Rebekah Bergman: "The Museum of Human History" (ARC Review)

Title: The Museum of Human History [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Rebekah Bergman [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Sci-Fi, Contemporary
Year: 2023
Age: 18+ (but it can be read by mature teens)
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Original, poetical, compassionate.
Cons: As with most books with a large cast, it's hard to get attached to all its characters.
WARNING! Drowning (off-page). Death by cancer (off-page).
Will appeal to: Those who like a deep, yet accessible meditation on the meaning of time and memory.

Blurb: After nearly drowning, eight-year-old Maeve Wilhelm falls into a strange comatose state. As years pass, it becomes clear that Maeve is not physically aging. A wide cast of characters finds themselves pulled toward Maeve, each believing that her mysterious “sleep” holds the answers to their life’s most pressing questions. As Maeve remains asleep, the characters grapple with a mysterious new technology and medical advances that promise to ease anxiety and end pain, but instead cause devastating side effects. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on Edelweiss. Thanks to W.W. Norton/Tin House Books for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

ORGANIC PALETTE

I have to be honest: given the premise (the comatose little girl who doesn't age), I expected this book to be more on the magical-realism side, which...it really isn't. Anyhow, there's an element of fabulism in Bergman's storytelling that almost makes me vary of using the sci-fi label for this novel, though it incorporates futuristic technology and ultimately revolves around a certain scientific breakthrough (which, conversely, will end up causing devastating outcomes). I think the best way to describe TMOHH is speculative fiction, yet rendered with a poetical tone, and at the same time set against the realistic backdrop of very human feelings like pain, regret and fear - of losing our memories and the version of ourselves that we've gotten most attached to, and of departing this world without leaving a mark on it, or at least having someone who'll remember us when we're gone. [...]

TAKE IT EASY

Structurally, TMOHH is a tour de force that spans years (even eras, in one case) and connects a number of characters, but does so in an apparently effortless way. When I realised the latter were so many, I started to take notes about them (and went back to make sure I didn't forget anyone), because I was afraid of getting lost - but that proved to be fairly unnecessary in order to remember who was who and how they related to one another, and/or to the impossible little girl at the centre of the narrative. Bergman has a flair for writing distinctive characters, and seems to be totally in control of the plot, despite the intricacies surrounding their interaction - which is all the more remarkable in a debut novel. But I was even more impressed by the fact that a meditation about time, memory and the obsession with staying young/potentially living forever (or about the rejection of such things) would be so accessible. I'm vary of using the label "literary fiction" because it sound a bit too pompous and elitist, but Bergman managed to write a story that fits that label without incurring those sins 😉.

CROWDED HOUSE

If I have a quibble about TMOHH, it's that, as it's often the case with books having multiple (main) characters, it's not easy to stay invested in all of them, or to develop a strong bond with every single one. The story doesn't lose its gravity because of that, but personally, I need to care about characters in a deeper way, and having a number of them makes it hard for me to get attached (one of the reasons for my rating). Also, the book has a melancholic feel, even if it does offer a pinch of hope (or is it acceptation?), and if you prefer your fiction to be more on the uplifting (or rather, unflinchingly dark...or riotous) side, you might get a bit disappointed. But even then, you won't regret the time spent reading this novel, just like I didn't - and you may even be tempted to revisit it along the way. 

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