Benjamin Percy kind of exemplifies to me the 'small world' flavor the literary world has sometimes. On the jacket of this book he has blurbs from Edan Lepucki, who was on a panel with him at AWP 15 that I saw, and also Jess Walter, who I saw at Writers in Paradise in Florida in January '15. The deeper I get into this world, the more I'm starting to recognize these names. Everyone is connected...!
The Dead Lands was Percy's April release, and part of my new effort to try to read at least one new release each month. Previously I'd read his werewolf novel Red Moon, which I liked as a kind of newer take on the whole werewolf mythology. It also earned a glowing review from my mom, so there's that. The Dead Lands departs from this concept but stays firmly rooted in the speculative (though, like many writers, it's hard to genre-define Percy). Best described as a post-apocalyptical reimagining of the Lewis and Clark journey, we follow Lewis Meriwether and Mina Clark on their journey as they leave the walled city of the ruins of St Louis and strike out into the midwestern desert, following their guide Gawea to the promised land of water and plenty. Naturally, not everything is as it appears. And also human-size albino bats.
I love that there is someone out there that is both literary-fiction-acceptable, and in their own fashion, genre, considering how much anti-genre bias there is in the literary world. It kind of gives me hope for bridging that gap. And yes, the book really is well-written: although I find a lot of the sentence structures to be short, almost overly dramatic, it's really part of Percy's voice and style and works for him in his own way.
My nitpick, though? Science. The flu is named H3L1 - or Hell, but while kitschy, this has no bearing on what flu varieties would actually be named. Varities of flu are named according to the type of H (hemagglutinin) and N (neuramidase) antigens they possess, hence, H1N1, or H3N1, etc. These are very specific proteins that produce specific effects: hemagglutinin causes red cells to aggregate, and neuramidase cleaves bonds in neuraminic acid. The minute differing signatures of these proteins are what differentiate H1 from H3, etc. etc. But there is no L antigen. It's a little bit of a stretch to say that the flu could have developed another kind of antigen- it's possible, sure, but not necessarily probable. I get the narrative convenience but I do love me some accuracy in biology.
I don't know, I'll admit, the accuracy behind what Percy describes as the changes to the various parts of the US, but they ring true to me. I love the description of North Dakota, where the pressures from the abandoned oil rigs have built up to the point of explosions, and caught fire into blazing infernos that have nobody to put them out. So they foul up the sky and cause a kind of nuclear winter. St. Louis and the rest of the midwest is a desert wasteland where water is precious, the pacific northwest is lush and green, and Washington DC is a swamp. I can easily imagine the images that he's creating here, and it seems really plausible for these changes to have taken place. So kudos there, for sure: the setting is really enjoyable.
The book is written in present tense which really emphasizes to me the difficulty in making present tense work. Percy has obviously had lots of practice, because the difficulties are few, but there are parts where we're slipping into describing past action where it gets a little awkward jumping from tense to tense. Example, including my notes:
Even the horses seem angry. (present) One dropped dead from exhaustion. (past) The others droop their heads and hood their eyes. (present) Yesterday, when Lewis spurred his horse, it swung back its head and bit his calf. (past)
I think in a way that past tense is almost easier to write in, because you don't have to try and keep this straight as you go. Which is not to say don't write in the present tense, because by all means, do: just be aware of the unique challenges that present tense forces you to confront. I'm certainly more comfortable in past, but if a story calls for it, I would try my damndest to make present work.
Overall I'd say another good book from Percy. Because of the theme there's the occasional kitsch that not really my cup of tea (Aran Burr (Aaron Burr), Gawea (Sacagawea), President Jefferson, etc.) but it's eminently overlookable for the whole. And also human size albino bats.
He will go there are night, when only a few guards haunt the halls and he can whisper in and out without any trouble. He will fold the letter into Danica's panties, they decide. Not her pillow. There it might be discovered by a servant or her husband. And not a gown hanging in the closet. There it might wait undiscovered for a month or more. "No," Ella says, "only her panties will do. A good everyday pair. Faded, worn, maybe even holey."
"Woman like that would never wear a pair of holey panties."
"Every woman has a pair of holey panties. They're her favorite panties."
(she did not, for the record, have any holey panties)
Overall: 4 stars
More reviews: The Dead Lands on Librarything (Average 3.25 stars)
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