2021 book 92

 Becky Chambers' Record of a Spaceborn Few

I was hoping I'd like this a little more the second time around, but at first I had the same issue with it as last time: lots of story threads that never come together and never really go anywhere. The novel looks at several Human characters living on one of their big spaceship communities, and some of these are more compelling than others (I'm partial to the archivist hosting an alien anthropologist, and the woman who serves as a caretaker to the dead is also interesting, but some of the others are more frustrating). Then I realized these threads /do/ come together, just in a more philosophical way, looking at how we form families and communities, and how we can learn from our mistakes. Heady stuff. A-.