Welcome back to Books with Cause. Let’s dive into my next review.
We don’t get to choose the things we like. I was probably older than I should’ve been by the time I came to realise that. Many of the things I consume were influenced by those close to me. Family and friends from days gone by. I think a lot of that came from a desire to fit in. As a child, I often felt like an outsider. I wanted to be liked. It’s because of friends I went to school with that I became interested in Batman, professional wrestling, football, and music. Among these are the things that I still enjoy today. So I can only conclude that these are among the things that are meant for me.
Equally, I tried getting into some things because my friends like them. An example of this would be the NFL. I have a group of friends who take it really seriously. I put in the effort and tried to like it. I was a part of a fantasy league with them for a few years. I put the time in to try to learn the rules of the game. I’d stay up late to watch some of the games. But it all felt like hard work. It was like having a second job, and the reward of joy just wasn’t there. The good news is that I could still enjoy the social gathering. Somebody would usually host the Super Bowl. I enjoyed the food. But I concluded that the NFL just wasn’t meant for me.
The same is true of books. I can’t really explain why some books speak to me, and others don’t. They just do. I tend to read and enjoy a lot of horror. I don’t know why. But I’ve found dystopian fiction creeping up the list. As my day job, I work in a secondary school English department, we always do a module on dystopian fiction. We look at the opening page of The Drowned World. The opening page alone is alive and swimming with visual imagery. After reading the opening page at work so many times, it felt like the time to give the full book a go, as it seemed like one that I would enjoy.
While it’s not stated when The Drowned World takes place, it is implied to take place in a world similar to our own. Through the backstory, we learn that the Van Allen radiation belt enlarged some seventy years prior, leading to prolonged solar storms and the sun becoming hotter and hotter. This has led to the polar ice caps melting and flooding areas of the world. London has become a tropical climate. Greenery and wildlife have taken over, and it’s impossible for a human to get around without some sort of boat or helicopter. All roads and pathways are submerged underwater.
Dr Robert Kerans is our protagonist in this story. He lives in the penthouse suite of the Ritz hotel. It is implied that the majority of people have either died or fled the area, so Kerans has the entire hotel to himself. And with nobody manning reception, he couldn’t dream of cheaper rates. The only places inhabitable on the planet are the north and south poles. Those are the places the survivors have fled to, but Kerans hasn’t followed yet. Kerans has remained behind as part of a small scientific team to catalogue the plant life and wildlife of the lagoons of London.
Kerans remains behind with another scientist, Dr Beatrice Dahl. She’s the only remaining woman in London. When we meet her, she enjoys sunbathing on the roof terrace of her apartment. I’m sure if that’s the most advisable, considering the state of the sun. We also catch the hint of some sort of romantic attraction between Kerans and Beatrice.
Maybe it’s somewhat fitting that I read this a little after seeing the newest 28 Years Later film. It goes to show you how stories like this one are timeless. People relate to them now as they ever did. This is a story about the human instinct to survive. In this case, survival means adapting to a new reality. A new climate. A new environment. Of course, some people are better at adapting than others.
For all my excitement leading in, I didn’t enjoy this book nearly as much as I’d hoped. I wanted to love it. I hoped I’d love it. While I got the gist of it, the book just didn’t grip me. There were times when I found myself zoning out and having to reread passages because I was confused. That’s not to say this isn’t a great book, and somebody else might pick it up and have a completely different experience with it. I can only tell you about my experience with it.
When it comes to the visuals of the world in this story, the book is absolutely stunning. I could picture myself in this world with Kerans. I could see myself on the balcony looking out at a London that is partly submerged underwater. There’s a part of me that thinks that would be an improvement on the real London. But when it came to the actual story, it just didn’t do anything for me. Maybe it’s a book that hasn’t aged well. Maybe it was shocking at the time of its release, but it has become tame by modern standards. I just don’t know.
My Goodreads rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 stars)
