Book Review: All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall

All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 7, 2025
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

All the Water in the World is told in the voice of a girl gifted with a deep feeling for water. In the years after the glaciers melt, Nonie, her older sister and her parents and their researcher friends have stayed behind in an almost deserted New York City, creating a settlement on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History. The rule: Take from the exhibits only in dire need. They hunt and grow their food in Central Park as they work to save the collections of human history and science. When a superstorm breaches the city’s flood walls, Nonie and her family must escape north on the Hudson. They carry with them a book that holds their records of the lost collections. Racing on the swollen river towards what may be safety, they encounter communities that have adapted in very different and sometimes frightening ways to the new reality. But they are determined to find a way to make a new world that honors all they’ve saved.

Inspired by the stories of the curators in Iraq and Leningrad who worked to protect their collections from war, All the Water in the World is both a meditation on what we save from collapse and an adventure story—with danger, storms, and a fight for survival. In the spirit of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Parable of the Sower, this wild journey offers the hope that what matters most – love and work, community and knowledge – will survive.

All the Water in the World takes place in a dystopian world after the glaciers have melted and water covers most of it. Nonie and her family live on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. They are trying to live off as little in the museum as possible so they can preserve the collections for future generations. When a superstorm hits, they must leave the museum and start a dangerous voyage to find dry land.

I found this book to be boring. The voyage they were on became repetitive – it was mostly rowing their boat and getting rained on. The world building, including the settlements they encountered along the way could have been more fleshed out. The simplicity read YA to me even though it is for adults. I could see what the author was trying to do but she didn’t quite get there. This book was not for me.