All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall

All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall was a recommendation from Catherine on the podcast Sarah's Bookshelves Live. 

If you read this book, along with The Light Pirate, and Alas, Babylon, I think you'd be all set in the world of dystopian fiction. In this one, really strong hurricanes called hypercanes are common, the glaciers have melted, and a small group of human survivors have taken to living on the roof the American Natural History Museum in New York City, including Nonie and her family. But when a storm surge takes down the building, they must leave and survive without shelter. 

Cli-fi is so scary, right? Because this is not implausible. At some point, humans are going to have to figure out how to live when coastal cities are no longer viable. At some point, will the true danger be nature or other people? 

I found this book engrossing. The chapters are short - two to four pages each - so you always feel like you're making real progress. I found the writing hard to parse at first. Consider the following sentence. It came early on in the book and I'm still not sure what it's supposed to mean, to be honest. 

We were on the fourth floor, Astor Turret was, too, had a good view out the city, big windows. (page 21)

But then once I got into Nonie's voice and her tendency to let her mind wander to the past just as big events were happening, I liked the rhythms of this book. It is clear that Nonie is an expert at dissociation because she just cuts out when things get scary. I appreciated that it was a character trait that lasted throughout the entire book.

Anyway, I liked this. I read it on the drive to and from Iowa on Easter and it made the time go by quickly. 4/5 stars (there were some writing quirks I did not care for)

Lines of note:

"Sometimes you have to remember that The World As It Is changed things, but we can change them back." (page 166)

I think I needed this reminder in April 2025. 

Hat mentions (why hats?):

"Nonie, can you see if my hat is in the pack?" (page 61)

Keller found his straw hat, veteran of rainforests. (page 62)

Keller's had matches, boxers, a roll of bandage, a tin cup, a baggie of seeds, the latest of his notebooks, a pen he took from the Amen gift show that wrote wet or upside down, second socks, a wool hat, a compass, a brass watch. (page 62)

He pulled his field hat lower and dug into his stroke. (page 140)

A sign said MASSPIKE, a black hat next to the worlds. (page 221)

If, like me, you had no idea what that line meant. 

Darling knocked softly on the door, then slid in, drenched, his wool hat back on, his cheeks still bright. (page 269)