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A review by settingshadow
Fellside by M.R. Carey
5.0
My pre-read notes say "Apparently, it's all a surprise, but the author of the Girl with All the Gifts wrote a book NPR describes as '[a] supernatural fantasy [that] reads like a marriage between Stephen King and Charles De Lint, with a touch of Orange Is The New Black...'" And, yeah, that's basically it, with a few quibbles: I would describe this as Orange Is The New Black, with a touch of De Lint and Stephen King, rather than the other way around; and I think this book is really hurting itself with the "it's all a surprise" shtick.
Let's start with the un-spoiler-y parts: this is a good book. This is an important book. Those who turn their noses up at speculative fiction don't understand that at its finest it takes a simple question of "what-if" and uses that to deeply explore humanity, our existence and modern living in ways that "literary fiction" cannot. And that's what Carey did with this book: he took the biggest issues of the '10's -- for-profit prisons, the opiate crisis, human trafficking -- and added a tiny "what-if" to cast a new and thought-provoking light on them. And, I guess this is where I'll spoiler tag, although I encourage you to keep reading, because as previously mentioned, I think trying to guess the "mystery" impedes the reading of Fellside.
What I liked the least about Fellside was the ridiculous commitment to mystery. It was abundantly clear to me from the beginning that the ghost wasn't Alex, but was Nasreen and to have the narration pretending otherwise was distracting. In addition, I felt like letting the reader in on that secret would help give insight into Jess' state of mind and the lies that we tell ourselves to try to heal ourselves.
Overall, I could easily see this book ending up in a high school English class curriculum, exploring the interplay of speculative fiction and contemporary events. (I kind of want to write that five paragraph essay now.)
Let's start with the un-spoiler-y parts: this is a good book. This is an important book. Those who turn their noses up at speculative fiction don't understand that at its finest it takes a simple question of "what-if" and uses that to deeply explore humanity, our existence and modern living in ways that "literary fiction" cannot. And that's what Carey did with this book: he took the biggest issues of the '10's -- for-profit prisons, the opiate crisis, human trafficking -- and added a tiny "what-if" to cast a new and thought-provoking light on them. And, I guess this is where I'll spoiler tag, although I encourage you to keep reading, because as previously mentioned, I think trying to guess the "mystery" impedes the reading of Fellside.
Spoiler
The what-if is this: what if the protagonist can see a ghost. That's it, not that there are ghosts, or lots of people can see ghosts. One little trait of one main character that really shifts the entire narrative. Through the ghost, who Jess originally thinks is her victim, but who turns out to be Nasreen, a former inmate, Carey gets the chance to say a lot about what it means to be a criminal and what it means to be a hero. One of the core themes of the book is exploring the myth of a "lost-cause" and how by fighting for this ghost, Jess becomes a champion and, in turn, inspires other characters who have given up on themselves. Carey also has a lot to say here about how our current incarceration system inevitably causes recidivism by presenting impossible dilemmas of continued criminality versus victimhood.What I liked the least about Fellside was the ridiculous commitment to mystery. It was abundantly clear to me from the beginning that the ghost wasn't Alex, but was Nasreen and to have the narration pretending otherwise was distracting. In addition, I felt like letting the reader in on that secret would help give insight into Jess' state of mind and the lies that we tell ourselves to try to heal ourselves.
Overall, I could easily see this book ending up in a high school English class curriculum, exploring the interplay of speculative fiction and contemporary events. (I kind of want to write that five paragraph essay now.)