Meg Elison

Second in the Road to Nowhere series, I’ve been waiting for this with a lot of anticipation after the thrill and heartbreak of Elison’s debut novel, The Book of the Unnamed Midwife. Elison did not disappoint.

This is as gripping, and horrible as the first novel, though different. In Unnamed Midwife the story split between dystopian near-future and far-future. Book of Etta is set 100 years after, and mostly details the story of Etta/Eddy, a scavenger from Nowhere who struggles to survive while also saving as many women and girls as they can.

I say they because Eddy/Etta is seen as a woman in Nowhere, a man whilst on scavenging raids, and fluidly switches between the two as needed for survival. Eddy is definitely resentful of the strictures imposed by Nowhere’s society and finds no real relief in any other place they encounter.

I think Eddy/Etta is supposed to be a Transman, but I don’t know enough about the subtleties to know it. I must admit they (to me) came across as gender-questioning for the most part, though there is a definite dislike of being forced into a “woman’s role” threaded throughout the story. I couldn’t unpick how much of that was due to being either a (straight) trans man or a lesbian gender queer person who was gang-raped at an early age and thus found the very concept of being a woman to be threatening and triggering.

Transwomen are represented too. Flora, a lesbian woman Eddy joins up with, seems to truly be what she is. But the novel leaves open the idea that there are trans women in the dystopian society because they have no other choice, having been used as catamites by the predominantly male rape gangs that raid the countryside and infest fortresses.

I liked it enough to devour in one sitting. Not as much as the prequel, but enough to absolutely be looking forward to reading more. I assume based on the ending that the next novel will be a continuation of Eddy’s story and not skip another century.… (plus d'informations)