"It's Not What It Seems"

I'm so glad to hold a paperback in my hands again! Not this soulless electronic book, but a paperback. And boy, the smell is fantastic! The rustle of pages is so comforting! Books remind me of childhood. I wasn't a particularly lonely or brainy child, but I spent a lot of time with books. I still remember some rainy days when I would snug on the window seat with a book, plunging into another story, listening to the rumble of thunder. There's poesy to those memories.

I've been trying to define the true value of reading fiction, and I must say that I don't agree with those who consider it just a hobby which can be replaced by anything else. Knitting or making origami is not the same as reading. Reading is not about spending time, it is about learning how to live, how to analyze, how to build relationships, treat people and tons of other stuff. It is scientifically proven that a person reading fiction tends to be more empathic and sympathetic. And I agree with this. Literature gives an insight into life through stories we read about.

The stories which stand out for me because they have made the biggest formative impact on me are the following: Jane Eyre - the reason why I love dark and brooding Victorian and gothic stuff with a lot of suffering but always with a silver lining to it; everything by Jane Austen - gave me one of my favourite types of male characters embodied by Mr Darcy and instilled in me love to irony and sarcasm; everything by Erich Maria Remark - the reason why I am so much into reading about war which helps portray people's greatest feats and worst sins; the Harry Potter series that taught me what friendship means and how important it is to do what is right rather than what is easy; Ritual by Marina and Sergei Dyachenko - probably unknown for English-speaking audience, but one of the best examples of fantasy, I fell in love with its main characters, with dragons, with Beauty and the Beast motif and with fantasy overall.

I am happy that literature plays such an important role in my life. Nothing would be the same without those books I've held in my hands.

And now I'm happy to start this journey which I call "Around the World in 180 Days" with a philosophical horror "Foe" by Iain Reid.

I called this first book on my challenge list "It's Not What It Seems" because all my thoughts which I have written down in the course of reading it were proven wrong by the third act where the reader learns what it was all really about. I should say, it is one of the best handled twists I have ever faced in literature. I can't say that I didn't see something like this coming, but when the cards were put on the table, I was amazed how all details fell into their places.

The logline: A couple, Junior and Hen, living at a distant farm is visited by a stranger who tells them that Junior has won a lottery and has to spend a few years in the outer space, colonizing another planet. Hen is not going to be alone all this time as Junior will be replaced by his scientifically made identical replica.

The idea is sick! And I like it! The novel is suspenseful from the first lines. Promised as eerie, and it lives up to this promise with its every line. There's a couple of strange things that were really annoying though. And this is probably the first time when my impression from the first part of the book was absolutely wrong, because, and this is so funny, the things which annoyed me in the first two acts were explained by the third act. I started my review as rant, but finished it amazed at what I'd read.

So, here comes the part which I call "My Initial Impression" - I wrote these comments as I read.

• Junior's lines, written in first person, are not taken in quotation marks, and it is confusing. At places you don't understand right away that it's the direct speech and read it as if it is the main body of the narration. I think it is a really silly idea not to use the quotation marks for what the protagonist says. Don't know what it brings to the story except the reader's confusion. I had to reread the whole passages after I understood they were Junior's direct speech.

• Deeper into the story I started feeling more and more claustrophobic as all the events take part at a remote farm, and it adds to the feeling of helplessness increased by the fact that the main character's didn't do anything to protect themselves. I had the same feeling reading and then watching the adaptation of "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro when you simply can't take in and accept why people sheepishly do whatever they are told like they don't even try to stand up to the regime which is going to crush them. In the case of "Foe", I felt that there was this suspenseful dread caused by the appearance of a stranger at the threshold, and I was almost choked by the feeling that Junior and Hen did not do anything about it. They obey any of the stranger's commands and keep asking wrong questions. I get it that the main purpose of this is to keep the reader in limbo, not to let the reader know things, but I really wanted to scream at Junior "Why do you put up with everything this stranger does or says? Why don't you throw him out of your house?" If I felt threatened by a stranger in my own house, I'd kick him out or call 911. But I tried and kept it in mind that such a model of behaviour was probably explained by some mystery I was not let in on yet.

• Perhaps because of this passive attitude of the characters, because of their readiness to accept what is being done to them, I find it hard to feel for them. Especially the main character's wife, Henrietta, who is so irritating! The way she treats her husband... I'm not sure she has feelings for him at all, and it contradicts the idea of the main character who thinks he is having a time of his life with this woman. She acts like a bitch all the time, telling him what to do, ignoring him, slamming doors at his face, moaning about being not free from him, it's like reading about a woman who has her periods 365 days a year. And the most ridiculous is that she takes all the decisions and makes him do things but speaks of herself being a victim of her husband who never let her do what she wanted. I suppose we will never know if this inconsistency is what the author wanted to achieve or it just happened.

And then, BAM! The twist comes and it explains everything! Why they act so weird, why Hen moans about her husband, why this all is happening to them. And you know what, even the absence of the quotation marks becomes reasonable after the mystery is revealed! I have never seen before and have never thought that punctuation can play its role in the delivery of the message in a book.

Summary

Characters - start as a little annoying and plain, but by the end prove to be the opposite! The obvious antagonist is menacing enough, his facial expressions, his moves and dialogue are nicely-written. He is this kind of a smooth-talking evil guy you get creeps of even when he smiles. But even he is not actually what he seems.

Style - the text is easy to follow, the language is concise, every detail is to the point. The sentences are short and together with the proper choice of words it creates the feeling of suspense and tension in every scene from the very first page. I also like that the paragraphs and chapters are relatively short, which, according to Stephen King, is a good thing for a reader, reader-friendly kind of text.

Plot - twist, it seemed to me I started gathering what it was all about by the middle of the book, but the twist was different from what I expected and came like a shocking eye-opener at the end. My theories changed a couple of times. The author gives vague hits throughout the book which help you not to feel completely lost. The plot has no holes in it and it serves the premise of the book effectively.

Expectations - overall, "Foe" met my expectations. However, the first pages set a brooding and dark mood which lasts to the very end. This was the first time I read a philosophical horror, as it is called, and I generally liked it, it falls into the category of these new horror films and books that rely not on boo-effects and scary monsters, but on this excruciatingly slow drilling in your head with social issues turned grotesque by some crazy plot twist. Like it is in the film "Get Out" which exploits the racism and the idea of transplanting souls of the rich white elderly into the bodies of young black people.

I give this book 8 out of 10. It was amazing, but I can't say it was a perfect book for me. I don't feel it is my favourite genre and my beloved characters, and it reminded me also of Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" that traumatized me badly at a young age:)

I highly recommend this book to those who enjoys "The Gone Girl" kind of stories, where there's enough dread, mystery and philosophy revolving around family ralationships. I would also compare the tone of it to the films "Get Out" and "Us" both directed by Jordan Peele - unsettling, philosophical, dark pieces. Hope you'll enjoy it!

And my next choice is the novel "Skinny" by Ibi Caslik, which I'm going to start May 13 and finish May 15.