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The Past is Red
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
22 posts | 23 read | 23 to read
The Candide of our #@$\*%?! age. Ken Liu, award-winning author Catherynne M. Valente, the bestselling and award-winning creator of Space Opera and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland returns with the enchanting, dark, funny, angry story of a girl who made two terrible mistakes: she told the truth and she dared to love the world. The future is blue. Endless blue...except for a few small places that float across the hot, drowned world left behind by long-gone fossil fuel-guzzlers. One of those patches is a magical place called Garbagetown. Tetley Abednego is the most beloved girl in Garbagetown, but shes the only one who knows it. Shes the only one who knows a lot of things: that Garbagetown is the most wonderful place in the world, that its full of hope, that you can love someone and 66% hate them all at the same time. But Earth is a terrible mess, hope is a fragile thing, and a lot of people are very angry with her. Then Tetley discovers a new friend, a terrible secret, and more to her world than she ever expected.
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Soubhiville
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
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Caught Igor mid yawn, lol!

I really liked this novella! Tetley lives in Garbagetown, which is a floating community built of trash after humans have allowed our environmental damage to deplete the ice caps, flooding the entirety of earth.

Obviously dystopian, it‘s comprised of a short story that was previously published in an anthology, “The Future is Blue,” and the second titular part.

A quick enjoyable (dark) read.

AmyG Ha, Igor! 🙌🏻 1mo
Jari-chan Great picture 😸😸 1mo
Aimeesue I enjoyed this one. Tetley was a great character! 1mo
See All 6 Comments
dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 1mo
LeahBergen 😆😆 So cute! 1mo
ShelleyBooksie Igor ♡♡ 1mo
75 likes6 comments
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Aimeesue
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
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Valenti expanded her award winning 2017 novella The Future is Blue (part 1 here) to follow up with Tetley Abednego and her life on the giant floating pile of garbage that is now home to one of the few surviving colonies of humans on Earth. This won‘t be for everyone, but I love me an Post Apocalyptic tale, and this was well done. Touches of magical realism - living in wax houses in Candletown!- it was a lot of sad fun, if that‘s a thing.

40 likes1 stack add
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GondorGirl
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
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September wrap-up!

35 likes1 stack add
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Clare-Dragonfly
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
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Pickpick

I greatly enjoyed this different spin on a post-apocalyptic book, set in a society that developed on the Great Pacific Garbage Gyre after the sea rose and flooded everything. Tetley is an odd but fun protagonist. The short book is split into two parts, each of which ends in a way that thoroughly recontextualizes the rest of that part—both times I could tell there was something big coming, but not what. Warning: absolute tons of swearing 😂

kwmg40 I really liked this one too! 7mo
23 likes1 comment
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BeeMagical
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
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Pickpick

Book 194🎧 4⭐️

This is a fun and riot of a book! I absolutely love the accent of the main character, she is hilarious 😂 Her name is Tetley or “Murder C*nt” as known around Garbage Town🤭😂

The Fuck-Wits ruined Earth, and this is what‘s left.

It‘s okay to be trash👌🏻❤️

28 likes1 stack add
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kwmg40
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
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Pickpick

Inventive, satirical and funny, this story follows the life of Tetley, a girl who grows up living on a patch of garbage floating in the ocean in a post-apocalyptic Earth. The audiobook narrated by Penelope Rawlins was great and captured Tetley's unique voice perfectly.

This book is nominated for the 2022 Hugo Best Novella award. #hugoawards #hugo2022

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks What an intriguing cover!! 2y
kwmg40 @TheAromaofBooks I thought so too! 2y
38 likes2 comments
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Beachesnbooks
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
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April reading wrap-up! I finished 13 books, which I think makes it my most productive reading month so far this year!
🥇The Past is Red
🥈Boyfriend Material (re-read)
🥉Milk Fed

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Beachesnbooks
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
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Wrap-up for Dewey's 24-hour readsthon yesterday! I finished 5 books (top) and read bits from 3 others. @DeweysReadathon

Librariana Good job! Although I didn't participate, I did also read vol. 1 of Heartstopper and have vol. 2 ready to go. Now I just need to get my hands on vols. 3 & 4 😁😊💜📚 2y
31 likes1 comment
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Beachesnbooks
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
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My TBR for Dewey's 24-hour readathon tomorrow! #readathon @DeweysReadathon

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BekaReid
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
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Pickpick

I'm not sure how to review this book. It's different than most post-apocalyptic writing, but that only added to the import of the message. I also enjoyed her afterward, and she succeeded in her goal.

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BekaReid
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
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Also, why can I never stop at the library to pick up *a* book? Where to start??

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traa
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
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Pickpick

I had the enjoyable problem of wanting to quote almost every sentence from this book in my commonplace journal, but I somehow got it down to one page 🙂

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BookInMyHands
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
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Pickpick

I picked this one off the New Shelf at the library because it wasn‘t too long and has a fabulous cover. Sometimes I just want to be surprised by the story, and oh my goodness, this did not disappoint!

What might life be like in a post-apocalyptic world if you live on the great garbage heap? I absolutely loved the narrator in this story. Honest and also unreliable. A great story.

47 likes5 stack adds
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KimM
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
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Pickpick

This was a wild ride of a post apocalyptic novel! The world is completely flooded. No land at all. The protagonist is living on a floating garbage pile that has been sorted and colonized by the survivors. Climate-change fiction.

For fans of The Boxcar Children.

Reggie Sounds good. Stacked! 3y
18 likes3 stack adds1 comment
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NotCool
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
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Pickpick

This was kind of an odd book, more character then plot driven. Tetley is a wonderful character and her narrative voice has a lot of charm. The world building is a little …odd. But the vignettes, the moments, like when Tetley has her first sexual experience while listening to a women read a fancy lunch menu from 2005 in a sexy voice, and realizing none of them know what honey was, hits home.

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underground_bks
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
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Pickpick

Reread with audio! Tetley lives on a floating patch of garbage, the only solid ground left on a flooded earth. Tetley‘s not alone but she is the only one who knows the truth—Garbagetown is the most wonderful place in the world. The Past Is Red is an electrifying parable for this era of climate change, as bitterly optimistic and cheerfully furious as this dire hour demands, sure to steal that gorgeous garbage patch in your chest you call a heart.

Michael_Gee Lol! Great review. 3y
underground_bks @Michael_Gee thanks! I effing love this book. 3y
27 likes1 stack add2 comments
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SilverShanica
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
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I am posting one book per day from my to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new - don‘t judge me I have a lot of books.
Join the fun if you want. This is day 209.
#bookstoread
#tbrpile
#bookstagram

2 likes1 stack add
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TorieStorieS
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
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Pickpick

I‘ve been a huge fan of Valente‘s writing for quite a while yet- but this is actually the first book of hers that I‘ve listened to on audio! And I really loved it- the post-apocalyptic vision of earth is horrifying (after all, the characters literally live in Garbagetown- a floating island comprised of garbage) but tempered with humor and a surprisingly positive attitude from narrator Tetley. Great performance and fantastic writing as always!

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julesG
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
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Pickpick

Gorgeous cover.

Tetley loves her home, Garbagetown. It's all that's left of Earth. When Tetley learns a secret, tells the truth, does something unthinkable she becomes an outlaw. Yet she still loves. Even when she learns about a much bigger secret that leaves her even more jaded.

#NetGalley #ARC

Pub Day: 20 July 2021

Review: https://scepticalreading.com/2021/05/palate-cleansers/

squirrelbrain I agree - fab cover! 3y
Kalalalatja Oh, I didn‘t know she had a new book out soon! Thanks for putting it on my radar 👏 3y
67 likes4 stack adds2 comments
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julesG
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
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#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

"My name is Tetley Abednego and I am the most hated girl in Garbagetown."

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julesG
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
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Tiny bit of sunshine, but it's still very cold outside.

ARC was given to me by my favourite indie.

#GhostCat

Suet624 That cup!!! 3y
77 likes1 stack add1 comment
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underground_bks
The Past is Red | Catherynne M. Valente
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Pickpick

Out 7/20/21—Tetley lives on a floating patch of garbage, the only solid ground left on a flooded earth. Tetley‘s not alone but she is the only one who knows the simple, vital, and lifesaving truth that Garbagetown is the most wonderful place in the world. The Past Is Red is an electrifying parable for this era of climate change, as bitterly optimistic and cheerfully furious as this dire hour demands. Read for Jan. #Bookland, Fantasy: New Release.

atla Oh man! I didn‘t know this was a thing but I‘m so excited! I read her short story The Future is Blue which also features Tetley and Garbagetown, and I wanted more - but I didn‘t know there was going to be more. Will probably pre-order 😍 3y
underground_bks @atla yes! The first part of this novella—maybe 1/4 of it—is the short story The Future is Blue! 3y
31 likes5 stack adds2 comments