PositiveLondon Review of Books (UK)The novel makes it easy for the reader to become like Patrick—a little paranoid, chasing the narrative like a detective, pinning clues to a Crazy Wall and mapping out connections with pieces of string. Kleeman’s doubling motifs and contrived coincidences contribute to the atmosphere of uncertainty ... Much contemporary climate fiction sees resistance to the forces of capitalism and climate catastrophe as futile. Kleeman avoids this cynical trap ... At its best, Something New under the Sun is a study in perception, in the limits of our ability to identify and understand changes taking place on a planetary scale. It’s also a study in perspective, in the contingency of what we perceive. There are suggestions of the Rashomon effect, but Kleeman isn’t interested in postmodern questions about relativism or the existence of truth. Some of the novel’s most exciting passages occur when she leaves the human world behind.
