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Book Review: Camp Zero by Michelle Min Sterling
I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a review.
This book reminds me a lot of Station Eleven in that it's has a near-future setting, is very well-written and -constructed, and it has completely different priorities than I do.
Station Eleven drove me insane because it had an absolutely incredible idea (post-apocalyptic traveling band of actors bringing art to survivalist communities) and yet seemed completely uninterested in actually exploring that idea. In fact, the author seemed determined to write about anything else. It was a good book! But it was a book that was focused on something I didn't care about and a complete waste of a truly inspired idea, and I will never forgive it for that.
Camp Zero is along the same lines. It's more literary fiction than speculative fiction in genre, hewing to the interests and concerns of literary fiction instead of the ones of speculative fiction. Again, there is an idea (White Alice, which I won't discuss further because of spoilers) that is absolutely incredible. This idea is kind of the pivot the book is built around. And yet the bulk of the book is about other things.
Fortunately, I like Rose (one of the main POV characters) and her story, mostly her relationship with her mother, which I found very touching. I was less impressed with Grant (another POV character) because spoiled rich boy trying to make his own name apart from the family he's bitter towards is not my bag at all. The third, collective POV (White Alice) is far and away the most interesting and engaging. I really, really wish this book had been just that story, straightforwardly told instead of this sideways look at it.
But that is a taste thing. I don't care to see an interesting scifi premise filtered through the mundane concerns of regular people, but I know a lot of readers will. If that's what you're interested in, you will enjoy this book because--again, it's very well-written and -crafted. The prose is engaging and readable and smart.
Other positives: The physical setting is one of the strongest aspects of the book. This is a world of oil boom towns turned ghost towns in the far Canadian north, and the details of abandoned buildings (a shopping mall, a church) against a backdrop of bleak wilderness are so well-drawn. That world feels immersive and realistic. I'm still not sure I know what Sterling was trying to say about gender relationships and survival. I'll need to grapple with that some more, but I appreciate that it's not simplistic or straightforward. Otoh, a lot of its other ideas seemed a bit heavy-handed (especially the names--Dominion Lake, Imperium, etc.).
But yeah, my conclusion is: in some parallel universe, there is a book called White Alice. And that is the book I want to read. It's a shame it doesn't exist in this universe.
This book reminds me a lot of Station Eleven in that it's has a near-future setting, is very well-written and -constructed, and it has completely different priorities than I do.
Station Eleven drove me insane because it had an absolutely incredible idea (post-apocalyptic traveling band of actors bringing art to survivalist communities) and yet seemed completely uninterested in actually exploring that idea. In fact, the author seemed determined to write about anything else. It was a good book! But it was a book that was focused on something I didn't care about and a complete waste of a truly inspired idea, and I will never forgive it for that.
Camp Zero is along the same lines. It's more literary fiction than speculative fiction in genre, hewing to the interests and concerns of literary fiction instead of the ones of speculative fiction. Again, there is an idea (White Alice, which I won't discuss further because of spoilers) that is absolutely incredible. This idea is kind of the pivot the book is built around. And yet the bulk of the book is about other things.
Fortunately, I like Rose (one of the main POV characters) and her story, mostly her relationship with her mother, which I found very touching. I was less impressed with Grant (another POV character) because spoiled rich boy trying to make his own name apart from the family he's bitter towards is not my bag at all. The third, collective POV (White Alice) is far and away the most interesting and engaging. I really, really wish this book had been just that story, straightforwardly told instead of this sideways look at it.
But that is a taste thing. I don't care to see an interesting scifi premise filtered through the mundane concerns of regular people, but I know a lot of readers will. If that's what you're interested in, you will enjoy this book because--again, it's very well-written and -crafted. The prose is engaging and readable and smart.
Other positives: The physical setting is one of the strongest aspects of the book. This is a world of oil boom towns turned ghost towns in the far Canadian north, and the details of abandoned buildings (a shopping mall, a church) against a backdrop of bleak wilderness are so well-drawn. That world feels immersive and realistic. I'm still not sure I know what Sterling was trying to say about gender relationships and survival. I'll need to grapple with that some more, but I appreciate that it's not simplistic or straightforward. Otoh, a lot of its other ideas seemed a bit heavy-handed (especially the names--Dominion Lake, Imperium, etc.).
But yeah, my conclusion is: in some parallel universe, there is a book called White Alice. And that is the book I want to read. It's a shame it doesn't exist in this universe.
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I have never heard of this other book, and it doesn't seem like it would bring much joy to my life, but it ALWAYS brings joy to hear someone else frame EXACTLY WHAT DROVE ME NUTS ABOUT STATION ELEVEN.
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