If the speculative fiction of Black Mirror and the gothic fiction of Frankenstein had a baby, it would be this book.
In fact, the latter features promiIf the speculative fiction of Black Mirror and the gothic fiction of Frankenstein had a baby, it would be this book.
In fact, the latter features prominently in the narrative, which alternates between a fictionalized account of Mary Shelley writing her horror classic in the 1800s and a near-future in which Ry Shelley, a trans doctor, becomes romantically and professionally involved with a mad scientist, Dr. Stein, who has some inventive and morally questionable ideas for prolonging human consciousness.
Lots of fascinating dichotomies are explored, most interestingly the question of body vs. soul, and whether consciousness can (or should) be separated from an aging vessel. What would a post-human world mean for us as individuals and, more importantly, for our relationships with each other?
This is a cerebral and philosophical book, but never at the expense of humor and sexiness. Winterson’s writing is fiercely intelligent and beguiling—the kind of sentences that you take an extra minute to re-read and marvel at. Such a clever and genuinely fun read.
What did I just read?! Okay. Imagine the dark humor of Heathers, the body horror of David Cronenberg and the dystopian speculative fiction of Black MiWhat did I just read?! Okay. Imagine the dark humor of Heathers, the body horror of David Cronenberg and the dystopian speculative fiction of Black Mirror all coming together in a bizarre fever dream that’s sort of a satire of the creative process and MFA programs.
Because that’s what this is.
Samantha is an outsider in her creative writing program at an elite university. When a group of cult-ish popular girls known as the Bunnies invite her to their Workshop to help get her out if her writing slump...let’s just say their creative process is not what Samantha was expecting.
At first, everything teeters on the edge of uncanny, just normal enough to exist in the real world but as if at any second it could veer into a surreal nightmare. And then it does. And the lines between reality and delusion, creativity and sanity, agency and passivity begin to blur.
I loved this weird book. It loses a little bit of steam in the final act, but it’s so strange and exciting and imaginative that I’m giving it 5 stars for being fully committed to its own strangeness and for delivering such a fun ride down the rabbit hole....more
Wow, wow wow! This stunning, explosive debut confronts brutal realities about racism and capitalism in a series of surreal, speculative, dystopian shoWow, wow wow! This stunning, explosive debut confronts brutal realities about racism and capitalism in a series of surreal, speculative, dystopian short stories that echo George Saunders at his very best. Adjei-Brenyah immerses us in the darkest depths of humanity and modern life, but leaves us with hope for “[making] the bleak a little better,� as he puts it.
A man adjusts his “blackness� on a scale of 1-10, dialing it down to a 4.0 for a job interview. A white father is acquitted of any wrongdoing after decapitating five black teens with a chainsaw outside of a library. In a future world, people sacrifice all genuine emotion for the ideals of pride and truth, relying on daily injections to manufacture well-being. White patrons pay for a virtual reality experience aptly called “Zimmer Land� in which they take justice into their own hands by killing black people acting suspicious in their neighborhood. And the title story imagines a dystopian version of Black Friday where consumers, rendered to zombie-like mobs, storm malls and gruesome body counts slowly rise.
There are books that are just downright exciting to read because you feel like you’ve come across something really special, and Friday Black is one of them. In fact, I could tell it would be from just two pages in. I cannot wait to see what Adjei-Brenyah does next. ...more
This taut novel is a brilliant fever dream about motherhood and identity. It’s a perfect combination of thrilling page turner and cerebral, literary tThis taut novel is a brilliant fever dream about motherhood and identity. It’s a perfect combination of thrilling page turner and cerebral, literary transcendence.
I hesitate to reveal too much about the plot because you should definitely go into it knowing as little as possible, but I will say this: it’s about an exhausted mother of two young children who works at a fossil quarry where she has recent unearthed a handful of strange items that appear just a touch removed from the world we know. One night, she is putting her children to bed when she is confronted by a masked intruder in her home. How these two storylines intersect is surreal and fascinating.
I had a similar feeling reading this as I had reading (and watching) Annihilation. The tension and dread are palpable, heightened by a constant sense of the uncanny: the strange terror and awe of the world not behaving the way you expect it to.
Duality is a common theme throughout: the mundanity of motherhood vs. the extraordinariness of outside circumstances, alienation vs. togetherness, anxiety vs. joy.
The prose is urgent and expertly paced, further ignited by Phillips� linguistic playfulness.
This book haunted me in the best way, and will remain in my head for quite some time.
*Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review*...more
This thought-provoking dystopian thriller imagines a world in which lying is the ultimate crime.
Laszlo Ratesic works as a Speculator, a law enforcemenThis thought-provoking dystopian thriller imagines a world in which lying is the ultimate crime.
Laszlo Ratesic works as a Speculator, a law enforcement official whose purpose is to identify liars and bring them to justice. The worst punishment of all is being exiled from this society they call the Golden State and into the unknown world beyond.
When Laszlo and his new partner are assigned to investigate an ostensibly open-and-shut case of a construction worker falling to his death, they become entangled in a web of subterfuge. Laszlo is desperate to uncover the truth, and in doing so finds it increasingly difficult to determine what that actually means.
This is definitely a page-turner, with the added bonus of Winters being a good writer. His world-building is especially intriguing, with lots of thought and consideration going into the rules that shape the Golden State. Placing epistemology at the center of it all makes for a thoughtful read, especially in our current era of “alternative facts� and post-truth conspiracy theories.
Unfortunately, the plot starts falling apart toward the end, not quite living up to its ultimate potential. But if you’re there for the journey more than the destination, it’s certainly fun to go along for the ride. ...more
One thing is for sure: Blake Crouch can write a mean sci-fi pageturner. Like his superior novel, Dark Matter, Recursion is a fast-paced mindbender thaOne thing is for sure: Blake Crouch can write a mean sci-fi pageturner. Like his superior novel, Dark Matter, Recursion is a fast-paced mindbender that you can get lost in. But, while there were parts that really worked for me, there were also ones that didn’t.
The premise starts with an intriguing question: if you had the ability to give yourself a second shot at life, to change the one thing that has caused you so much pain, would you? What if you could extend that opportunity on a much larger scale, using this power to undo human misery?
Helena Smith has invented a device that helps people relive memories. But when her colleague discovers that the device can be used to actually return people to the past, creating a brand new alternate timeline, he can’t resist playing God.
Of course, the consequences of wielding such power are inevitable, setting Helena and a detective named Barry on a journey through multiple timelines to save humanity.
Recursion was at its strongest for me when it delved into the ethical questions noted above, as well as metaphysical questions about the nature of reality. The technical, scientific aspects of it were a bit harder to follow, and I’ll be honest with you and say that I’m not adequately adept in such topics to determine whether Crouch’s logic regarding time travel, alternate realities and the mechanics of the device are sound. I just kind of went with it, and didn’t always entirely understand how he got from point A to point B.
The convoluted plot was interesting, but did become tiresome. Reading about characters reliving loops of time over and over again can start to make you feel like you’re stuck inside a loop, too.
There’s so much that I’m not even touching upon in this review; such is the nature of a book like this with an ambitious scope. Crouch packs a lot of thought-provoking ideas and plot points into this narrative, which simultaneously keeps things interesting and feels a bit all over the place.
In spite of my ambivalence, I remain a fan of Crouch. There are few writers out there coming out with such smart, imaginative sci-fi that’s so accessible to mainstream audiences. If you want to lose yourself in a mindbender and you’re cool with just going along for the ride, you’ll probably enjoy this.
*Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review*
Do you ever read one of those books where you realize you’re 80% done with it and nothing has really even happened? That was this book. There’s an intDo you ever read one of those books where you realize you’re 80% done with it and nothing has really even happened? That was this book. There’s an interesting kernel of an idea here—about multiverses and what happens when they overlap—but it just never goes anywhere, and when it finally does (kind of?) it’s rushed and winds up feeling very incomplete. This would have been more acceptable if it were a different kind of book, the kind where internal character development takes precedence of plot, but it wasn’t that. It was too shallow to be that. It’s very clear that this was trying to be something like Dark Matter. Overall I found this extremely amateur and disappointing, and am baffled by reviews that claim it has any depth.
*Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.*
I’m rarely one for magical realism, so I’m surprised by how much I loved this book. I think because it was so unapologetically dark, because its charaI’m rarely one for magical realism, so I’m surprised by how much I loved this book. I think because it was so unapologetically dark, because its characters and their conflicts were so real, I never found it silly.
When Eli Roebuck is a young boy, his mother walks off with a Sasquatch named Mr. Krantz and never comes back. What follows is a series of vignettes, often skipping years at a time, that chronicle Eli’s entire life. His obsession with finding Mr. Krantz affects everyone around him—and they, too, face their own monsters and demons.
Certain chapters read like dark fairytales or parables, focusing on different people close to Eli: his first and second wives, his daughters, and even (most interestingly) his mother and Mr. Krantz, who live together happily in the woods for decades.
At times funny and clever, disturbing and sad, this is a deeply weird and haunting book about a dysfunctional family that’s surprisingly very moving. ...more
This speculative fiction novel has a fascinating premise and a fast pace, making it perfectly engaging and readable, though its execution never quite This speculative fiction novel has a fascinating premise and a fast pace, making it perfectly engaging and readable, though its execution never quite reaches full potential.
In the near future, America is divided into two classes of people: “Lifers,� who undergo special treatments with the goal of attaining immortality, and sub-100s, who live normal human lifespans.
Youthful and ambitious Lea is on the fast-track to immortality when she suddenly becomes derailed by the reappearance of her father, whom she hasn’t seen in over 80 years. She becomes mixed up with a woman named Anja, a fellow Lifer who helps lead an underground movement called the Suicide Club that rejects society’s sterile pursuit of immortality.
Lea finds herself suddenly caught between these two worlds.
Suicide Club is dialogue and plot-heavy, which moves it along at a swift pace. The problem is that the characters and their actions—particularly Lea’s—are never fully convincing. Furthermore, I think it really could have benefited from a more nuanced examination of such an interesting futuristic society. I didn’t dislike it, but overall I wish there were more depth. ...more
I really love speculative fiction, so this was right up my alley. Imagine if there were a machine that could tell you exactly what you needed to do toI really love speculative fiction, so this was right up my alley. Imagine if there were a machine that could tell you exactly what you needed to do to be happier. Pearl works for the creators of Apricity, a device that does exactly that, and spends her days providing people with this coveted advice.
Tell the Machine Goodnight is about Pearl and the people who are part of her life: her son, Rhett, who suffers from anorexia and stubbornly embraces his melancholy; her boss, Carter, who manipulates the Apricity into delivering advice to attain power; and Calla Pax, a young celebrity who commissions Pearl to deliver daily Apricity readings. There’s also Pearl’s ex-husband and his new wife, who hide mysterious secrets from each other.
The bizarre and fascinating vignettes from each of these characters� lives make up the narrative of this novel about people trying and failing to find happiness and contentment amid the disconnectedness of modern life.
I was thoroughly engaged in each mini storyline, even the ones that felt more disparate and self-contained. This was close to being a 5-star book for me and likely would’ve been if there had been the tiniest bit more closure and cohesiveness in the end.
Following a near-death experience during which he technically died for several minutes, 33-year-old Jim Byrd becomes hyper-aware of his own mortality.Following a near-death experience during which he technically died for several minutes, 33-year-old Jim Byrd becomes hyper-aware of his own mortality. Death seems to be everywhere. There's a ghost haunting a restaurant owned by one of his clients. He even lives in a retirement town where "old people come to die."
Consumed by his uncertainty about what happens in the afterlife (and convinced from his own experience that the answer is nothing) Jim and his wife Annie search for proof. They learn about an elusive physicist named Sally Zinker who believes that human beings only 93% exist in this world and has supposedly created a machine that allows the living to connect with the dead. But will they find the answers they so desperately want, or merely end up more uncertain than ever?
The Afterlives is a smart, funny and imaginative work of speculative fiction written for those of us who battle the existential dread of knowing that one day we and everyone we love will die—those of us who don't have the comfort of a firm belief in any sort of afterlife.
The technology and science-fiction aspects of this book are intriguing and thoughtful, and the parts about marriage and love are insightful and relatable. Pierce took on an ambitious topic and handled it with deftness and heart. If you're the type of person who likes to think about the big questions in life, I think you'll find this a satisfying read....more
I recently saw The Shape of Water and, feeling underwhelmed by the execution of its brilliant premise, figured I'd read this book that presents a veryI recently saw The Shape of Water and, feeling underwhelmed by the execution of its brilliant premise, figured I'd read this book that presents a very similar story.
Larry is a talking sea monster who loves avocados. (Who can blame him, honestly?) After escaping from a duo of sadistic scientists who captured him, he shows up at the door of a lonely housewife named Dorothy and reinvigorates her mundane life.
This being a slim novella, there's very little room for setup or explanation. In fact, the casual and matter-of-fact way that the relationship between Larry and Dorothy plays out is part of its charm. She accepts him into her life immediately, allowing him to fill the void left by her unhappy marriage and the recent death of her child.
Is Larry real, or is he merely Dorothy's fantasy—the antithesis of her husband and her boring existence? This quirky and charming little novel is also a biting work of social satire and feminist fiction, existing in the gap between reality and fantasy, grief and joy, acquiescence and agency....more
"The first thing that happens at the end of the world is that we don't know what is happening."
This is one of the best dystopian novels I've read in a"The first thing that happens at the end of the world is that we don't know what is happening."
This is one of the best dystopian novels I've read in a while. One day, evolution stops. Twenty-six-year-old Cedar is a few months pregnant, putting her in constant danger. Pregnant women are wanted by the government, partly because they may be the last chance at human life as we know it, and partly because no one really knows how their babies will turn out.
Cedar chronicles each day in diary entries addressed to her unborn baby. In the beginning, before things become so dire, she is in the midst of seeking out her biological parents, who live on an Indian reservation in Minnesota. Having spent her whole life raised by white adoptive parents, she's finally ready for answers about where she came from.
There's something so realistic about how this book portrays the potential end of the world. Much of it is about Cedar trying to evade capture, but it's also more simply about her relationship with her family (biological and adoptive) and the father of her baby. (One of my favorite side characters is Eddy, her biological mother's husband, who is writing a 3,000-page book about why he hasn't kill himself.)
I absolutely loved this book. I often had no idea where it was going, so it constantly kept me on my toes. Cedar's narration is bleak, funny, bizarre and relatable. It's rare to find a book that's so emotionally AND intellectually stimulating. This was both. If you like literary dystopian fiction, don't miss it.
The kind of book where I had no idea what I'd be rating it until the very end. It's completely readable and thought provoking, but with a story like tThe kind of book where I had no idea what I'd be rating it until the very end. It's completely readable and thought provoking, but with a story like this, so much depends on how it all comes together.
Amatka takes place in a mysterious future world where the very fabric of reality is constantly at risk of being destroyed. The inhabits of the four colonies that make up this world are taught from an early age that they must consistently "mark" objects in order to keep them rooted in reality. They do this by observing the space around them and repeating the names of everything in sight, thereby allowing the objects to retain their shape and function.
In a precarious world such as this one that the inhabits still don't fully understand, it becomes necessary to enforce strict rules to maintain order.
But what if there's a better and freer way to live? That's the question that Vanja begins to ask herself, as she learns more about the mysterious history of Amatka, one of the four colonies.
It's a fascinating premise, and for most of the book there was just the right amount of obscurity to keep me needing to know more. The problem I had was that ultimately the payoff wasn't enough. I'm more than okay with ambiguity in novels—often I even prefer it to a clean resolution—but I needs more than what Amatka delivered.
It's always hard for me to avoid comparing books like this to Jesse Ball's novels. In my opinion, Ball seems to strike that perfect balance where he maintains the obscurity and wonder while still offering a fully satisfying story. It's hard to pull that off. Amatka has a brilliant concept, but the execution left me feeling underwhelmed....more
This book is compulsively readable, so if you're l but looking for something to get you out of a reading slump, this is it.
Imagine if teenage girls anThis book is compulsively readable, so if you're l but looking for something to get you out of a reading slump, this is it.
Imagine if teenage girls and women suddenly developed the power to inflict immense pain and cause sudden death. What might that kind of world look like?
The Power switches back and forth between several different perspectives over the course of 10 years—from the time the power begins to its climactic culmination. Among the perspectives are Roxy, the daughter of a London crime family; Tunde, a male reporter; Margot, an opportunistic local politician; and Allie, a troubled teen who initiates a cult-like movement that may end up changing the course of humanity.
The pace is fast, relentless and almost immediately engrossing. This is no literary masterpiece, but it's a damn fun read with some thought-provoking themes and ideas. Alderman plays with the narrative in a clever Atwood-inspired way that transforms the story into more than what it originally appears, challenging us to consider how history is written and remembered.
I didn't love everything about this book. I'm not sure I buy all of Alderman's implications about what would happen to a world in which women possessed unbridled power. Much of it wasn't as nuanced as I would prefer. Nevertheless, it entertained the hell out of me and gave me a lot to think about (even if wind up disagreeing). ...more
In an unnamed war-torn country, Saaed and Nadia meet and begin a relationship, while the city around them is crumbling. They begin hearing rumors of mIn an unnamed war-torn country, Saaed and Nadia meet and begin a relationship, while the city around them is crumbling. They begin hearing rumors of mysterious doors appearing out of nowhere—doors that, when entered, will take them somewhere new.
And so Saaed and Nadia, early into their relationship, begin a journey together.
It's easy to understand how timely this book is right now: it poses metaphorical ideas about immigration and migration at a time when countries are closing their proverbial doors to desperate refugees. But Hamid isn't interested in hitting readers over the head with heavy-handed moral conclusions or sensationalized descriptions.
Instead, the main focus is Nadia and Saaed. This is, first and foremost, a modern love story—or rather, a story about love. I appreciated this approach. There's a distinct universality about Nadia and Saaed's relationship, its ebbs and its flows, that reminds us of our shared humanity at a time when it's especially important to humanize the struggles of others. The arc of their relationship could be any ours.
Hamid's prose flows like poetry but remains highly readable, carrying readers through with a sense of purpose—serious in spite of the whimsical magical realism.
"We are all migrants through time," he writes, again infusing the concept of migration with a sense of universality, connecting it to the very core of human nature....more
I have a confession to make: this is my first time ever reading a Kurt Vonnegut novel in its entirety. I started a few in high school, couldn't make iI have a confession to make: this is my first time ever reading a Kurt Vonnegut novel in its entirety. I started a few in high school, couldn't make it through, and am evidently just now getting around to rectifying that as an adult.
Slaughterhouse-Five is an anti-war satire that depressed the hell out of me. (I like depressing things, so I don't mean this in a bad way.) Billy Pilgrim's (and really Vonnegut's) method of coping with the trauma of war by resigning himself to escapism and fatalism is devastating yet perfectly sensible: what better way to deal with life's meaninglessness and one's perceived helplessness in the face of its worst atrocities?
Of course, the irony here is that fatalism is a lie. While I had immense sympathy for Pilgrim's reactionary adoption of this mindset, I appreciated the larger takeaway that we (humans) do indeed have a choice when it comes to war, and that it's absurd to delude ourselves into thinking that we can or should ever let ourselves off the hook for the destruction that it causes....more
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