The Book of Flora
(The Road to Nowhere, Book 3), by Meg
Elison (47North)
I loved the first book in this trilogy (The Book of the Unnamed Midwife), the “origin” story of the
collapse of civilization when most women die in a plague, and the heroism of
the unnamed protagonist, who records her survival – and transmits her midwifery
skills to ensure the next generation. Although I was uneasy about the portrayal
of men as either bullies/gangleaders/rapists or gay, I went along with it for
the sake of the story, which was as gripping (it won the Philip K. Dick Award)
as it was grim. The second installment, The
Book of Etta, was also grim, for many of the same reasons, but intrigued me
with its treatment of LGBTQ folks in a world where controlling women’s bodies
and maximizing their fertility are the keys to humanity’s survival.
Flora, a transwoman and silk weaver from Etta, is the
central character in the third book. The story is just as dramatic, with a cast
of intriguing characters, strong narrative prose, and a nice balance of pacing.
Yet I found myself with increasing resistance to the portrayal of men and of
relations between the sexes (however many sexes there are). Some of this may
have been due to recently reading several of Alexander McCall Smith’s The Number One Ladies Detective Agency
novels, set in Uganda, which include some of the most genuinely good, kind men
in contemporary literature. Maybe America goes the way of savagery, but it was
hard for me to imagine someone like Obed Ramotswe or Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni
behaving that way. Afrofuturism may point the way to a compassionate path
through dystopia. At any rate, The Book
of Flora kept me turning the pages, but it isn’t a world I’d ever want to
live in, which is not the purpose of literature, anyway. I’m glad to have
ventured into Elison’s dark, terrifying future, and see this trilogy as an
important contribution to the examination of power, sex, gender, and culture.
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