10. Lauren Beukes Discussion

[Philip Overby]

Number 10 on the list is South African writer Lauren Beukes. While I'm not familiar with her work, it sounds quite intriguing. Some info on her books from Wikipedia:

She is the author of The Shining Girls, a novel about a time-traveling serial-killer and the survivor who turns the hunt around. The TV rights have been acquired by MRC and Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way according to The Hollywood Reporter. [5]

Her previous novel, Zoo City, a hardboiled thriller about crime, magic, the music industry, refugees and redemption set in a re-imagined Johannesburg won the 2011 Arthur C. Clarke Award,[12] and the 2010 Kitschies Red Tentacle for best novel.[13] It was short-listed for the 2010 BSFA Award for best novel,[14] the 2011 World Fantasy award for best novel,[15] the 2010-2011 University of Johannesburg Creative Writing Prize,[16] the M-Net Literary Awards,[17] the Nielsen's Booksellers' Choice Award 2011[18] and long-listed for South Africa's Sunday Times Fiction Prize 2011[19] and the 2012 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.[20]

Her first novel was Moxyland, a cyberpunk novel set in a future Cape Town. Both books were first published in South Africa by Jacana Publishing and released internationally by Osprey Publishing's Angry Robot imprint.

She's also a journalist and scriptwriter. While relatively new to the fantasy scene, Beukes seems like she'll have quite a bit of staying power.

Anyone read anything by Lauren Beukes?

 

[Feo Takahari]

I've only read Zoo City, so that's the only thing I can comment on.

The one solid trait of Zoo City is worldbuilding--not just inventive worldbuilding, but consistent and cohesive worldbuilding. The author put real thought into how this society would function, what would change and what would stay the same, even what kinds of art it would produce. The setting's logic can be bizarre, particularly where the Undertow is involved, but nothing ever fails to make sense according to previously established rules, and nothing ever feels like it's there just to be flashy.

Its greatest weakness is investment. SORT OF SPOILERS from this point on. The protagonist isn't exactly evil, but she doesn't really have much to make her sympathetic beyond being the viewpoint character. (I've read about serial killers who were more charming and likeable.) She has goals you might support, but she doesn't succeed in any of them. On the other hand, there's no larger tragedy than the deaths of a few vaguely likeable people, so she doesn't have any interesting failures, either. Beyond a few pointless deaths, her personal growth is literally the only thing that changes between the beginning and the end, and it's not even much of a change.

Ultimately, Zoo City is to be praised less as a story than as an experiment. It's worth reading at least once just to see what it tries, but it's unlikely that you'll be drawn in on the micro level of the plot and characters rather than the macro level of the world.

 

[Philip Overby]

The covers and art from Zoo City is pretty interesting. Especially that sloth. I'm intrigued about that sloth.

I may have to take a look at her work. It seems pretty different and cool.

 

[Feo Takahari]

The covers and art from Zoo City is pretty interesting. Especially that sloth. I'm intrigued about that sloth.

You might say it's the protagonist's familiar. It was connected to the protagonist, or possibly created for the protagonist, as a punishment from the universe for the guilt she feels from something in the past. She needs to keep it alive so the universe won't destroy her. (This setting's metaphysics are weird.)

 

[Feo Takahari]

Beukes's latest, The Shining Girls, is appearing on a few different best-of-the-year lists. It's about two time travelers, one a serial killer, the other a near-victim who tries to stop him. Has anyone read it?