Harare Review of Books

400 pages.

Published in the US Oct. 5, 2023 (Gallic Books)

Fiction.

There’s the almost illegible, pretty inscrutable MC: why has she let her flat go to wrack and ruin? With a little thingy sprouting out of the kitchen counter? Why does she spill sauerkraut on purpose on a stranger on the bus? Why is she such a weird and creepy friend? And if she’s a genius (and she is, almost), why isn’t she doing more with it? A good book is like great theatre: the mom appears on the scene in the middle, and it explains (almost) everything. (For the record, I don’t know if that’s good theatre.)

There are some good themes in here: climate change, and an invasion of wealthy climate refugees, or “wealthugees” (New Zealand is a very small country). Bunkers. Mental health. How to live when nothing matters anymore, because the world is ending (—will you still go to work? Make art?). How far is too far when you’re dealing with the people who have ruined everything for everyone else?

I confess I saw parallels between this book and the other great NZ book I read this year, Eleanor Catton’s Birnam Wood—but I think most of that has to do with what’s happening down there, with the billionaires and the bunkers. And with climate anxiety. Reality inevitably bleeds into fiction; fiction imitates life. McDougall’s characters are wonderful, and very memorable, and this excellent novel is both funny and sad. Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Gallic Books for the ARC.

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