Small World | Jonathan Evison

I wanted to read more from this guy -- the story from my last read was good and I love reading about places I know. This one was a little less engaging for me than Revised Fundamental of Caregiving, but I liked it. It's a story on an epic scale, covering people from three different families between the mid-1800s to 2019. There's a lot of characters and storylines to keep track of but it tells a story of the time in an interesting way -- through the day to day lives of people.

If you're a person who likes a multi-string story to tie up in a bow at the end, this is definitely not your book. The ending isn't really an ending for all the stories, but the connections between the generations and between the families builds slowly and, in a way it felt far more (dare I say) authentic as a (fictional) oral history.

If you're a fan of multi-generational stories with very different characters (titans of industry, poor service workers, Chinese immigrants, homesteading pioneers, in thie case), I think you'll like Small World. And yes, I will continue to look for more by Jonathan Evison. He's a strong writer and does a great job drawing complex characters.