A review by monkeelino
The Activist by Renee Gladman

4.0

" "This is truly embarrassing for the administration" a specialist on perception theory and war, who asked to remain anonymous, confided. “What we have is an extreme form of civil disobedience. Something our public has never seen before. This is the situation we’re facing: a shockingly high number of witnesses claim that the bridge is in perfect form, the President of our nation is convinced that the bridge has been exploded, another group asserts that the bridge has collapsed, not exploded, and a handful of researchers contests that there ever was a bridge. Now imagine how this sounds to people in other countries, or just on the other coast."

Gladman does a remarkable job of capturing the disorienting nature of truth/reality living in a world with a 24-hour news cycle, political/propaganda spin machines, and the frustrated will of the individual to respond/act against an almost invisible/amorphous threat/oppression.

Using news clips, reporting, interviews/interrogrations, and narrative, the book cobbles together snippets of a situation in flux where one can't even be sure who is pulling what strings. Reality is so distorted that even physical paper maps begin to blur and lose touch with the urban grid/streets. Incompetent officials/experts rub shoulders with the stories of ineffectual activists, all seemingly playing their part in a machine set in perpetual motion.

"At the time of the protest, the President had not actually revealed his news—there was an “internal delay”---but it seemed both sides understood what his stance would be. The right was already celebrating and the left was up-in-arms. Their not-knowing seemed to energize them more than knowing ever could."

This could be about Trump legal news, the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Russian-Ukraine war... Basically, just insert current event here.

Frightening and profound but engagingly palatable thanks to elements of absurdity and humor.