Book Review: Annihilation, by Jeff Vandermeer (2014)

 


The prompt to read this novel came from the excellent podcast The Bunker (not the one about golf). The guy who recommended the read explained that it was a great distraction for him at the height of Brexit madness, and so I turned to it as an escape from coronavirus lockdown. The genre is sci-fi/horror with a lot of suspense, and I found myself aggravated with the book, or myself, as I progressed through it very quickly. It stole several hours when I should have been sleeping, and then stayed in my mind after I switched the light out.

The story revolves around bizarre happenings within an abandoned stretch of coastline known as ‘Area X’, which can only be accessed by crossing some sort of barrier. Missions made up of exhaustively trained recruits are sent into Area X to investigate what goes on there, and the novel is the account of a member of what was officially the thirteenth mission. This group consisted of four members, and it was encouraging to learn that they were all female. None of their names are disclosed, but the narrator is a biologist, the team leader is a psychologist, and the other two are a surveyor and an anthropologist. Things don’t turn out too well for them. The suspense is built in the dynamic of the group (who trusts who, etc.) as well as the disturbing oddness of the pristine environment they’ve entered. This homes in on the discovery of a shaft running deep into the ground, which the narrator insists on calling a tower, and which they are obliged to investigate, thus encountering the bizarre entity that resides within it. Also of interest is the fate of previous missions (of which it becomes apparent there have been many more than were officially recorded). There is much, much more to the story, but it would be hard to recount without rewriting the book – best to just read it.

A sort of subplot is provided by the biologist reflecting on the tribulations of her marriage, which explains her motivation for volunteering for Area X – her husband had been part of the previous mission. This side story adds a relatable human element as the narrator reflects on why their relationship became strained, and what their individual contributions to their struggles were. Discovering the journal her husband had recorded whilst he was in Area X helps her to better understand their life together from his point of view. Although he returned home, it was only as a shell of his former self, and at the end of the book the biologist, the only surviving member of her group, resolves to remain within the Area, believing she might somehow rediscover her husband in some form.

I did enjoy reading the book and would recommend it. The writing is fast paced, dragging the reader along, and I would imagine that, once conceived, the story was put down fairly rapidly. One thing that did frustrate me was the narrator sometimes hinting at something, only to disappoint by stating that she ‘wouldn’t go into it here’. I don’t know if this was intended to stir the reader’s own imagination, but it would seem better to either give it to us, or just leave it out altogether. The novel definitely offers up a lot to think about, although I wouldn’t say it has any lasting resonance, being way too far removed from reality for that. Therefore, it is a good distraction, but not much of a statement.

 

Favourite Character: There’s not a lot of choice here. The biologist is undoubtedly impressive for her knowledge as well as her guts. Although we don’t meet him, her husband also comes across as a good kind of guy.

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