Dystopian Heartbreakers: Never Let Me Go and The Space Between Worlds

24 Feb

Never Let Me Go
by Kazuo Ishiguro
Never Let Me Go is the heartbreaking tale of a boarding school of children. Although in some ways their lives seem idyllic and free from worries, their future remains unclear to them with only hints dropped here and there about what awaits them once they reach adulthood. This was our Hoboken Public Library Science Fiction and Fantasy September 2025 read, but this is a work of literary fiction that transcends beyond the usual Science Fiction fandom. We had previously read as a group Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun; both works deal with the complex issue of what makes us human and what is the human soul. I found Never Let Me Go to be a haunting story that though sometimes was a tough emotional read, I feel was worthwhile.

The Space Between Worlds
by Micaiah Johnson
The Space Between Worlds is a more typical Science Fiction Dystopia set in a domed city inhabited by the elite while the poor are forced to live outside in a bleak dessert wasteland. Cross dimensional travel is possible, but only to worlds without a direct equivalent to oneself, due to death or never being born. Because Cara originally came from the wastelands and her alternate selves often died young, she has many of the worlds open to her and thus a chance at moving up into domed society. There are several clever plot twists. This was our July 2025 read for the book group. Never Let Me Go and The Space Between Worlds both give insight to futures where our scientific abilities reach beyond our moral compass, an important lesson for our modern age.

Join the Science Fiction-Fantasy Book Discussion Group for more great speculative fiction reads. Our next March discussion will be another fascinating dystopian story, The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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In Search of Edgar Allan Poe (PBS on Kanopy)

19 Feb

Edgar Allan Poe is much more than the gloomy poet of The Raven or the macabre short story teller of The Tell-Tale Heart. The PBS documentary on Kanopy, In Search of Edgar Allan Poe, stylizes and weaves a much more eye-opening (and I’d say heartbreaking) ode to one of American Literature’s greatest.

Image featuring a portrait of Edgar Allan Poe against a dark background with a full moon and a silhouetted raven perched on a branch. The text reads “In Search of Edgar Allan Poe.”

It’s two 90-minute parts, exploring Poe’s imaginative brilliance, his inspiring resilience, and his undying ambition through life-long hardship.

More Than the Macabre

Poe, of course, is rightfully celebrated as the inaugural king of haunting tales. This special taught me that he was also one of the most innovative writers in our country’s history – before Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Poe trailblazed the detective story with The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Before Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, he experimented with science fiction through stories like The Balloon Hoax. And his fascination with cryptology in The Gold-Bug helped inspire Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle acknowledged Poe’s influence in his first Sherlock Holmes story – Watson compares Holmes to Poe’s detective Dupin.

The closing credits roll like a who’s who of authors influenced by Poe. 

Poe’s Unity of Effect is also explored, the theory that every word, every line, every image in a short story keeps the reader grounded in one emotion – fear, grief, dread, isolation, etc. And that stories at their full potential should be enjoyed in one sitting. 

The documentary also confronts many misconceptions, particularly about Poe’s personal life and alcoholism. He had demons and addictions. There’s no denying that. It’s tragic and heartbreaking, yet the series unmasks a man marked by early loss, financial struggle, and deep devotion to his ailing wife – massive anxieties and demonic possessions all intermingling with his fascination for the writing craft.

And while Baltimore may claim him as one of their own, the series reminds us that Poe also belongs to more than just Baltimore. In Philadelphia, where he wrote The Tell-Tale Heart and grew his dream of starting a literary journal, and in New York City, where he penned The Raven, he lived out his last days in a cottage with his ailing wife in the Bronx. Here, he wrote his romantic ode to her, Annabel Lee (You can visit the cottage for tours.)  

I came away both haunted and in awe of this literary genius and how much modern storytelling has this man’s dark yet imaginative mind to thank. 

Watch now on Kanopy: In Search of Edgar Allan Poe (PBS)  (Free with your library card)

Comment below your thoughts once you’ve had a watch.

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Written by:
Sean Willey
Information and Digital Services Assistant

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