Scan barcode
A review by amberzieg
A Friend of the Earth by T.C. Boyle
4.0
I started it not knowing what to expect. The reviews on the back of the book said things like entertaining and imaginative and verbally exuberant. And all of those things are absolutely true, yes, but they don't cover it. It was prophetic, maybe? I don't want it to be, but the way things are going, who knows?
Set in 2025, in a world ravaged by the effects of climate change, it's a convincing portrait of what our future could look like. It was impressive, how he stayed so true to popular American culture. The culture of idolizing youth, excess, and profound disconnection from the natural world. It was published in 2000, so just a little while before being "eco-friendly" and "all natural" went the way of all countercultures and became one more thing to sell. I wonder what Boyle would have changed about the story if he'd written it just a little while later.
The main character spends a good portion of his life in jail because he becomes a vengeful "eco-radical," and his daughter tragically dies at 24 as a result of her own activism. He ends up working as an animal keeper for an eccentric pop star who wants to save the ugly animals, the ones no one cares about. The narrative trades off between his current life which has been recently interrupted by a reunion with his ex-wife and a New Ager named April Wind (who wants to write a biography about his dead daughter) and his life after being introduced to the world of environmental activism.
In the end, though, it's simply about survival, and the fact that no matter what catastrophes hit, someone or something, somewhere, survives. And there's hope in that.
I was brought to tears in the last few sentences. It was a book that I connected with on a level I rarely do, an important reminder of what's truly important and what is really worth being passionate about. The writing was full of emotion and the characters were consistent and true. This is absolutely an author I will be reaching for again.
Set in 2025, in a world ravaged by the effects of climate change, it's a convincing portrait of what our future could look like. It was impressive, how he stayed so true to popular American culture. The culture of idolizing youth, excess, and profound disconnection from the natural world. It was published in 2000, so just a little while before being "eco-friendly" and "all natural" went the way of all countercultures and became one more thing to sell. I wonder what Boyle would have changed about the story if he'd written it just a little while later.
The main character spends a good portion of his life in jail because he becomes a vengeful "eco-radical," and his daughter tragically dies at 24 as a result of her own activism. He ends up working as an animal keeper for an eccentric pop star who wants to save the ugly animals, the ones no one cares about. The narrative trades off between his current life which has been recently interrupted by a reunion with his ex-wife and a New Ager named April Wind (who wants to write a biography about his dead daughter) and his life after being introduced to the world of environmental activism.
In the end, though, it's simply about survival, and the fact that no matter what catastrophes hit, someone or something, somewhere, survives. And there's hope in that.
I was brought to tears in the last few sentences. It was a book that I connected with on a level I rarely do, an important reminder of what's truly important and what is really worth being passionate about. The writing was full of emotion and the characters were consistent and true. This is absolutely an author I will be reaching for again.