An unflinching pandemic novel that faces grief and trauma head on; it's not just zoom school and social distancing, people are dying. Yet despite using a story within a story to show how storytelling is used to process trauma, the ultimate thesis is that the child needs to abandon the story and face reality, which muddles the theme a bit. Overall, the two stories synthesize very well, though, with both supporting each other instead of one acting as a framing device.