tech
Homebound by Portia Elan review
From 1980s Cincinnati into the interstellar darkness, the stories of four women interconnect across the centuries in a gentle hymn to found families
TL;DR
- The novel follows four women whose lives connect across centuries, exploring themes of found families and inherited stories.
- The narratives span from 1983 Cincinnati to the year 2586, featuring characters like a programmer, a biologist designing sentient humanoids, a spaceship captain, and a video game protagonist.
- Key themes include the power of stories to connect people, the search for belonging, and the nature of care and connection, even with non-human entities.
- The book is compared to works like David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas for its structure of interleaved stories bound by time.
- Elan's novel is described as sentimental and soft-hearted, focusing on kindness and the idea that one's 'people' can be found anywhere.