LINKS

KEYWORDS

Climate apocalypse
Single mother's struggle
Urban to rural journey
Communal living dangers
Mother-child relationships

Briefly Very Beautiful

by ROZ DINEEN

A mother navigates a world on the brink of collapse, fleeing with her children to find safety amidst societal breakdown and personal betrayals, ultimately discovering her own strength and resilience in the face of adversity. The novel delves into themes of love, motherhood, survival, and the search for beauty and hope in a dystopian landscape shaped by climate disaster and societal unraveling.

Reader Review Summary

"Briefly Very Beautiful" is a spellbinding and immersive dystopian novel that pulls no punches in its harrowing depiction of a world on the precipice of environmental collapse. However, within the bleakness, author Roz Dineen has crafted a story of resilience, love, and finding pockets of hope and beauty even amid unspeakable adversity.

The book's greatest strength lies in its deeply empathetic protagonist, Cass. As a mother raising three young children solo while her husband is away at war, Cass instantly captivates with her fierce devotion and nurturing spirit. Dineen's poetic, introspective writing lays bare Cass's innermost thoughts and fears, making her an extraordinarily well-developed and relatable character that the reader can't help but root for. Her drive to protect her children at all costs, traversing an increasingly hostile landscape, is both gutting and inspiring.

Dineen is a masterful world-builder, immersing the reader in a society that teeters on the edge of collapse due to environmental catastrophes like wildfires, viruses, unsafe air quality, and dwindling resources. While profoundly disturbing, the vividly-rendered setting feels chillingly plausible and grounds the narrative in a harsh reality that will resonate in our era of climate crisis. The looming dread and sense of fragility is palpable on every page.

Amid the darkness, Dineen highlights moments of transcendent beauty, tenderness, and even levity. The unique mother-child bonds Cass shares with her children provide some of the book's most poignant and affecting scenes. Their small acts of joy and love shine as beacons of hope, reminding the reader of humanity's remarkable capacity for perseverance. Cass's wrenching journey ultimately becomes an empowering exploration of inner strength, sacrifice, and what one is willing to endure as a parent.

The novel is an undeniably stressful read at times, not flinching from the brutal realities of survival in a hostile world. But it's also an engrossing, beautifully-written, and profoundly moving examination of the human spirit. In chronicling one woman's indomitable quest for safety amidst the ever-encroaching apocalypse, "Briefly Very Beautiful" becomes a cathartic and resonant portrait of motherhood, love, and clinging to fleeting moments of transcendence in the darkest of times. It will linger with the reader long after the final page.

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