Hi, all:
I bring you a book by an author I’ve read and reviewed before, and he keeps surprising me, I can tell you that.
The Disposable Soma (Book 1 in The Disposable Soma Trilogy) by Zeb Haradon.
The year is 2164 and politics has become unrecognizable. Democrats have become conservative, Republicans have become liberal, and an upstart party called the Empathy Party blames all the world’s ills on sociopaths. An assassination leaves the Empathy Party’s candidacy wide open and a clown car of candidates vies for the nomination. One, hotel heir and failed comedian Jim Liu, stands out from the others when he chooses a genetically modified, super-intelligent, opium-addicted parrot as his running mate. This book follows his quest to become the Empathy Party’s nominee for the 2164 presidential election. His campaign takes him through an America where most days are public holidays, psychedelic drug use is widespread, and the last uncontacted people on Earth are the unknowing subjects of a reality show whose fans have tuned it into a new religion. Please note that this is a disturbing book, it is not written for children.
About the author:
Zeb Haradon grew up in Corning, NY, studied cognitive science at SUNY Buffalo, lived in Utah from 1999-2004, and has lived in Seattle since 2004. He’s a parent to identical twins.
He’s made two movies (one fictional and one documentary) and written four books.
My review:
I have read a couple of books by Zeb Haradon before, and although he has written many more I haven’t yet read, I can say he is one of the most original writers I have come across. He does not hesitate to go to places or write about topics not many others would dare to approach, even when the stories are set in times and/or worlds seemingly quite distant or different from ours. And, although I might be wrong, the more I read him, the more I get the feeling that all of these worlds he explores are somehow interconnected, and some elements seem to link them to each other. How that works, I have no idea, but I am curious and convinced there is much more to come (and also determined to try and continue exploring his previous work).
After all that, this novel is a story in itself, but also, as the subtitle indicates, is Book 1 in The Disposable Soma Trilogy, and Book 2 has already been published at the time of writing this review. If the title of the novel is already intriguing (and I can’t offer you an explanation at this time), the rest of the book lives up to the expectations.
The story is set in the future, a future that rather than terribly distant in time, feels more like a very plausible exercise in “what if”. Some of the events and situations explored may sound far-fetched to begin with: a world where there only seem to be a few mega countries/empires/alliances; there have been more global and international wars (not much of a stretch there); most days are public holidays; people are constantly (and legally) using opiates, cocaine, but can easily get unhooked by taking a pill (if only); some animals (in this case, parrots) have been enhanced and can now become equal (almost) human companions and demand their rights; music groups led by parrots are the rage (birdsong has taken on a totally new meaning); there is a whole TV channel dedicated to the inhabitants of an island untouched by civilisation, and whose customs and traditions have become a religion and an adopted identity by many in the developed world; there is a fabulous new invention, spatial inflation, which followers of Dr Who will love, as it allows the building of a container that is bigger on the inside than on the outside; people can get rejuvenated and even have a resuscitation filament implanted that would allow them to, as it were, reset their bodies back to a previous time before some big health problem (or even death) hit them, and many more things you can discover by yourselves. Of course, the more we think about those, the more parallels we might find with things that are going on around us. And I haven’t mentioned politics, but they play a big part in the novel, as do the press and the media, where the similarities (with some twists) are even more blatant. All in all, it is not that difficult to imagine such a future if only some of the trends in US and international politics were taken to the extreme, and if some of the more colourful characters that play a part in our public lives would manage to achieve and hold onto power. It is impossible not to read this novel with a mix of amusement and horror, but such is life.
Jim Liu is the main protagonist of the story (a Jim is usually a protagonist in the author’s books), a not-very successful comedian with a powerful family connection to power and the US (such as it is) government, and he becomes mysteriously embroiled in politics. He is quite likeable, and becomes wiser and more insightful as the story goes, despite (or because of) the many bizarre situations he has to deal with (including running the campaign with a parrot for vice president, and I do love Betty). His brother, Todd, is a fascinating character, and Neith, a writer who becomes a reporter and ends up following the campaign and investigating a conspiracy theory, is another character I hope to learn more about in the future because she is daring, determined, and deeply flawed (but those characteristics tend to make for the best characters).
The chapters alternate between different points of view, mostly those of Jim and Neith, but also many others, and the connections between all of them and what part they play in the story are not always evident, but it all falls into place eventually. Despite the huge amount of background story that needs to be covered to bring readers up to speed, the book is very dynamic and there aren’t lengthy descriptions to slow down the action. The information is drip-fed throughout the story, and we might not know how, but we soon realise we feel quite at home (a bit like a House of Mirrors version of our world) in the reality created by Haradon. The novel is fairly long but it doesn’t feel like it, as the pacing is good and the exciting and mysterious situations and events never cease. My only comment would be that the ending of the book feels slightly rushed, but it fits in with everything that’s come before, so it is perhaps only a sign that I wanted it to carry on a bit longer.
Anybody who doesn’t mind having to suspend disbelief (slightly) and is happy to follow a wild imagination into a realm of uncomfortable possibilities, especially readers with a dark sense of humour and the capacity to laugh at themselves, should read this novel and should give a try to the rest of this author’s work. I look forward to the next book in this trilogy and to discovering more about the author’s universe.
Thanks to the author for this unique book, thanks to all of you for reading, and remember to like, share, comment, and always keep reading, and smiling. And, in case I haven’t caught up with you yet, Happy Year 2024!
Just Olga 