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A review by alexisrt
Afterland by Lauren Beukes
2.0
The setup: a virus causes an accelerated form of prostate cancer that kills off the vast majority of men (book's wording; you may prefer biological male). The males who survive appear to have some protective factor inherited from their mothers. In response, the world has enacted the Reprohibition: No babies allowed and sperm banks destroyed. The remaining men/boys, and their mothers (if available) are now very wanted.
Cole and her son Miles have been discovered and imprisoned by the US government, and she wants to return to her native South Africa. When she escapes with Miles, disguising him as a girl, her sister Billie comes after them.
Spoilers because I can't explain the problems I had without giving away major plot points.
Lauren Beukes is a propulsive writer and I kept going to the end, but she makes a LOT of bad choices in this novel. The chase setup doesn't allow her to explore her world as much as she could, and there would be a lot to say about this world without men! We get some hints of new religious cults, repressive governments, strip clubs, communes. A few excerpts from pretend news sources give some backstory (helpful). The novel has a fatal flaw baked in: the idea that she's going to be safe in South Africa. Now, I'm not saying this because I think SA is uniquely violent or that the US is paradise, but because if this is a worldwide pandemic and the Reprohibition is worldwide, is there any country that can truly be safe? Would other countries not also be engaging in questionable research programs, or restrict the activities of the few remaining males? Her motivations don't make sense. The virus doesn't entirely make sense either (how is it the mother that's determinant for protection if this virus links to something on the Y chromosome?) but the acknowledgements say she talked to researchers. Characters make poorly explained decisions. At one point Cole makes a major decision that makes the climax of the novel possible, but her change of heart is poorly explained. After talking about Billie so negatively and whacking her over the head with a tire iron, how can she contact her and want her to come with them? I didn't buy it. Miles was apparently in a facility for second rate males, but why? Brought up and unanswered.
It's a real shame because the writing is great; there's tons of detail; and the road trip doesn't get bogged down. (I read and enjoyed The Shining Girls.)
After I started this book, I saw some talk on Twitter that this book is transphobic. It's not my place to make that judgment as a whole, though I don't think that the basic idea (a virus that kills biological males and disguising a boy as a girl) is irredeemably transphobic, as some did. I will say that Beukes makes what I regarded as a poor and jarring choice. Shortly after disguising Miles, the 3rd person narration in Cole's chapters refer to Miles as Mila and uses feminine pronouns. Since "Mila" is merely a disguise, it seems inappropriate to me, and there didn't seem to be a good, well developed reason for its use. Was it supposed to say something about how Cole views Miles? In Miles' chapters, the narration uses male pronouns and his birth name. Trans people are mentioned briefly on a couple of occasions and the story does largely have internal consistency on this point (some of the criticism indicated that the readers had either not read or not finished the book because their points are answered, whether or not they agree with the answers), but it could have used a review.
Her treatment of race also feels poorly developed. Cole is white South African; her late husband Devon was Black American, and consequently Miles is biracial. But although some of the theme is sketched out--Cole's fears for Miles are partly because of his being Black in America--it isn't well developed. I didn't get a sense of Miles' own sense of identity. In addition, the idea of a Black boy being captured and used for his sperm hovers over the book without ever being poked. Cole's concerns for him are primarily presented as a maternal belief in her child's safety.
Cole and her son Miles have been discovered and imprisoned by the US government, and she wants to return to her native South Africa. When she escapes with Miles, disguising him as a girl, her sister Billie comes after them.
Spoilers because I can't explain the problems I had without giving away major plot points.
Lauren Beukes is a propulsive writer and I kept going to the end, but she makes a LOT of bad choices in this novel. The chase setup doesn't allow her to explore her world as much as she could, and there would be a lot to say about this world without men! We get some hints of new religious cults, repressive governments, strip clubs, communes. A few excerpts from pretend news sources give some backstory (helpful). The novel has a fatal flaw baked in: the idea that she's going to be safe in South Africa. Now, I'm not saying this because I think SA is uniquely violent or that the US is paradise, but because if this is a worldwide pandemic and the Reprohibition is worldwide, is there any country that can truly be safe? Would other countries not also be engaging in questionable research programs, or restrict the activities of the few remaining males? Her motivations don't make sense. The virus doesn't entirely make sense either (how is it the mother that's determinant for protection if this virus links to something on the Y chromosome?) but the acknowledgements say she talked to researchers. Characters make poorly explained decisions. At one point Cole makes a major decision that makes the climax of the novel possible, but her change of heart is poorly explained. After talking about Billie so negatively and whacking her over the head with a tire iron, how can she contact her and want her to come with them? I didn't buy it. Miles was apparently in a facility for second rate males, but why? Brought up and unanswered.
It's a real shame because the writing is great; there's tons of detail; and the road trip doesn't get bogged down. (I read and enjoyed The Shining Girls.)
After I started this book, I saw some talk on Twitter that this book is transphobic. It's not my place to make that judgment as a whole, though I don't think that the basic idea (a virus that kills biological males and disguising a boy as a girl) is irredeemably transphobic, as some did. I will say that Beukes makes what I regarded as a poor and jarring choice. Shortly after disguising Miles, the 3rd person narration in Cole's chapters refer to Miles as Mila and uses feminine pronouns. Since "Mila" is merely a disguise, it seems inappropriate to me, and there didn't seem to be a good, well developed reason for its use. Was it supposed to say something about how Cole views Miles? In Miles' chapters, the narration uses male pronouns and his birth name. Trans people are mentioned briefly on a couple of occasions and the story does largely have internal consistency on this point (some of the criticism indicated that the readers had either not read or not finished the book because their points are answered, whether or not they agree with the answers), but it could have used a review.
Her treatment of race also feels poorly developed. Cole is white South African; her late husband Devon was Black American, and consequently Miles is biracial. But although some of the theme is sketched out--Cole's fears for Miles are partly because of his being Black in America--it isn't well developed. I didn't get a sense of Miles' own sense of identity. In addition, the idea of a Black boy being captured and used for his sperm hovers over the book without ever being poked. Cole's concerns for him are primarily presented as a maternal belief in her child's safety.