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Haha wow pandemics seem pretty scary, good thing one of THOSE has never happened.......

    I wouldn't exactly call dystopia a "trending" genre, they've been around for quite awhile. I've read most of hunger games, as well as one and a half books from the maze runner series. Brain scientists seem to attribute the popularity to the developing brain, specifically the rise of emotional complexity/exploration.

    Looks to be about some sort of flu that wipes out practically everyone.

    My best guess is that the "The bright side of the planet moves towards darkness" line connects to how dystopias are often set in the future? I have no idea what "There is too much world" could mean, it sounds like the person wants the world to end, but that doesn't really fit with dystopia since that word has a negative connotation. If they want the world to end, and then the world ends, it would be a utopia (for them, at least.)

    As I write this, I'm on page 6. My main thought right now is how bad plastic snow would be for your long-term health, imagine all the microplastics. This reminds me of how they used asbestos as snow for that scene in the poppy field in the Wizard of OZ.

The book teeechnically starts in medias res, because the play is in act 4 when the story begins. But by that same logic every story would technically start in medias res unless it opened with the big bang. Anyhow, it seems to start here because this is, presumably, the start of the virus.

    I like the bit where the guy is talking to the child while the doctors are simultaneously pronouncing a man dead in the background. That was neat in a way I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe it's mimicking a bad attempt at a distraction? Like, the guy is trying to talk to the girl to distract her meanwhile she can still perfectly see/hear the thing she's being distracted from, just like we the audience get updates on the man's death in-between every line of "hey what's your name?" and "where's your mom?"

    Finished chapter 2, I liked Arthur insofar as his death was interesting. Jeevan seems kinda bland, like, he has interests and is characterized a good bit, but he's just... some guy. The most interesting thing about him to me is his name. I find Laura interesting for the way she casually asks if Jeevan can pick up some milk as if she didn't just watch a whole play come to a screeching halt because a man collapsed on-stage.

    So far I want to know how Arthur got the virus, and its origins in general.

    The line I like the most from these chapters was "...and this was when it happened." from the very first page. Such a feeling of dread and vertigo from such a neutral, declarative statement. It feels like the text equivalent of going into shock. One second everything is fine and you have no idea what's about to happen, and the next you feel everything else fade away into noise. The play, the other actors, and the audience all turn to static. The world shrinks down to just Arthur and the fact that his life is over, that the world is over, even if it doesn't realize it yet. This was the point of no return. This was the moment where society collapsed. This was when it happened.

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