The Archive of Alternate Endings

Per the cover, this work is described as a novel (albeit of novella length). While they are closely linked, I think it more accurately reads as a set of short stories with interstitials. There are themes that follow through, but the chronology and the narrative is constantly remixed rather than linear in its progression, with new characters, subplots to follow. 
Themes: the story of Hansel and Gretel, retold, sibling bonds, women maturing and surviving, nursing; gay people, (primarily one of a sibling pair, primarily men) encountering prejudice, illness, love, loss, creativity; Halley's comet perspective, the Earth reaching environmental cataclysm; the transmission of stories, the transmission of a virus; how oral tales are preserved but can also be warped and shuttered by being written down; weaving historical figures and events into more private portraits of family.
The overall feel is one of sadness for circumstances that could be much improved, how queer people have been treated through history, how often women were restricted, how the planet and the people on it, given our current trajectory, seem doomed to perish as a result of our own wrecking of the climate, before any concerns about a collision with a comet could come to fruition. 
I respect the book for how strongly the plight of the characters affected me emotionally, and the unique way it was written. I guess I hope for happier alternate endings for the future. 

⚠️ homophobia, AIDS crisis, cannibalism, child abuse, terminal illness