Good Morning, Midnight in Bound Together

May 03, 2016 Angela M rated it it was amazing

Shelves: netgalley-reviews

I am unable to give it anything less than 5 stars for the author's gorgeous writing and the in depth characterizations. I loved the descriptive writing from the beginning which allows us the to see and feel what it was like living at the Arctic Circle. We also get glimpses of outer space, of what Jupiter may look like from the crew on a spacecraft, called Aether, but it was the passages describing the Arctic, it's landscape and wildlife that pushed this to 5 stars for me .

Augustine , an aging, I am unable to give it anything less than 5 stars for the author's gorgeous writing and the in depth characterizations. I loved the descriptive writing from the beginning which allows us the to see and feel what it was like living at the Arctic Circle. We also get glimpses of outer space, of what Jupiter may look like from the crew on a spacecraft, called Aether, but it was the passages describing the Arctic, it's landscape and wildlife that pushed this to 5 stars for me .

Augustine , an aging, astronomer has traveled the world studying the stars since he was a young man, having left behind any connection to anyone in his life, devoting himself to his work now in the Arctic. An unknown, unnamed catastrophe is occurring on Earth. He refuses to go back home when an aircraft comes to get him and his fellow researchers. He stays, bound and determined to spend the rest of his days doing his work so he can leave a legacy. He thought he was alone until a little girl named Iris comes into his life. Together they manage to make a life and Augustine experiences emotions he's never known - fear, feelings of nurturing, responsibility for another human being, love - what he didn't have for the child he left behind .

In a second alternating narrative belonging to Sully, we meet this astronaut who has traveled in space to Jupiter on the ship Aether, having left her young daughter behind with her ex husband in favor of her calling, her work as an astronaut. Sully and the rest of the crew are also left with the impending unknown doom of what may have happened on earth with no communication in weeks as they make their way back home. The author really takes us into the thoughts and pasts of these two characters and we come to know where they came from and perhaps why they made their choices. The loneliness they felt as children still haunts them now.

This is a quiet yet intense journey with the anticipation of if or when the paths of these two characters will cross, wondering who Iris is and how she got there and wanting to know what has happened on Earth. All of this is beautifully told. It's an amazing first novel about the relationships we have, about the choices we make in life, about the regrets, about acceptance of oneself and ultimately about redemption. Lily Brooks-Dalton is an author, whose future books I'll watch for.

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley . ...more

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Mar 27, 2016 Annet rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: hope, wow-impressive, favorites, wisdom-philosophical, apocalyptic, literature-pure, beautiful-poetic, dark, have-to-read-again

When the world stops listening, who do you become?

Well..... wow... this was just a beautiful book. I have no words for it ... It really got to me.
The stillness of the story (unlikely for an apocalyptic story really). The poetry of every page. The beautiful language. The simplicity of it. The emotions, buried in the pages. I just enjoyed it immensely. Every page. Slowly. The pace is really slow actually and it fits Good Morning, Midnight. The alternating stories of Augustine, ageing scientist, ...more

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Mar 07, 2016 Diane S ☔ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

When the arctic circle is evacuated due to some unknown crisis, Augustine, in his seventies refuses to leave. He has spent his life looking towards the heavens and refuses to abandon what he considers his life. Sully and her crew, are returning home after their spaceship has successfully completed their mission of installing probes on Jupiter's moons, when they lose all contact with mission control.

This is set in the future, exact date unknown, but these few people may be the only ones left on e ...more

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Jan 13, 2019 ☮Karen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2019, book-club, library-checkout, favorites

Book Club read #20, Jan. 2019

Still thinking about the stars (pun intended). Minimum 4.5.

I sure took my sweet time to read this. First I wasn't at all sure I even wanted to read it based on the genre, as dystopian and apocalyptic do not generally sit well with me. Friends who I respect and follow loved it, yet I still hesitated. Once I saw that the local library system had bunches of copies, however, I decided to suggest it to my in person book club... safety in numbers or a reason I could no lon Book Club read #20, Jan. 2019

Still thinking about the stars (pun intended). Minimum 4.5.

I sure took my sweet time to read this. First I wasn't at all sure I even wanted to read it based on the genre, as dystopian and apocalyptic do not generally sit well with me. Friends who I respect and follow loved it, yet I still hesitated. Once I saw that the local library system had bunches of copies, however, I decided to suggest it to my in person book club... safety in numbers or a reason I could no longer procrastinate.

The book was a slow starter for me with many descriptions of the cold expanse of the Arctic Circle where Augie chose to stay, alone, after his team of other scientists all went back to their various homes upon hearing of a "catastrophic" event, no further details known. Augie wasn't alone, however, as a small wisp of a seven year old girl was discovered in hiding shortly after everyone else left. She didn't say much, or had much to say, but she kept Augie going and helped him through illness and adventures alike. More dialog would have helped me stay connected, but I must say I liked little Iris a lot as she reminded me a great deal of the Snow Child, a book I loved.

The alternating chapters belong to Sully, headed home in a spacecraft after a grueling, two-year flight to Jupiter. Sully works in the comm. pod, trying to establish communication with Earth, anywhere on Earth, but it's been eerily silent for two weeks. Time goes by and as their reentry approaches, the crew must make choices on their own as to what to do.

The writing is beautiful and descriptive, making it obvious that the author did her research. The story grew on me but it was past the halfway point before I knew I was hooked and had to find out what was going to happen. Fortunately this did not feel apocalyptic since that part of the story was happening in other parts of the world, so it boiled down to these 2-3 main characters and the contemplating of human nature that held my interest. The ending was superb. ...more

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Dec 31, 2020 Melanie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club-read

I very much enjoyed this even though at times I felt it bogged down a bit. It’s a quiet and reflective story about relationships and regret. The writing is very atmospheric. The author describes the Arctic so well. Even though I’ve never been I could picture it very well - the sights and the weather. The way the author describes the vastness of space is fantastic also. I cannot imagine being in either situation the two main characters find themselves. Scary!

UPDATE - I watched the movie on Netfli ...more

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Jul 14, 2018 Irene rated it really liked it

Vague rumors of some catastrophic event prompts the immediate evacuation of the scientists at an artic observatory. One elderly man refuses to leave. Always having preferred the celestial bodies to human ones, he would prefer to die alone on the tundra than return to society where he has no connections. But, he soon discovers that a quiet, elusive little girl has also stayed behind. A small group of astronauts are returning to Earth after a four year exploration of the solar system. All gladly l ...more

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Dec 22, 2019 Bucket rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: parents-affecting-children, reviewed, communication, psychology, literary, many-perspectives, dystopia, time, adventure, fate-chance

Considering this is a book about the end of the world, it's quite a spare, quiet book. It's also a quick read that packs an emotional punch.

The mystery of it is not very mysterious, but I didn't mind -- this is about two characters coming to terms with their pasts and how they regret so much, yet couldn't really (and wouldn't really) do things differently.

I was momentarily irritated by the implication that Sully failed as a wife/mother because of her ambition. Sure, it's tough to have a normal f ...more

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Aug 09, 2018 Mairzi rated it it was ok

I really did not enjoy the author's writing style. She seems to have never met an adjective, adverb or simile she didn't like or wouldn't use. Although I found the basic idea for the story interesting, the overblown style and florid descriptions prohibited any development of the plot and the characters. ...more

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