I thought the idea for this book was fascinating. It’s about various members of a community who experience an announcement of an incoming ICBM missile telling them to seek shelter (immediately, as the title implies). Seek Immediate Shelter, by Vincent Yu (2026) focuses on new characters in each chapter, but since they’re nearly all members of the town’s ethnic Chinese community, it’s not surprising that they go into the same shops or have met each other.
As much as I loved the premise of the book, I found the characters so incredibly human, flawed, and often unkind that I found it hard to empathize or even like them. You do eventually find out how some of the folks came to be so damaged and “messed up,” which helped me understand more. The people are really different from most characters in books, and I credit Yu with creating such a unique community.
Yu writes beautifully, with spare prose that provides the reader ample opportunity to read between the lines and come to their own conclusions. I enjoyed reading the book, even though I’ve had nightmares about bombs coming ever since “duck and cover” training in the 60s. I liked that each chapter could be read as its own novella. It’s an easy book to read in chunks.
I’d say it’s a challenging book to read, because the characters are a bit sad and directionless, but honestly, it’s kind of fun to read a book about average people in extraordinary situations. Hmm.
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