In 2023, I read Paolo Bacigalupi‘s wonderful sci-fi novel, The Windup Girl. I would call it ecological dystopian fiction. It was his first adult audience book as he has written young adult books too. In The Windup Girl, Bacigalupi created a world that felt real – especially in light of higher temperatures, atmospheric rivers, and droughts. It’s very good and highly recommended.
I am currently reading his second book, The Water Knife. I plan on posting a full review. It’s also an ecological dystopian novel. While the first took place in a seemingly far off Thailand, this is located in the southeastern U.S. The focus is about the battle for water and the have’s and the have not’s. It feels like future history.
At one point, one of the main characters, Maria, is sitting with her friend, Toomie, discussing the state of their lives.
“Yeah” Toomie sighed. “I used to know this Indian guy. Skinny dude, came over from India. Didn’t have a wife or family anymore. Maybe they were back there in India, I can’t remember. Anyway, the thing he said that stuck with me was that people are alone here in America. They’re all alone. And they don’t trust anyone except themselves, and they don’t rely on anyone except themselves. He said that was why he thought India would survive all this apocalyptic shit, but America wouldn’t. Because here, no one knew their neighbors.” He laughed at that. “I can still remember his head wagging back and forth, No one is knowing their neighbors.”
This caused me to pause and wonder how well do I know my neighbors? Beyond a polite wave? When I was growing up, the neighbors would gather to talk, keep an eye out for each other, and occasionally invite each other over. This doesn’t seem to happen anymore. We’ve lost our connection to each other. We see each other as “others” or perhaps, “its”.
There’s many factors that I could correlate to this. The economic shifts, technology that connects but doesn’t, the fallout from the pandemic to name a few. It seems though that the problem has had a long tail and been growing for many years.
I have no ready solution but I think we need to stretch ourselves to reach out and make connections. It may help us face what we need to face.
