Backlist Review: Annihilation
Image from publisher’s website
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
Let’s start with this insight about my feelings toward this book: I’ve read it three times in the past 18 months. That has to say something about how much I enjoy it, right? It’s the first in a trilogy but definitely works well on its own, it’s a quick read (195 pages) with thought provoking narrative and exploration of the human psyche.
Annihilation follows a biologist as she and three other experts - a psychologist, surveyor, and anthropologist - enter Area X with the intent to uncover it’s mysteries. They are the twelfth team to enter but the last few teams killed themselves, each other, or returned home with something a bit off about themselves. This new expedition are hoping to learn more about Area X before it fundamentally changes them in the process.
For those of you who don’t know me, I’m quite logical and mathematically inclined; I have a degree in mathematics after originally pursuing a biology pathway. And guess what? Our narrator is a biologist. This whole book follows her thoughts as she’s observing, learning, and piecing together information about Area X as well as her companions. I think my brain has an automatic, “Oh I understand the way she thinks” connection with the biologist. The biologist is also quite unreliable (if I told you why then there’d be no point in reading the novel), which I thoroughly enjoy as a narrative strategy.
Beyond this connection with the protagonist, I think I’ve finally uncovered (after three reads) the deeper reason why I connect with this book so much - it’s written like magical realism, but through a scientific lens. This conglomeration fascinates me to no end. VanderMeer juxtapositioned the two so well that I’m not really sure I’d call it “magical realism” or “scientific” but, rather, an amorphic dream-like narrative that I thoroughly enjoyed.
I’ve read a lot of other reviews complaining that the characters are “gray” or “boring”. I liked this element because I think many of their quirks and traits are left open for reader interpretation by viewing their actions and analyzing their spoken sentiments. They are observers, chosen to explore a world where people have died brutally and strange occurrences slither into their psyches. There’s an added layer of hypnosis to keep them calm and detached which I think match, to an extent, the job of an “unbiased researcher” (as much as that can occur in reality). I’d also argue that naysayers are focusing too much on the narrator and not enough on Area X. This whole novel is a magic show with VanderMeer showing us something with his right hand but the real trick is in his left - these characters are a part of the right hand. It’s not about them personally, it’s about Area X and how it affects an entire system, which just happens to include these four scientists.
For all the above reasons, I’m giving Annihilation 5 out of 5 Awesome Austin Points. For me it was horrifyingly beautiful. VanderMeer doesn’t get too wordy and, within that structure, has left the readers to question rather than accept all the narration at face value. However, if you want a book that answers all your questions then you’re going to be in for a rude awakening. :)
