In my quest to distance myself from the surplus of dark, dystopian fiction portraying grim futures, I've sought narratives with a more positive outlook. I chose to read this book to explore the author's vision of the future following the redistribution of power through the abduction of several influential figures.
Similar to Alderman's previous work, "The Power," this new novel delves into a critical examination of societal structures, power imbalances, and the impact of technology and greed on human behavior and the planet. The characters grapple with ethical dilemmas as they find themselves uniquely positioned to instigate substantial positive change.
In contrast to Shakespeare’s "Julius Caesar," the conspirators in this tale successfully counter tyranny, avert environmental destruction, and catalyze numerous positive transformations in the world.
A mixed chronology is employed by the author to establish multiple narrative hooks. If you're accustomed to a sequential chronology in your media consumption, this book may pose a challenge to your expectations.
Readers who enjoy the interactive nature of "Choose Your Own Adventure" or appreciate works like “Rayuela,” along with language enthusiasts treating books as tools, might relish the mental challenge of assembling the narrative pieces. For those who, like me, explore books as tools, skipping around and investigating, a rewarding discovery awaits at the end:
“Zhen, I found it. I know you loved up in secret fuck cave or whatever, love is great. When you want to know the truth, email me. mariuszugravescu@gmail.com"
An email to that address is rewarded with an auto response that is very gratifying in an old-school “multimedia” sort of way that fills in a partial “who dunnit” for those of us who don’t believe the concept of “spoilers” exists (see the end of my review).
Since I’m currently enrolled in a product development and marketing class, and I’m thinking in terms of score cards – here are some of the things that came to mind when reading this book over the weekend. Here are some of the archetypes that I ticked off my list for this reading:
Archetypes Explored:
- The Hero's Journey: The inner circle orchestrating the disappearance of powerful figures embodies the hero's journey archetype, ushering in positive change.
- The Trickster: Both conspirators and billionaires pursue specific outcomes, with differing goals—individualistic for the billionaires and pro-social for the conspirators.
- The Rebellion Against Tyranny: The classic archetype of rebelling against tyranny is explored, but the conversion of conspirators against billionaires raises skepticism about their altruistic motivations.
Character Development:
- The Sacrifice: Characters compromise integrity for the greater good, exemplified by sending loved ones to a well-provisioned island for indefinite entrapment.
- The Fall from Grace: Instead of proving the wrongdoing of billionaires, a scenario is staged for their disappearance, allowing societal and environmental changes in their names.
Narrative Elements:
- Cultural Details: Attention to detail varies, with vivid scenes like the Singapore shopping mall contrasting with less engaging aspects such as the Enochite cult and message board descriptions.
- Technology and Environment: Technology and environmental descriptions are mainly conveyed through "telling," with the notable exception of the engaging "happymeal" implementation.
- Character Dynamics: Martha's character, portrayed as somewhat villainous, could benefit from more development. The challenge lies in the narrative primarily unfolding from Zhen's perspective, limiting insight into other conspirators.
- Symbolism and Themes: The Fox vs. Rabbit concept is richly woven into the story, but the tale of Martha and the bear is symbolic, representing her "coming of age" rather than a literal event.
The Shortcomings:
- Character Development: Overall development of the four primary conspirators was thin – and the billionaires were very thin. The majority of the character development was spent on Martha, followed by Zhen. As primary actors in the conspiracy – Selah, Badger and Arthur fell flat – while Zhen’s friend Marius had more sparkle and interesting development.
- Forced Diversity: The author includes non-heteronormative characters, but the relevance of their queerness is not relevant to the plot. Aside from mentioning that Selah is straight, heterosexuality and gender binary are still the assumed default in this story. Although lip service is paid to non-heteronormative characters (they gay billionaire ousted tech CEO, the enby antifa child of a tech CEO, lesbian survivalist and lesbian child of a survivalist cult leader “gal Friday” of tech CEO) – I’m not getting a strong sense of how Arthur’s homosexuality really matters in this story. I can’t imagine that the near future is still so accepting of gay billionaires, lesbian survivalists and enby Antifa activists that we have to mention their orientation or gender identity – without doing the same for heterosexual characters.
- Cultural Details:Attention to detail was really fantastic in some areas – like the highly detailed scene in the Singapore shopping mall, but the Enochite cult and the message board details were so much “tell” and not show. The retelling of the Bible stories was entertaining but also felt a lot like filler.
- Character Dynamics: I wanted to see more of Martha as a primary character so that I can cheer for her – but she’s still played off as a bit of a villain (even at the end, Zhen sees a “heavyset figure” – when her physical shape wasn’t mentioned earlier). Arthur “tells” us the tension for Martha (i.e., father figure issues). Zhen’s security / safety and mother issues are also narrated for us throughout.
One of the challenges of this book is that it’s told primarily from the perspective of a very interesting but non-primary character, Zhen. Yes, she’s an important part of the plot as she was used as a guinea pig to create a potentially fatal proof-of-concept demonstration for technology that was used to persuade the billionaires of its efficacy (and a critical part of the means of duping them).
Overall development of the four primary conspirators is thin – with Martha (the lover of Zhen) having considerably more character development, followed by Badger, Selah and Arthur. Their stories are often told in third person, not through Zhen’s perspective. Selah and Badger feel pretty “flat”.
Symbolism and Themes: In addition to the whole Fox (hunter gatherer) vs Rabbit (farmer) concepts spread thickly across the story – the story about Martha and the bear was not actually about a bear. Think about it: the “bear” didn’t exist. It was her “coming of age” and the bear with the rotten jaw represented her father.
Just a little bit of research (or talking to anyone who goes hiking in the Western US) would tell you: black bears are typically the least aggressive and smallest bears found in the US, any survivalist (or child in California) would know you don’t climb a tree to get away from a bear. Bears don’t typically suffer from dental disease. If the bear wasn’t scared by the arrival of two people in a pickup truck – and was really starving – why not attack those people?
The whole fantasy of climbing up a tree to evade and fatally wounding a skinny, young black bear before hibernation is just a weird detail that didn’t work for me unless you just look at it as symbolism.
The Strengths:
- Unique Narrative Structure: The the mixed chronology and the use of multiple narrative hooks, was a lot of fun. I liked the inclusion of the chatboard content but maybe a bit less of that would have allowed for more character development. This narrative structure might challenge readers accustomed to a more sequential chronology.
- Interactive Element: The inclusion of private messages added an intriguing layer to the narrative, revealing character motivations and potential conflicts.
- Thematic Exploration: The book successfully explored themes of societal structures, power imbalances, and the impact of technology and greed on human behavior and the planet.
- Engaging Scenes: Scenes like the one in the Singapore shopping mall had a ton of details and played really well as an action film scene (leave it to a Doctor Who fan!). As a great example of “showing” rather than “telling” -- the implementation of the "happymeal" worm in various social media platforms was well executed.
<spoiler>
Private message log from ntd/enoch
> ArturoMegadog
Look, I can't say this publicly on the forum but I am actually very sympathetic to your point of view here. Lai Zhen never should have said what she said. Someone needs to teach her a lesson.
> SavedByEnoch
I just want to meet her. I want to tell her what I think face to face. She ought to be afraid.
> ArturoMegadog
Right, I think that's all we're talking about isn't it? Just scaring her. So she won't go near any of this ever again.
> SavedByEnoch
Enoch's teachings helped me believe there was a future for me again. She's a worthless piece of shit.
> ArturoMegadog
Yeah no I get that. We all need to believe in a future. So listen, I do have a way you can track her. I mean it's not hard to get in touch with her, she has all her speaking engagements listed on her website. But if you need to track her down to have a more private conversation... just to scare her, right? I can help you with that.
> SavedByEnoch
I'll know what to do when I see her.
>ArturoMegadog
OK, looking at the schedule... how do you feel about a trip to Singapore?
</spoiler>
REVIEW: The Future by Naomi Alderman
RATING: 4-stars
© Jennifer R Clark. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You may share and adapt this content with proper attribution.
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