Briefly, Very Beautiful

A Novel

By: Roz Dineen

Narrated by: Henrietta Meire

In a land destabilized by unsafe air, wildfires, floods, viruses, supply shortages, and homegrown terror, Cass is raising three small children by herself in the city. Her husband, Nathaniel, has gone all too willingly to serve as a medic in an overseas war. His absence, and Cass's isolation, has brought her into an exhausted but harmonious rhythm with the children; while it's a frightening time, there is also a surprising, quiet tenderness in living on the edge of societal collapse.

When things start to feel more dangerous in the city, Cass evacuates with the children to her mother-in-law's house deep in the countryside. Initially, it's a place of safety, but her mother-in-law's erratic behavior and increasing grip over the children worries Cass, and so they flee again to a commune on the coast. It's an idyllic place, but Cass comes to suspect this seemingly harmonious community has a dark underbelly.

Briefly Very Beautiful is a magnetic novel about love and resilience. Against a wider backdrop of a world imploding, it is an exploration of hope and fear, beauty and joy, as well as seismic betrayal. Roz Dineen's lush prose combines with epic and precise world-building to create a society that feels at once unrecognizable but deeply, chillingly familiar. The result is a compelling portrait of what it is to parent through apocalypse.

©2024 Roz Dineen (P)2024 Tantor

parenting during climate change apocalypse

Dystopian Literature. It's very beautifully written and I could not stop reading it. I was completely absorbed being inside the mother's head as she tries to protect her children. Her husband was a complete shit and left her to become a medic in some far of distant place to fix his ego as the world crashed and literally burned around her and her nursing baby and two children from his first two marriages where the wives had died leaving him to raise the children. Like many mothers, Cass, the main character displays extreme strength and commitment to do all she can caring for the children. Fascinating book on many levels and many themes. Climate terrorism, immigration, and society breakdown as people try to escape.

Long, Very Annoying

In my top ten of most hated books this year. It's very long, very boring, very annoying and can be summarized (without spoilers) as: Woman with 3 kids endures a slow apocalypse with a couple groups of completely insane people (some family members), while her husband the doctor is in another country having affairs, refusing to come home and gaslighting her--as does everyone.