Annihilation is wrought with suspense, unanswered questions, and both romantic and pallid character development, all from the perspective of an ultimately unreliable narrator. I enjoyed Annihilation, finished it in a matter of hours. But it felt like a decent fit in the mumblecore genre, something from which the movie trailers for the upcoming adaptation vehemently promise to depart. As a standalone novel, nothing of great merit happens within this first story line, especially considering the reader cannot truly rely on the narrator, but it sets the scene for later installations.
Annihilation (2014) Jeff Vadermeer; Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
Annihilation follows a group of unnamed female scientists sent by a seedy government company to explore and map an abandoned, pristine patch of the U.S. coast that was conveniently close to a military base more than 30 years ago. The main cast of characters is quickly narrowed down to just three – a biologist, psychologist, and surveyor. Names are ripped from characters and replaced with generic titles before we can even be properly introduced, as “everything personal should be left behind.” References to journals from the first team to cross the mysterious border into Area X and return describe the land as something of an Eden, an encouraging start to further exploration. However, subsequent missions expose a more sinister motive, be it human or extraterrestrial in nature.
Borders and perimeters are consistent manipulators throughout, both in figurative and literal forms. The reader is trapped in the boundaries of the first-person perspective of the biologist after an organism equipped with Apple’s auto-complete feature trained on biblical texts dusts her face with potentially dangerous spores. Rookie mistake. Boundaries within our protagonist are also compromised as the spores take hold, eventually crossing a pretty major line in the sand in one giant, climactic leap.
Vandermeer crosses a precarious feminist bridge elegantly, in one scene showing how pained one character is to search for an answer in herself and come up with nothing. The scientists reach an antiquated base camp, slowly realizing they may be part of someone’s bizarre re-enactment fantasy. I have to commend Vandermeer for traversing a controversial bridge in mass media before it really took off in current events last year.
The film adaptation of Annihilation hits theaters February 23rd. Look forward to more comprehensive reviews on Authority, Acceptance, the major motion picture, and more!
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