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A review by chelseyjleon
The Free People's Village by Sim Kern
4.0
Special thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and Sim Kern for an ARC of this!
Content Warnings for this book that I distinctly remember (Please forgive me for any that I have forgotten to mention here!): Police brutality, religion, manipulation/gaslighting, sexual assault/rape, violence, drug abuse, and suicide.
TL;DR: This book is fantastic, y’all. I found it while participating in the #TransRightsReadathon in March, but I didn’t start it until May. The setting is surreal, incredibly realistic, and almost dystopian. The story and writing are a delight. The characters are fantastic with some quirks that might annoy some and be too preachy and academic. But, it’s all compelling and worth every minute of your time. Definitely read it if you want a little queer romance with your eat-the-rich revolution.
"I know you want to hear about the Free People’s Village and that literal, fateful-fucking-step at the reflecting pool, but to explain why I did what I did, I have to start the story months earlier, before the tents and tear gas and stirrings of revolution, with the night of the last great party at the Lab—the night Red destroyed the Fun Machine."
Honestly, from these opening lines, I was hooked from the moment I started reading and I knew this book was going to be a real treat and at least four stars for me. Little did I know how timely this book was going to be for me and how it was going to hit me in the feels, unlike any book I have read recently.
I found The Free People’s Village by signing up to read Sim Kern’s #TransRightsReadathon challenge back in March. I wouldn’t normally go for a book like this, to be honest, because it’s out of my usual realm of tastes. I prefer a romance or a fantasy novel, but something about the premise of this caught my eye. Especially with all of the anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQIA+ laws coming out. I added it to my TBR then to read as a part of the challenge as a way to step out of my comfort zone, but I didn’t get around to reading it until May and I didn’t finish it until tonight. But, it came at the perfect time.
The Free People’s Village follows Maddie Ryan (she/her), an English schoolteacher, who just wants to play bass with her friends in their queer punk band and fall deeper in love with the band’s lead guitarist, Red (xe/xir/xim). The story takes place in an alternate timeline where the Democrats have held power over the government since the Clinton era because the 2000 election went for Al Gore instead of George Bush. Thus, the world as we know it has been changed to prioritize carbon-cutting initiatives and reverse climate change as much as possible. However, this world hugely favors only the wealthy, white, cisgender elite with little care for minorities and punishments for those who choose to step out of line. The ramifications of this society do not impact Maddie until the warehouse-turned-venue called the Lab is threatened to be torn down to build a new electromagnetic hyperway out to the wealthy, white suburbs. To save her and her friends’ home, she joins Save the Eighth, a Black-led movement striving to save the neighborhood around the Lab. Although her reasons to join the movement at first are selfish and individualistic (those being to keep the band together and get as close to Red as possible), the movement soon forces Maddie to question her motives and herself. Will she continue being complacent and ignorant in her roles as a gentrifier-by-proxy at the predominantly white-owned Lab in the Black Eighth Ward and as a white teacher teaching white literary canon in a predominantly Black school? The Save the Eighth movement becomes an occupation at the Lab and the birthplace of an anti-capitalist and anti-many-things revolution known as The Free People’s Village. When the police and the state respond to the peaceful protest with violence, the movement spreads across the nation and the globe. However, it also becomes a growing victim of infighting, police brutality, attacks from the state and corporate media, and rising eco-fascism. As Maddie falls deeper and deeper in love with Red and dreams of building a future with xim, her found family becomes more and more threatened by the state and she must decide what she’s willing to lose to be free.
I have SO many thoughts about this book. I barely know where to begin.
The setting of this book was so realistic in its portrayal of this alternate timeline that it was almost a dystopia. That is far from a bad thing! I could definitely see there being a parallel universe where everything that took place in this book happens from Democrats having control for so long to a War on Climate Change turning into eco-fascism for minorities to the state using police as a weapon to subdue any opposition. It is all just a perfect illustration of what this world would look like. The chilling part for me is that it is all taken from our actual reality. The eco-racism depicted in this book is just a ramped up version of the eco-racism that is so present today. The police violence we see in this book happens to protests all the time as do the smear campaigns we see in corporate media of them (Black Lives Matter being called thugs and looters, anyone? Or, the curfew being set on them when they were just peacefully protesting? Not to mention the tear gas and rubber bullets?). The author truly explored every detail of what a world like this would be like. You can tell research and heart was put in this book, and it makes for such a down-to-earth story. Minor spoiler coming: There is this one scene where Maddie, Gestas, Red, some of their other friends, and a Campaign Outreach Volunteer are talking, and Gestas mentions that there are prophets on the internet who look at key points in history and guesses how things would be different. He mentions our actual timeline where Bush won the election and 9/11 and the War on Terror happened and Climate Change was left to run rampant. That scene sent goosebumps down my spine. Yes, this is our lived reality, but the characters here are talking about it the same way we talk about the Mandala Effect. There’s something surreal about that to me, and I think that strange feeling is one of the many things I will never forget about this book and why I will always remember it. It’s just a fantastic scene overall and really showcases how well Sim Kern wrote the setting of this novel.
The story and writing of The Free People’s Village was sooooooooooooooooo good! Like I said, from the moment I started reading this book, I was obsessed with the writing. It felt like just listening to someone tell a story or reading a diary. It was a captivating written oral story of sorts. I just loved it. The writing was just delightful and true. It was such a good conversation, and I loved it. Storywise, I also loved it. It was a fantastic revolution story. It displays the reality of a movement/occupation. I know I have said it before, but this book is just so real. It toes the line almost into nonfiction with how real it is. For a book of this nature/genre, if it feels like it could be a world we live in, then it has exceeded the expectations and excelled at its job. It has killed it, and this book did that.
The characters are kind of where things get interesting. In general, I loved the characters and their stories. All of the side characters like Vida, Lorenzo, etc. were just a pleasure to read. They were funny when they needed to be and added to the story in their own ways. For me, my favorite character was Red. Xe was so fun and unpredictable. Xir’s story was the most compelling to me, mostly likely because xir’s story is close to my partner’s in a lot of ways. But, my partner’s life is what would happen if Red’s life had gone a different way. It hit me in my feelings, and it was amazing. If I have any critiques of this book, they would be about Maddie and Gestas as characters. Gestas is a Black trans-guy who is under a state-run house arrest. He is very vocal about his anarchist, anti-capitalist, and anti-establishment. There are times where this is fantastic for exposition and background, but there are times where this can be kind of… preachy. It can be too much and slow down the story. I think that is mainly because of my own experiences and the knowledge from that, so this may not be something that impacts all readers. But, it is something to keep in mind while reading. Maddie is probably my biggest source for compliant if I had to point one out. The first section of the novel she was a great narrator. Towards the end of the book, she kind of became a bit of a self-made martyr and repetitive. She took on so much shame and guilt from her and others’ behaviors. It was the point of the story and a crucial part of it, but at points, it would take me out of the story or drag the story because she would harp on it a bit too much. Still, Maddie was an interesting perspective for the story. She is both in the foreground and in the background of the movement/occupation. It’s perfect because her role is how most of us would be as activists in a movement. We would be participants but not leaders by any means. It’s great for storytelling and a fantastic device for this kind of story.
I think what made this story extra meaningful for me is because I have been in a similar place lately as Maddie at the end of the novel. Without spoiling, she is going through it at the end and she attributes it to not grieving when she should have. I FELT that to my bones. I don’t think I have grieved losing states of my life, and I think that has really hit me lately. It’s hard to move on when you haven’t reckoned with who you used to be and who you lost by changing. I don’t know if that makes sense, but it’s something beautifully illustrated in this book and a reason why this book will stick with me for a long time.
I highly recommend this book to any who want some light romance with their desire to eat the rich. It’s just a great read!
Content Warnings for this book that I distinctly remember (Please forgive me for any that I have forgotten to mention here!): Police brutality, religion, manipulation/gaslighting, sexual assault/rape, violence, drug abuse, and suicide.
TL;DR: This book is fantastic, y’all. I found it while participating in the #TransRightsReadathon in March, but I didn’t start it until May. The setting is surreal, incredibly realistic, and almost dystopian. The story and writing are a delight. The characters are fantastic with some quirks that might annoy some and be too preachy and academic. But, it’s all compelling and worth every minute of your time. Definitely read it if you want a little queer romance with your eat-the-rich revolution.
"I know you want to hear about the Free People’s Village and that literal, fateful-fucking-step at the reflecting pool, but to explain why I did what I did, I have to start the story months earlier, before the tents and tear gas and stirrings of revolution, with the night of the last great party at the Lab—the night Red destroyed the Fun Machine."
Honestly, from these opening lines, I was hooked from the moment I started reading and I knew this book was going to be a real treat and at least four stars for me. Little did I know how timely this book was going to be for me and how it was going to hit me in the feels, unlike any book I have read recently.
I found The Free People’s Village by signing up to read Sim Kern’s #TransRightsReadathon challenge back in March. I wouldn’t normally go for a book like this, to be honest, because it’s out of my usual realm of tastes. I prefer a romance or a fantasy novel, but something about the premise of this caught my eye. Especially with all of the anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQIA+ laws coming out. I added it to my TBR then to read as a part of the challenge as a way to step out of my comfort zone, but I didn’t get around to reading it until May and I didn’t finish it until tonight. But, it came at the perfect time.
The Free People’s Village follows Maddie Ryan (she/her), an English schoolteacher, who just wants to play bass with her friends in their queer punk band and fall deeper in love with the band’s lead guitarist, Red (xe/xir/xim). The story takes place in an alternate timeline where the Democrats have held power over the government since the Clinton era because the 2000 election went for Al Gore instead of George Bush. Thus, the world as we know it has been changed to prioritize carbon-cutting initiatives and reverse climate change as much as possible. However, this world hugely favors only the wealthy, white, cisgender elite with little care for minorities and punishments for those who choose to step out of line. The ramifications of this society do not impact Maddie until the warehouse-turned-venue called the Lab is threatened to be torn down to build a new electromagnetic hyperway out to the wealthy, white suburbs. To save her and her friends’ home, she joins Save the Eighth, a Black-led movement striving to save the neighborhood around the Lab. Although her reasons to join the movement at first are selfish and individualistic (those being to keep the band together and get as close to Red as possible), the movement soon forces Maddie to question her motives and herself. Will she continue being complacent and ignorant in her roles as a gentrifier-by-proxy at the predominantly white-owned Lab in the Black Eighth Ward and as a white teacher teaching white literary canon in a predominantly Black school? The Save the Eighth movement becomes an occupation at the Lab and the birthplace of an anti-capitalist and anti-many-things revolution known as The Free People’s Village. When the police and the state respond to the peaceful protest with violence, the movement spreads across the nation and the globe. However, it also becomes a growing victim of infighting, police brutality, attacks from the state and corporate media, and rising eco-fascism. As Maddie falls deeper and deeper in love with Red and dreams of building a future with xim, her found family becomes more and more threatened by the state and she must decide what she’s willing to lose to be free.
I have SO many thoughts about this book. I barely know where to begin.
The setting of this book was so realistic in its portrayal of this alternate timeline that it was almost a dystopia. That is far from a bad thing! I could definitely see there being a parallel universe where everything that took place in this book happens from Democrats having control for so long to a War on Climate Change turning into eco-fascism for minorities to the state using police as a weapon to subdue any opposition. It is all just a perfect illustration of what this world would look like. The chilling part for me is that it is all taken from our actual reality. The eco-racism depicted in this book is just a ramped up version of the eco-racism that is so present today. The police violence we see in this book happens to protests all the time as do the smear campaigns we see in corporate media of them (Black Lives Matter being called thugs and looters, anyone? Or, the curfew being set on them when they were just peacefully protesting? Not to mention the tear gas and rubber bullets?). The author truly explored every detail of what a world like this would be like. You can tell research and heart was put in this book, and it makes for such a down-to-earth story. Minor spoiler coming: There is this one scene where Maddie, Gestas, Red, some of their other friends, and a Campaign Outreach Volunteer are talking, and Gestas mentions that there are prophets on the internet who look at key points in history and guesses how things would be different. He mentions our actual timeline where Bush won the election and 9/11 and the War on Terror happened and Climate Change was left to run rampant. That scene sent goosebumps down my spine. Yes, this is our lived reality, but the characters here are talking about it the same way we talk about the Mandala Effect. There’s something surreal about that to me, and I think that strange feeling is one of the many things I will never forget about this book and why I will always remember it. It’s just a fantastic scene overall and really showcases how well Sim Kern wrote the setting of this novel.
The story and writing of The Free People’s Village was sooooooooooooooooo good! Like I said, from the moment I started reading this book, I was obsessed with the writing. It felt like just listening to someone tell a story or reading a diary. It was a captivating written oral story of sorts. I just loved it. The writing was just delightful and true. It was such a good conversation, and I loved it. Storywise, I also loved it. It was a fantastic revolution story. It displays the reality of a movement/occupation. I know I have said it before, but this book is just so real. It toes the line almost into nonfiction with how real it is. For a book of this nature/genre, if it feels like it could be a world we live in, then it has exceeded the expectations and excelled at its job. It has killed it, and this book did that.
The characters are kind of where things get interesting. In general, I loved the characters and their stories. All of the side characters like Vida, Lorenzo, etc. were just a pleasure to read. They were funny when they needed to be and added to the story in their own ways. For me, my favorite character was Red. Xe was so fun and unpredictable. Xir’s story was the most compelling to me, mostly likely because xir’s story is close to my partner’s in a lot of ways. But, my partner’s life is what would happen if Red’s life had gone a different way. It hit me in my feelings, and it was amazing. If I have any critiques of this book, they would be about Maddie and Gestas as characters. Gestas is a Black trans-guy who is under a state-run house arrest. He is very vocal about his anarchist, anti-capitalist, and anti-establishment. There are times where this is fantastic for exposition and background, but there are times where this can be kind of… preachy. It can be too much and slow down the story. I think that is mainly because of my own experiences and the knowledge from that, so this may not be something that impacts all readers. But, it is something to keep in mind while reading. Maddie is probably my biggest source for compliant if I had to point one out. The first section of the novel she was a great narrator. Towards the end of the book, she kind of became a bit of a self-made martyr and repetitive. She took on so much shame and guilt from her and others’ behaviors. It was the point of the story and a crucial part of it, but at points, it would take me out of the story or drag the story because she would harp on it a bit too much. Still, Maddie was an interesting perspective for the story. She is both in the foreground and in the background of the movement/occupation. It’s perfect because her role is how most of us would be as activists in a movement. We would be participants but not leaders by any means. It’s great for storytelling and a fantastic device for this kind of story.
I think what made this story extra meaningful for me is because I have been in a similar place lately as Maddie at the end of the novel. Without spoiling, she is going through it at the end and she attributes it to not grieving when she should have. I FELT that to my bones. I don’t think I have grieved losing states of my life, and I think that has really hit me lately. It’s hard to move on when you haven’t reckoned with who you used to be and who you lost by changing. I don’t know if that makes sense, but it’s something beautifully illustrated in this book and a reason why this book will stick with me for a long time.
I highly recommend this book to any who want some light romance with their desire to eat the rich. It’s just a great read!