Loneliness & Company by Charlee Dyroff

LONELINESS & COMPANY by Charlee Dyroff is a debut novel recommended by Booklist for fans of Dave Eggers’ The Circle. Yes, this well-written title deserves attention from mature readers which, frankly, would exclude most high school students. The main character is Lee, a young woman who thought she had her life on track but is instead assigned to a new secret project that deals with an old concept: loneliness. Her dystopian society has refused to name or acknowledge this situation, but recent data is causing the Government to fund research into AI and possible ways of combatting what they fear could become a pandemic of sorts. After some initial disappointment, Lee embraces the project: “Days fly by in a content haze. I love the experience of discovering something new, as if the world is full of Easter eggs if you look close enough.” But she ultimately goes overboard with trying to have experiences and take risks, endangering both the project and herself. LONELINESS & COMPANY is a thought-provoking exploration where Dyroff offers a look at Vicky, AI meant to be capable of friendship, and asks “and then what? A world where people connect with technology instead of each other? We already have that. I'd rather have a world of lonely people than a world of numb ones.” And later: “How could we teach Vicki things we don't understand ourselves?”

I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger

I CHEERFULLY REFUSE by Leif Enger has a beautiful, eye-catching cover which reflects the many layers involved in this latest story from an award-winning author (Peace Like a River and Virgil Wander). The story centers on Rainy (the narrator) and his wife Lark who live on Lake Superior in a post-apocalyptic society compared by another reviewer to The Road or Station Eleven. Lark, however, sounds like someone we would all want to know – she gets excited about old books, including mysteries and “the complete McGee.” Plus, Rainy says, “Chancing a single glance at her green eyes, I got an impression of curiosity and wit and maybe a little mockery zipping around back there like fireflies.” Their new boarder, Kellan, attracts some dangerous people and Rainy eventually departs in a sailboat, travelling amongst the local islands in search of an inner peace. Enger deftly explores grief, loneliness, and the restorative power of kindness and nature’s beauty. His writing is so amazing: “The lake was dark and flat. It was a blackboard to the end of sight, and any story might be written on its surface.” The audiobook, narrated by David Aaron Baker, is well worth the 12-hour time investment. Baker’s voice is surprisingly soothing, and he makes a complicated story come to life. I CHEERFULLY REFUSE received a starred review from Publishers Weekly (“This captivating narrative brims with hope.”). Kirkus references its “staggeringly tough times” and “spirit of whimsy that keeps hope flickering even in times of darkest despair.”

Before Takeoff by Adi Alsaid

BEFORE TAKEOFF by Adi Alsaid (Let’s Get Lost) is a mind-bending story of a day (Alsaid calls it “my weird trip of a book”) at the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airport. Strange events (micro-climates like snow or a jungle inside the airport where all exits no longer function) are experienced by travelers including James, 16, and Michelle, 18, two strangers who develop a connection. Huge explosions, disappearing family members, and an earthquake are just a few of the often scary activities described by an omniscient narrator. Equally fascinating are the reflections on human nature as cooperative communities, a dance party, and looters or mobs form in various parts of the airport. While moving between gate areas, James and Michelle converse about sibling relationships (are there more who get along or more who don’t?); about becoming an adult (“The future is big and foggy. We’re always making plans that the world has no intention of letting us keep.”); about days that can change your life and finding joy while the fear presses in. Readers meet several other characters like Roger Sterlinger who regularly battles social anxiety and Rosa Velarde, a young TSA employee. BEFORE TAKEOFF contains elements of fantasy, romance, and mystery and received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal (for grades 7 and up). Also by Adi Alsaid and on my TBR pile: We Didn’t Ask for This and Come on In (short story collection he edited).

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

KLARA AND THE SUN by award winning author Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go) is a novel to savor. Klara is an AF, artificial friend, with a unique perspective on humans in the not too distant future. Readers first encounter Klara at her store where even The Manager appreciates that she has special empathetic and compassionate qualities. Eventually purchased by Josie and The Mother, Klara relates Josie’s bouts with sickness, her efforts to become independent, and struggles with her parents. Throughout the novel, there is a tension between hope and an overriding sense of melancholy and foreboding. Klara has keen observation skills, but is also naïve (perhaps even superstitious, if an artificial being exhibits that trait) in some of her beliefs. The contrast between sacrifice and selfishness from a computerized entity and that of human friends and family members is striking. 

Extremely well-written, KLARA AND THE SUN received starred reviews from Kirkus, Library Journal and Publishers Weekly (“dazzling genre-bending work”). Booklist recommends this title for teens, saying “Sophisticated YAs will appreciate Josie’s struggles with loneliness, independence, maturation, and eventual indifference.”  

More Recent Reviews: Wall Street Journal and New York Times. 

Up for a quest, anyone?

Here are two new books which deal with quests and young and empowered female characters in magical, yet dystopian settings.  

REMOTE CONTROL by Nnedi Okorafor is a very exciting sci-fi read that was a LibraryReads selection for January 2021. The main character, envisioned on the cover, is a child named Fatima who develops a magical power so that whenever she touches mechanical or technological devices they “die.” Anger, too, causes her to glow green and sometimes kill people around her so there are several dark moments. Eventually, she becomes widely known as Sankofa, or the adopted daughter of the Angel of Death. The story (also labeled Afrofuturism) involves a meandering journey across Ghana as she grows into being a teenager and learns to anticipate and control her “power.” There is an air of mystery and menace throughout and I quite liked the way Okorafor shifted the scenes with travelling and new characters, although the ending was a bit puzzling to me. Okorafor has won both Nebula and Hugo awards for her writing; REMOTE CONTROL received starred reviews from Library Journal and Publishers Weekly who said, “Readers will be blown away.” 

A gentler, but sadly, slower adventure story is D (A TALE OF TWO WORLDS) by Michel Faber. I requested an advance reader copy based on its being termed a “sheer delight” by The Washington Post and because the premise (the letter d is disappearing or, isappearing, to be precise) seemed unique and appealing. I did like the fantastical elements – with cat-like characters named Droods (roos, of course) and an evil ruler called Gamp, both somewhat reminiscent of Star Wars stories. There is a sphinx called Nelly, who can change into a dog/og, and a young female protagonist named Dhikilo (Dicky/Icky), too, but she often seems overly naïve and conveniently lucky and their travels dragged a bit for me. D (A TALE OF TWO WORLDS) received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and seems more likely to work as a read-aloud (have fun with the missing “d’s”) for late elementary and/or early middle school students, fans of Pullman’s The Golden Compass or The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND by Rumaan Alam shares an eerie story set in the near future when a family heads for vacation only to find that “something” has happened to disrupt communications networks.  While there are some obvious parallels to our current uncertain world, I found this rather ominous tale to be a well-written means of escape.  Alam’s novel was nominated for the National Book Award and called “a brilliant, suspenseful examination of race and class” by The Washington Post’s reviewer. And, yes, there are insightful comments: “his wife felt it important, not to do the moral thing necessarily, but to be the kind of person who would. Morality was vanity in the end.” And so, the vacationers (a White family) attempt to deal with disruption to the electric grid (“he had not realized how much light connoted safety, and how much dark its opposite”) when the when the owners (a Black couple) of the rental property seek refuge there. Apprehensive at first, they gradually come to rely on each other. The somewhat ambiguous ending merely reinforces Alam’s exhortation: “To enjoyment …. To the enjoyment of any moment in life, I guess. Enjoying any moment is a victory.  I think we need to hold on to those.” LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND received starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus, and Publishers Weekly.