The Washington Post - USA (2020-07-28)

C4 EZ RE THEWASHINGTONPOST.TUESDAY,JULY 28 , 2020

away.InAmerica,theysteal kids

fromtheirparents.This was true

even before allthis.

“Inthe shards of mirror,her

skintoneis gray.... She looks

scared.Coledoesn’t want[Miles]

to see that. Maybe that’swhat

superheroesare concealingbe-

hindthe masks:not theirsecret

identities, but the factthat

they’re scared....”

That excerptis agood“patch

test” forprospective readersof

“Afterland”: If the lastthing you

wantto thinkaboutare surprise

attacks and masks, perhaps a

cozyGoldenAgeBritishmystery

mightbe abetter choice.But for

thosewhosetaste for dystopian

suspenseis undiminished,Beu-

kes’stale of amotherandson

makingtheirwayacrossapost-

pandemic-ravaged landscape is

prescientand taut.

[email protected]

Maureen Corrigan,the book critic

for the NPR program“Fresh Air,”

teachesliteratureatGeorgetown

University.

abandoned golf development;

crashwith an anarchistcom-

mune;and ultimately join acult

of religiouspenitentsfor cover.

Everywherein this contemporary

“Herland,”Charlotte PerkinsGil-

man’s 1915utopiannovelabout

an all-femalesociety,women car-

ry machineguns, issueorders

andgenerally beliethe fantasy

thatamatriarchalsociety would

be kinderand gentler.

Thelong section of “Afterland”

devotedto life amidthe kooky

cultists drags somewhat, but,

overall, Beukesimbues what

couldhave simplybeenasensa-

tionalthrillerwithpsychological

depthand sharpdetail. Here, for

instance,is the openingscenein

the bathroomof thatderelictgas

station:

“Miles is still shaking,his thin

arms wrapped around his rib

cage, ...and his eyes keep jerking

backto the door....[Cole],too, is

expecting the doorto burstopen.

It feelsinevitablethatthey’ll be

foundand draggedback. She’llbe

arrested. Miles will be taken

wealthywomen desperatetobe

impregnated with virus-proof

sperm.

Whatensuesis asuspenseful

and intricate on-the-roadadven-

ture,toldfromthe alternating

perspectivesof Cole,Billieand

Miles. Or makethat“Mila.”For,as

soonas Cole and Miles makeapit

stop at an abandonedgas station,

Cole insists thatMiles don apink

T-shirt, skinnyjeansand glittery

barrettes in his “afrocurls” to

disguisehimselfas agirl. Miles is

mixed-race;his late fatherwas

AfricanAmerican,and Coleis a

whiteSouthAfrican.Whenthe

pandemic erupted, the family

was strandedin the United States

in the midstofavacation at

Disneyland.

Cole’s goal is to smuggle herself

and Miles backto theirhomein

Johannesburg,wheretheyhave

friendsand the situationseems

moreorderly.Settingout from

the West Coast, theymustmakeit

to Florida,wherethe possibility

of escapeawaits.Alongthe way,

the pairwill find shelterin an

Thepresenttimeof “Afterland”

is 2023, three years after the

pandemicfirststruck. (Another

unsettling coincidence.)Awom-

annamedCole(shortfor Nicole)

and her adolescent son, Miles

(oneof the less-than-1percentof

males worldwidewho are im-

muneto the virus),are on the run

in ahot-wiredcar.The pairare

speedingaway from adeceased

tech mogul’s luxurious estate,

whichhas beencommandeered

by “The Departmentof Men” as a

locked quarantinefacilityfor sur-

vivingmenand boysand their

female relatives.(Miles at one

pointthinksof this and an earlier

facilityhe’sbeen housedin as “a

boy zoo.”)

As will becomeclear,mother

and son are fleeingnot only their

government minders but also

Cole’s devioussister,Billie. She

turnedup at the quarantinecen-

ter,ostensiblyto be reunitedwith

family,but reallyto kidnapher

youngnephewwhose,um, emis-

sionswill fetch big moneyonthe

undergroundmarket catering to

lightsstrongfemalecharacters

plowingtheirwaythrough har-

rowingsituations.

Forinstance, “Broken Mon-

sters,”her 2014

thriller,isset in

the all-too-real

economic

wasteland of

Detroit, where

afemaledetec-

tive tracks a

killerwitha

flair for arrang-

ing his victims

in tableaus

reminiscentof

“The Islandof

Dr.Moreau.”

“Afterland”is

less grislythan

its predecessor

but perhapseeriersinceit imag-

ines aworld changedutterly by a

pandemic.Thepremiseof Beu-

kes’snovel differs fromour cur-

rentrealityinone crucial way:

Herdeadly virus infects only

malevictims.In “Afterland,”the

futureis female.

BYMAUREENCORRIGAN

Is dystopianfiction timelyor
justtoo muchthesedays?
Your response probably de-
pendson whetheryou wantthe
novels youread to mirror,in
somerefracted way, “how we live
now”orwhetheryou yearnto
escape into other lives, wider
horizons.
I’munapologeticallyin the lat-
ter category. So the newdystopi-
an suspensenovel,“Afterland,”by
LaurenBeukes, did not instantly
call to me. Giventhatit’sbeing
promotedby its publishers as
“‘TheChildren of Men’ meets
‘TheHandmaid’s Tale,’” “After-
land”promisedadescentinto
pandemicdespair.
But Beukes is suchan idiosyn-
cratic writer—one whodeftly
mashesup suspense,sci-fi, hor-
ror,time travel and,yes, dystopi-
an fiction —thatshe’s hard to
ignore.LikeP.D.Jamesand Mar-
garetAtwood, to whomshe was
implicitlycomparedin thatover-
the-topblurb,Beukes often spot-

BOOKWORLD

In an almost-too-real setting, mother and son are on the run after apandemic

AFTERLAND

By Lauren

Beukes

Mulholland. 416

pp. $28

tleyPhippswas so poignantthat
it had mournersreachingfor the
tissueboxes at theirfeet.
In atime as fractiousand un-
settling as this one —when the
conventionsof discourseare dis-
ruptedby apandemic,and the
institutionsof governmentrat-
tled by an administration deter-
minedto underminethem—itis
remarkablehowpotentlysucha
hallowedactcan holdus. The
death of arevered figure,at least,
can still bringthe majorityofus
backto alevel of compassion,and
to abeliefthatsomepeopleand
some traditionstranscend dis-
cord and ill will.
That ablackmanof magnifi-
cent civicaccomplishmentlies in
state, as the countryreels from
the deaths of GeorgeFloyd,Bre-
onna Taylorandothers at the
handsof police,imbuesthe mo-
mentwithan almosttheatrical
profundity. Couldawriterhave
timedamore soberingscenefor a
nation in turmoil?Among the
threedozenor so instancessince
1852inwhichCongresshas au-
thorizedthis distinction,Lewis is
only the fifthpersonof colorto lie
instateorinhonorasanindividu-
al. Theotherswerecivilrights
pioneerRosaParks,CapitolPolice
Officer Jacob J. Chestnut Jr., Sen.
DanielK. Inouye of Hawaiiand,
recently,Rep.ElijahE.Cummings
of Maryland.
Calculating the rightfulmeas-
ure of respectfor the deadis as
sacredfor us as it wasfor the
ancients —around whom the
mysteriesof death weresurelyas,
if not more,spirituallycomplex.
Sophocles’stragedy “Antigone,”
written in the fourth centuryB.C.,
unfoldsaroundthe heroine’s out-
rage over therefusalon painof
death by the Thebanking,Creon,

LEWISFROMC1

Capitol

farewell for

Lewis was

passionate

madeless abstractfor 8-year-old

me the finalityofdeath and more

penetrable the stoicismof agriev-

ing publicfamily.

Duty, of course,is also agood

wordfor Lewis, whodevotedhis

life to arighteouscause;the plac-

ing of his casket on thecatafalque

of pineboards constructed for

Lincolnfeelsitselflikearighteous

completion of ajourney. Because

an exercisein veneration of alife

of dutycan also have apolitical

dimension.Shakespeare,for one,

knewthatthe death of agreat

publicfigurecouldcommanda

stage, afactgraspedby every

sixth-grader in America after

they’vebeenassigned“JuliusCae-

sar.”

In one of the best-knownora-

tionsof all time,Mark Antony

entersin Act3withthe bodyof

to allowaproperburialfor Anti-

gone’s rebelliousbrother,Polynic-

es.

“Will you aid this handto lift

the dead?”Antigone asks her sis-

ter,Ismene.

“You wouldburyhim, whenit

is forbiddento Thebes?”Ismene

replies.

“I will do my part,”Antigone

vows,“andyours,if you will not,

to abrother.False to him will I

never be found.”

To this day, we satisfyacom-

pactwiththose we mourn,witha

duty, like Antigone’s,toaccount

publiclyforourrespect,andaffec-

tion.Fifty-seven yearsafter John

F. Kennedy’s assassination,Ican

still vividlyrecallwatchingJackie

Kennedyand theirdaughter,Car-

oline,kneelingbesidehis casket

in the Rotunda,atableauthat

SHAWNTHEW/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

Congressionalleadersandothersgatheredinthe CapitolRotunda foraceremony forthe late Rep.JohnLewis(D-Ga.)thatincludeda

poignant renditionof “Amazing Grace” by theRev. WintleyPhipps.

TONI L. SANDYS/THEWASHINGTONPOST

AU.S. flag at theU.S. Capitol fliesat half-staff aheadofthe arrival

of thecasket of Lewisat theRotunda..

the assassinated Caesarto deliver

aeulogybothpersonalanddeeply

political.“Myheartisinthe coffin

therewith Caesar,and Imust

pausetill it comebackto me,”he

says at onepoint in the “Friends,

Romans,countrymen”speech.It

issurelyaspeechintendedtospur

the populaceto rise up against

Caesar’s enemies;thecorollaryon

this occasionis the sentimentof

Lewis’sfriends and admirers,re-

minding mourners of amove-

mentwithworkstill to be done.

Theceremonyinthe Rotunda

reflected the moreconciliatory

tonesof Lewis’spoliticalcareer:

Thespeechesby House Speaker

NancyPelosi (D-Calif.),Senate

MajorityLeaderMitch McCon-

nell (R-Ky.)and House Majority

WhipJamesE. Clyburn(D-S.C.)

spokeoftherespecthecommand-

edonbothsidesoftheaisle.Itwas

the invocation by the Rev.

Grainger Browning Jr.that

broughtmoreof the fire, recalling

fortheinvitedaudiencehowLew-

is “marchedfor us, bloodiedfor

us, bruisedfor us.”

Therecognitionin the Capitol

of John R. Lewis’ssingular

achievements—the astonishing

arc of alife thatbeganas the child

of an Alabamasharecropper—

reserved its mostriveting mo-

mentfor thatrecordingof him

speaking.Thewordsofhischosen

—“Neverbecomebitter,never

becomehostile. We’reone peo-

ple.”—wereaimedat the con-

science,areminderthatevery life

is sanctified, even liveswithfar

humblerendings.In thatway,it

conjuredotherimmortal words

spoken overthe bodyof aloved

one:thoseof LindaLoman,the

widowof WillyLomanin Arthur

Miller’s “Death of aSalesman.”

“Attention,”shesays,“attention

mustfinally be paidto sucha

person.”

[email protected]

“Neverbecomebitter,

neverbecomehostile.

We’re one people.”

Rep.JohnLewis,in arecordingthat

was playedat the servicefor him

wapo.st/medicalmysteries

S0137-6x5

Read “Medical Mysteries,”Tuesdays inHealth&Science.

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