Brando Skyhorse, winner of the PEN Hemingway Award, returns with a literary dystopian tale set in a near-future America where mandatory identification wristbands make second-generation immigrants into second-class citizens.
Ominous ... Offers a sharp vision of how racism gets imbibed by its victims like a sweet poison ... As Skyhorse’s clever satire accelerates into a truly terrifying thriller, the most insidious functions of racism appear illuminated in an eerie new light.
Skyhorse took an artistic leap writing from a woman’s point of view in this novel. A risky choice, but writing is about reaching. Iris is nuanced and compelling, though I do wish he had woven in more everyday details about being a woman that could have added texture to the character. Still, it was satisfying to read about a demographic so often invisible, to see a community brought into focus through a woman with an inner life that is layered, confusing and at times unflattering. Narratives like this are rare, and I was grateful for it.
Skyhorse spends a little too much time with his protagonist’s navel-gazing, but the story gathers velocity as Iris slowly runs out of options and the taut ending takes no prisoners. The horror here is that Iris’ experiences are so recognizable and plausible.
