Sublimation

De: Isabel J. Kim

Narrado por: Major Curda, Michelle H. Lee

An instant USA Today Bestseller | A LibraryReads Bonus Pick | One of the most anticipated books of Summer, according to The New York Times, USA Today, NPR, Forbes, and many more | With starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and BookList

“A mind bending thriller about personhood, homeland nostalgia, global migration, and all forms of alienation.” —R. F. Kuang, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Yellowface

“One of the best debuts of the year.” —John Scalzi, New York Times bestselling author of Starter Villain

Doppelgängers, corporate intrigue, heartbreak, betrayal, and the harsh permanence of the border: Sublimation is a thrilling and provocative debut for fans of Severance that asks what you'd sacrifice for a different life from award-winning author Isabel J. Kim.


The border cuts you in two.

When you immigrate, you leave a copy of yourself behind, an instance. One person enters their new country; the other stays trapped at home.

Some instances keep in touch, call each other daily, keep their lives and minds in sync in the hopes of reintegrating and resuming a life as one person. Others, like Soyoung Rose Kang, leave home at ten years old and never speak to their other selves again. Rose, in America, never imagined going back to Korea until her grandfather died and her Korean instance called her home for the funeral.

She doesn’t know that Soyoung plans to steal her body and her life.

How far would you go to live the choice you didn’t make?

“After Sublimation, the immigrant story will never be the same.” —Junot Díaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Living a life split in two

Interesting allegory about the immigrant experience. A story about who we are and the parts of us we leave behind. This novel explores how our own lives are the stuff of myths and how choosing which version of ourself will move forward into the future is the greatest adventure.

Interesting sci-fi

This is a highly anticipated debut according to the description. I wanted to try something new but this was not really suitable for my taste. I did want to find out what would happen but this was not a pageturner for me.

What a treasure

This world is intriguing, the characters are the basis for the story. It’s a look at” twin souls” from the other side.

Conflicted merge

The source control aspect and instantiating of oneself speaks to the duality of what it means to move away and come back different, and what it’d be like if you had stayed. I can see how this would feel as an immigrant, then throw in a government colluding with small business to eventually control it and that’s a 5 star read in my opinion.