In Ascension
Longlisted for The Booker Prize 2023
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4.0 • 29 Ratings
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- £4.99
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
BLACKWELL'S BOOK OF THE YEAR
'Mesmerising' Sunday Times
'Magnificent' Guardian
'Monumental' The Telegraph
Leigh grew up in Rotterdam, drawn to the waterfront as an escape from her unhappy home life and volatile father. Enchanted by the undersea world of her childhood, she excels in marine biology, travelling the globe to study ancient organisms. When a trench is discovered in the Atlantic ocean, Leigh joins the exploration team, hoping to find evidence of the earth's first life forms - what she instead finds calls into question everything we know about our own beginnings.
Her discovery leads Leigh to the Mojave desert and an ambitious new space agency. Drawn deeper into the agency's work, she learns that the Atlantic trench is only one of several related phenomena from across the world, each piece linking up to suggest a pattern beyond human understanding. Leigh knows that to continue working with the agency will mean leaving behind her declining mother and her younger sister, and faces an impossible choice: to remain with her family, or to embark on a journey across the breadth of the cosmos.
'Utterly compelling' The Times, Books of the Year
'Profound and thrilling' New Statesman, Books of the Year
'A far-reaching epic' Financial Times, Books of the Year
Customer Reviews
Far too much
In Ascension combines a personal story and a science fictional exploration of ocean research and space travel.
The story of Leigh, who experiences abuse by her father, a half attentive mother and a more “life-competent” sister, is interesting and well written but sad and the science fiction half of the novel is exceedingly long. I read on for the personal story and endured the rest.Shortened down to half its length, this book could actually have been very good !
Too meandering
Couldn’t bring myself to care where it was headed. Chose to abandon after 350 pages.
DNF
Started off great. Writing and imagery almost transcendent. As a sailor, I was excited by the ocean section. However, it became clear that there were significant and simple holes in the authors research. Divers would never dive from a Zodiac with no one left in the boat. An expedition sailing ship would not have sails and 5 floors. Description of life on a boat at sea was sorely missing. Overall there were glimmers of genius which tailed off into an unbelievable and ambiguous story. I had high hopes at the beginning but gave up on it 75% of the way through.