question, as the government doesn't seem competent or interested enough to fulfill it.

Anyways, I will certainly be reading the next book, if only to find out whether I am right. Overall, it was a far more solid read than most YA science fiction out there, which is not saying much, but really, it was an enjoyable read.