Pills and Starships by Lydia Millet

Global warming is proven true in this story.  This family lives in an apartment and eats fake food and takes pills and pretends they are happy.  The adults remember the world before; they aren't really happy even if they are taking their pills.  So they sign a contract.  A contract to die...

Black Sheep Press (Akashic Books) sent me an ARC of this book to review (thank you).  It has been published, so you can grab a copy now.

This is a journal that was provided to the family members to document the last week of their parents lives.  Nat (short for Natalie) and Sam are not pleased their parents are giving up but they try to understand.  The only problem is that their final resort vacation/death location is Hawaii.  And things are not how they should be there.  They don't have to fear what falls from the sky like they did at home.  There are no birds left to fly over.  There are also areas that have not been reclaimed.  What those areas hold will make or break these young ones.

This is a traumatic tale with lots to fear, lots of hidden things to learn and facts you don't want to know.  In this story, the 1% at the top are killing the people at the bottom of the triangle.  How far is that from them being the only rich ones in the world to finding them saying, "Oh, let them die."  With no food and no water, you die if no one rescues you.  Why rescue those you don't need?

This could be a possible future for us, but I hope not.  Despite all the bad things happening, there's still hope for a future.  No matter where you live and what life you lead, it's almost always best to take it one day at a time.  Do the best you can and see what tomorrow brings.  It's demonstrated very well in this story of humans and nature violence against man.  This book will make you think.