In Ascension
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 BOOKER PRIZE
A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
An astonishing novel about a young microbiologist investigating an unfathomable deep vent in the ocean floor, leading her on a journey that will encompass the full trajectory of the cosmos and the passage of a single human life
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, traveling 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.
Exploring the natural world with the wonder and reverence we usually reserve for the stars, In Ascension is a compassionate, deeply inquisitive epic that reaches outward to confront the greatest questions of existence, looks inward to illuminate the smallest details of the human heart, and shows how - no matter how far away we might be and how much we have lost hope - we will always attempt to return to the people and places we call home.
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
However, the middle dragged on with long, overexplained scientific paragraphs. While the scientific and technical language could have been interesting, it instead seemed to be included to flex knowledge and not to advance the story. I wanted more from the plot and the characters, but instead found both elements somewhat boring and problematic.
The most interesting part of the story (for me) happens when we finally get a different character's POV, but even then, we are only reminded of just how horrible the protagonist’s family members are (and how uninteresting she is as a protagonist.)
For a book that felt way too long, the ending also left me thinking, “that’s it”?
I recommend this book if you enjoy:
Overly drawn-out descriptions of microbiology with vaguely sprinkled elements of space, uninteresting characters, and a book to help you sleep.
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.