About the Book
-
Author:
- Anna North
- Genre:
- Dystopia
- Voices:
- Cis Girl
- White (Non-Specified)
Cover Story: Yes, Please
BFF Charm: No, But Thank You
Swoonworthy Scale: 0
Talky Talk: A Manifesto
Bonus Factors: Climate Change, Cheese, Revolution
Relationship Status: My Kind of Depressing College Professor
Spoiler Alert: This review contains spoilers.
Cover Story: Yes, Please
I LOVE this cover. I mean, it already beats out most covers (no emo faces, great font), but the lushness of the greenery just makes me want to go on vacation immediately. Plus, okay, I’m kind of dumb on the best of days, but it probably took me at least 15 minutes of looking at the cover before realizing that the picture was upside down.
In some ways, this cover doesn’t really represent the book well, cause America Pacifica certainly isn’t a lush paradise, but I like the symbolism of turning an idea on its head and making it into something else.
But best of all is that you could TOTALLY take this book out on the subway without fear of scorn. Thank you, book designers!
The Deal:
Darcy Pern lives with her mother on America Pacifica, an island refuge for displaced Americans. The U.S., see, has succumbed to an Ice Age, and those on America Pacifica were lucky enough to get out, or be the children of those who got out. But America Pacifica is no island paradise; cave-ins happen with regularity, the ocean has been poisoned with waste from fuel, and the power structure leaves a lot to be desired.
Darcy’s mother goes missing very suddenly and Darcy must risk a lot to try to find her mother. Along the way she learns more than she wanted to know about the island’s history and the people who want to destroy – and protect – the chain of command.
SPOILER WARNING: Okay guys, I don’t really feel like I can do a book report for this book without talking about what happens in it. So this is your fair warning. THERE BE SPOILERS HERE, ARRR.
BFF Charm: No, But Thanks
Oh, Darcy. Girl, I wanted to like you; I really, really did. And at first I thought I might – you were kind of badass and used to huff solvent and have fights and stuff. But I just couldn’t give you my BFF charm in the end, because you were SUCH A DRAG. Yeah, I know. I know. Your mom’s missing. Your landlord sort of wants you to blow him. Your boss is an awful penny-pinching biatch. You’re poor. I GET IT. Life sucks. But that doesn’t mean you can just bitch and moan your way through it all of the time. Mostly because THAT IS SUPER ANNOYING.
Also, give yourself permission to live a little, okay? Not everything always has to be awful, even if you are living in a dystopia. I mean, aren’t there any cute guys – or girls, WHATEVER – that maybe you have a crush on? Don’t you have big history test that you are afraid to fail and must therefore have a studying montage to display its importance? I just . . . I just want you to smile. Once. Once is all I ask.
Swoonworthy Scale: 0
Yeah, no. The only sexytimes that happen in this book exist because Person A is abusing their position of authority over Person B, or Person B is trading sex for information with Person C. Swoony times these do not make.
Talky Talk: A Manifesto
Y’all, I felt like the author of this book had a MISSION. And she was going to bring that mission to the people, come hell or frozen water. And while I appreciated much of the message of the book (stop being stupid wasteful assholes and learn to live with what the Earth has provided for you, and also don’t be a power-hungry crazy person), that message got lost in the endless non-advancing plot and tedious character development. This book was just joyless, you guys. And it’s not that I don’t like dystopias – I do – and it’s not that I don’t like unlikeable characters – they remind me of myself! – but I need ONE redeeming quality. Somewhere. Someone. Some little ray of sunshine that makes the shadows of the dark places even deeper.
This book didn’t have that.
Bonus Factor: Climate Change
Holla! The US is a frozen wasteland! One of the things I did enjoy about this book was seeing what had become of the United States. An Ice Age can happen anytime, folks! BE PREPARED. I am preparing myself by learning how to arm wrestle – and then skin – bears.
Bonus Factor: Cheese
I couldn’t make up my mind as to whether this was a bonus factor or an anti-bonus factor. You see, on the island, there’s a lot of processed junk food. Chief among these is cheese-food, which I guess is sort of like Cheez Whiz? Maybe? It seems, from the book, disgusting. I had sort of an involuntary gag every time I read about it. But whatever, I love cheese like other people love their children or cocker spaniels, so I just pretended the cheese food was actually super-expensive cow’s milk artisanal cheese, and that made me a little happier.
Bonus Factor: Revolution
Like I’ve already said, this book is pretty much utterly joyless. However, that’s not always bad. I really liked what Anna North had to say about revolutions – that even though someone may be on your side when it comes to overthrowing the Powers That Be, it doesn’t mean they’re on your side when it comes time to rule your world. The enemy of your enemy may be your friend for a while, but give it a week or two and see if they don’t become your new enemy.
Relationship Status: My Kind of Depressing College Professor
You know what it’s like. I know you do. You wait all year – maybe a few years – for the chance to take this professor’s class. Everyone you know loves it! It, like, CHANGED THEIR WORLD. You have heard about this professor for a couple of years! This professor writes for a previously amazing and now increasingly problematic, uh, law review. Whatever! You show up at class on the first day, sharpened pencils at the ready, and then . . . Then you become incredibly disappointed. Because this college professor, the one you had heard so much about, is kind of . . . well, she’s kind of boring. And her lectures are just that – a lecture, not an engaging chat. Oh, sure, you try to stay interested, and occasionally your professor even drops an awesome story in their lecture – like about how their subject tried to kill themselves once, but it was totally unsuccessful – but even those stories can’t lift the lecture into the realm of the palatable. After a while, you come to hate the subject entirely, because you just can’t divorce yourself from the professor’s droning voice.
Yeah. That’s this book. It makes me so sad to say that, but it just . . . it was just sad. And depressing. And grey. I wanted life; I wanted vitality. I got processed cheese food and a main character whose life is just an endless yawn of despair. Sigh.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received my copy of the book from Little, Brown. I received neither money nor cocktails for writing this review (dammit!). America Pacifica is in stores now.
