Offill’s novel, Weather faces the everyday Anthropocene unlike we have seen it approached before. It is an intimate narration of a middle aged woman in New York City that must deal with the very local and real impacts of being a woman, mother, wife and librarian and dealing with the effects of late stage capitalism (and climate change) seeping subtlety through humorous anecdotes and interactions. The structure of the work is broken up into different moments of her experience throughout the days of sequences that are sometimes inherently mundane. Going to work, speaking to co-workers and other mothers, this story feels close to home. While we can relate to Parable of The Sower and The Hungry Tide in more abstract and global ways, Weather takes place in New York City and speaks to many experiences we may have here. That is not to say we don’t and won’t experience the same issues and political climates as the previous works but more so that the environment of the novel is more easily understood at first glance. This isn’t a story of what could be or what has been in some other place but what is here and now.

Lizzie’s storytelling is captivatingly witty and speaks to Offill’s ability to write comedy into what is shaping up to be a meaningful novel. She is able to capture the way arbitrary moments in our lives can often reflect and mirror our respective thoughts and introspections. Lizzie is seated with a young man that explains how new technology will become normalized as older people die:

“His point is that eventually all those who are unnerved by what is falling away will be gone and after that, there won’t be anymore talk of what has been lost, only of what has been gained. But wait, that sounds bad to me, does that mean if we end up somewhere we don’t want to be, we can’t retrace our steps?”

Talking about developments of technology and its replacement for older systems here represents a bigger issue of repeating history and not learning from it. This also effectively leads the reader to reflect on how they see that happening in their present day lives. It almost seems like poetry the way Offill is able to eloquently piece together these everyday experiences and show how they represent a deeper idea about how the world works. This style of writing weaves together the issues of global and local and exemplifies how a place like New York City is a microcosm for the world. I want to keep reading further to see how environment further develops as a theme in this story.

The structure of how this novel is presented is very interesting. To me it is structured very day to day and represents as if we are going through time with the main character Lizzie. It balances between moments when she is at home with her husband and child, at her son’s school, work, her driver Jimmy and moments with her brother so basically her life. While there is dialogue between her and the other characters I feel like there are a lot of moments when we are just in her mind reading her thoughts and what she is observing as well as hearing about things after it has happened already. This structure is very different from the last two novels we read because The Hungry Tide and Parable of the Sower to me had more of a story line that was continuous. There was a plot from the beginning, middle and end. Both those novels didn’t have chapters per se but it was organized in that manner. In Weather it jumps to different “scenes” very abruptly and you figure out what each small section is about once getting through the first couple of sentences. I didn’t mind the way it is structured once I got past the first couple of “sections” but reading it from the beginning I was very confused because I felt like there was not a smooth introduction, it just jumped right in.

In this novel so far I don’t think the Anthropocence is heavily showcased in terms of changes in climate or environmental factors. I think the novel touches base more on human evolution in terms of what is being passed on to the youth and how humans in general can live better. I also think it focuses on technology and how it is used currently and the ways in which people want it to progress. There are a lot of moments where Lizzie talks about her age or individuals who are older and they express the concerns on if they lived like they way they were supposed to and accepting the fate of getting older and what that comes with. In the novel it stated, “young person worry: What if nothing I do matters?” and “Old person worry: What if everything I do does?”. To me this was very relatable and stating this was a representation of how both young and old people in society have experienced this thought which is natural because with different goals and decisions that are made in society that’s how people would think weither it be good or bad. In terms of technology and how things are passed on to the youth there are moments where its expressed that kids don’t really know what it means to be solitary in their environment and aware of what’s going on because they are so glued to social media and not wanting to miss anything that is going on in the internet which consists of no importance. There was a moment in the book where Lizzie is at a dinner consisting of men exploring genetic engineering for de-extinction (lets be serious here) and one of the men who is a techno-optimist basically explains the internet and technology will soon be running the world which is how we will be connected to one another (pg.38 – 39).  In reality society is always evolving and creating new ways to develop which is good but as Sylvia stated in the novel, ” we have chosen to privilege certain things above other things” (pg. 47). The idea of the role we play as humans is highlighted throughout and what Ive taken from this novel so far is we need to stop putting ourselves on this high pedestal because at the end of the day we aren’t really anything special and some of the changes we make create are a disservice to ourselves.

As I read the first few pages of Jenny Offill’s novel Weather, I felt disconnected. She goes off on one story and immediately switches to the next. In a sense, I started to think of it like the actual weather, where one day we might have a sunny day, and then the next minute, it’s pouring rain. That’s the type of thought I had while reading the first few parts. 

I started to think of the idea of climate change, how we are consistently affected by the change in weather, kind of like how this novel starts, with one story then it switches to another. This novel differs from the other two novels we’ve read in class. This novel shows a journal-like perspective, whereas readers see the narrative perspective. the first few pages show a different story every time, it may not connect to the previous story but it continues throughout the first few chapters. 

Jenny Offill seems to show the idea of disconnection, where the narrative is more personal, where we can see the thoughts and ideas of Lizzie. She goes on to write more about her personal life but how it also connects to her work life, how certain things are seen more in-depth, and how other situations are seen as more uncertain. She focuses on the day-to-day basis, how she takes each situation at hand, and she includes a sense of humor as well in the first few pages. we can see her inner thoughts what she would think of when responding to a situation and what she says. 

To me, it was interesting to see a different perspective in this novel so far. Compared to the parable of the sower and Ghosh’s “The Hungry Tide” although both novels did have the idea of a journal-like narrative, it’s very different compared to Jenny Offilll’s novel. In this novel, we can see it in a different sense, more in a present-day narrative, and how the narrator goes through each phase or situation differently, how she looks at it in a different view. this novel makes you question certain morals as you read through certain situations Lizzie goes through in her life, on a day-to-day basis, even small thoughts or questions make the reader think it through as well, as if we were in the novel as well, as if we were experiencing the situation in the present. 

So far, I have found this novel really interesting, it makes me think more in-depth as I read, and as I kept reading, the way this novel is structured, makes the reader want to analyze what Lizzie sees and how would we respond to the situation as well.

Weather by Jenny Offill captures the anxious undercurrent of modern life through its fragmented narrative style and deeply introspective protagonist, Lizzie Benson. In Part 1 Offill uses short, seemingly disjointed passengers to reflect Lizzie’s inner turmoil and the creeping dread she feels about the state of the world. This stylistic choice does more than mirror Lizzie’s thoughts, it invites readers to feel the fragmentation of her mental landscape as she navigates her responsibilities at work and home, while also absorbing the existential and ties from her side job responding to her former mentor Sylvia’s climate crisis podcast listeners. Lizzie’s ind becomes a microcosm for the world’s largest chaotic state.

The novel’s style mirrors Lizzie’s scattered focus and intensifies teh esense of disconnection and urgency. Offill’s use of these fragmentary observations illustrates Lizzie’s struggles to stay grounded as she confronts the overwhelming forces of global instability and her personal responsibilities. As she describes the dread she sense from Sylvia’s listeners, she admits to feeling it herself, noting that the world is at least fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative estimate. This phrase encapsulates Lizzie’s outlook a mix of grim humor and genuine concern. The fragmented structures thus serves a dual purpose, drawing the reader into Lizzies anxious, overstimulated psyche while paralleling the larger theme of environmental and societal breakdown.

Offill subtly critiques society’s approach to global crises through Lizzie’s interactions and thoughts. While Lizzie is drawn to these issues and even works in a library, a symbol of knowledge and information, she remains passive. Rather than acting on her fears, she absorbs them, reflecting a collective sense of helplessness in the face of climate change and instability. The irony here is clear that despite all the access to knowledge, Lizzie, like many of us, remains stuck in a cycle of worry rather than mobilization. This limitation is central to Offill’s commentary on modern anxieties, the overwhelming scope of issues like climate change can paralyze rather than prompt action.

To conclude, Part 1 of Weather uses its fragmented form to explore themes of environmental dread, responsibility, and helplessness. Offill invites readers not only to empathize with Lizzie’s overwhelmed perspective but also to question what happens when awareness isn’t matched by action, prompting us to consider if this disconnect is a critique of our times. The reader awaits the rest of the book in excitement to all the new topics that will be introduced.

Weather by Jenny Offill is a novel that is immediately easy to sink into. It feels like Lizzie has written a letter of poetry to us, the reader. Split into sections, it is easily digestible. It also feels very intimate, as if she has written to a close friend. Characters are introduced as if we already know who they are, which I appreciate. We immediately see them as Lizzie sees them and never question this. We are as close to Lizzie we can get without actually being her. 

Because the story is broken up in the way it is, it gives us a sense of incompleteness. The thoughts and points Lizzie has aren’t elaborated on or further explored, they’re just there, and then they are gone. This is interesting because a recurring theme we see in the novel (so far) is a fragmented world. Thoughts about technology, about animals, human relationships, and so on and so forth. Constantly jumping around from this anecdote to that emphasizes this idea of the world as a fragmented place. This kind of structure fits with some of the conversations she has, like the section about the girl having an older model of a phone, or Lizzie not having social media.

On the other, we see Lizzie having really meaningful interactions with people, not always in a positive way but meaningful nonetheless. Somewhere in the beginning, Lizzie comments on how people like to lecture people all the time now. First the lady about the ham sandwich, but then Mr. Jimmy and his business/marital issues, the owner of the ma-and-pop hardware store, and the lady whose daughter overdosed. Lizzie is a compassionate character, and all of these moments impact her in some way (or else why would they be included). 

There is a tension between this fragmentation in the world and Lizzie’s desire (or maybe just tendency) to connect with people on a deeper level. I think an underlying concern of the novel is how we, in this crazy world, go forward and make meaning. But I also think the novel is responding to that concern with these little moments we see. Connection can be fragmented, meaning can be fragmented but that doesn’t make them unimportant. Lizzie, as a character, is very likable, and it makes the reader feel a sense of kinship with her. The way she navigates the world feels like something a lot of people can relate to and identify with.