Chasing Freedom

by Marina Fontaine

Freedom is lost, but not forgotten.

In 2040s America, civility is prized above truth, conformity above free expression, and “green” living above basic human needs. Most have given up, too busy trying to survive in a country where life is cheap and necessities are scarce. Yet even in the midst of drudgery and despair, unbroken spirits remain.

Julie is a girl who has everything, including a plan to ignite the spark of resistance. Randy dreams of winning Julie’s love and escaping the emptiness of over-regulated life. Joseph seeks revenge on the system for a family tragedy. Daniel is a young artist, who can’t seem to stay out of trouble. Chris is an orphan prepared to do the unthinkable to protect his younger sister. Whether by choice or by accident, each will take a path on a collision course with the oppressive regime. Will they find the freedom they desire? Or will the cost of defiance prove too high to bear?

Marina Fontaine is an immigrant from the former Soviet Union. She uses personal experience to craft a novel that takes an intimate look at life in a totalitarian society and the role that individual choices play in advancing the cause of liberty.

222 pages, Paperback

First published January 13, 2016

Reviews

[VMom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a free review copy of Chasing Freedom from the author.

I wasn't looking forward to reading a dystopian novel because they usually get me down, but as soon as I started reading this I couldn't put it down. I just had to find out what would happen next. I think it's because the author doesn't try to paint a broad picture of America of 2040, she just gets right down to the characters in tight spots. I felt like I was reading a thriller. The action spans almost 20 years and there's a fairly large cast of characters, though the main story follows the young couple Randy and Julie as they lead a rebellion against the overgrown and totalitarian American government.

The author really does a good job of showing what living under a totalitarian government is like. I would guess that comes from her experience of living in Russia. I also liked that a lot of the action happens in New Jersey and in Lancaster, PA, both areas that are quite familiar to me. If I had any quibbles with the book, it was that I thought the good guys were maybe too noble, which may be unrealistic, but it makes it a good choice for YA readers who are, in my opinion, not given enough good guys to root for these days. On the other hand it was a great rellief that there were no angsty or emo characters either.

I'd recommend this to fans of the Hunger Games or any well-written YA science fiction.

I have a longer review of this and other conservative books at my blog, bookhorde.org

[Robert Arias · Rating 4 out of 5]

This absorbing novel follows a group of young people as they fight a totalitarian police state, as well as their own self-doubts. And their fight is not far off, beginning just 20 years from now and in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Canada. Could it happen here? Read it and decide for yourself. The novel is fast-paced and omits all the speechifying found in all to many novels that have a message. Enjoy it.

I love near-future speculative fiction, where writers try to project current trends in society a few decades forward. Chasing Freedom is one of the best. I've even done one myself Crown of Creation: 2046 - Two Nations, One Murder

[Wampuscat · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book, but unfortunately, I can't rank it higher than a two. While the writing was decent, I had some trouble keeping track of characters and events through the first half of the book. There was a lot of scene jumping. Also, I felt that the situation of a failing government somehow managing to herd all of the U.S. population into 'Cities' without a full-blown rebellion to be beyond believable. It threw me out of the story too often.

There were some interesting ideas about the consequences of various governmental policies. I could see them happening if the situation that engendered them really exited. My suspension of disbelief was too difficult to overcome though, because I really have a serious doubt about the continuation of failure in a representative republic like the United States. It might be feasible for a city, or even a state, to continue that way, but the people of the heartland will not actually put up with that for long. Also, there are lots of other 'rural' places for rebels and outcasts to run to than Amish country and Canada. (Canada? Really? *scratches head*)

Anyway, as for characterization, I thought the story could have used a bit more detail on the early lives of the main characters to help get you more invested in what happens to them. Their lives and their relationships with each other were sketchy until the later portion of the book. I just never got to a point where I cared about any of them, or what happened to them. Some of the motivations and reactions were also strange to me because I really don't have a good concept of what it's like to be a 'big city dweller'. So too, I think maybe the author's perspective is skewed in the opposite direction, which means me, as reader, was even farther away from understanding intent.

Oh, well, I've said this before and will say it again, not all books are great for everyone. Others have read and loved this book, and I'm glad for them. While I wish it had clicked for me more, it was still a decent story. I can give it two stars and call it a interesting (but not great) read.

[Stanley Wheeler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marina Fontaine's Chasing Freedom takes the reader into the belly of the rebellion and doesn't stop there. The rebellion is no overnight success. The story goes on for years. It follows the personal lives of multiple characters. Bad things happen. People die. This is a dystopia and things get worse before they get better. However, this is a story steeped in hope. In the midst of cruel atrocities, hope comes through.

[Shelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't want to put it down!!!

Exciting story told through the myriad of amazing characters perspectives. I would recommend it to everyone who enjoys a good fight for freedom story.

[Carol Kean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Political upheaval, oppressive new government regimes, a new generation of video-gaming teens, and a few brave rebels who dare to fight for that old-fashioned brand of freedom that American was known for: you may think you’ve seen it all before, but I’ve never read a novel like this one. Born and raised in the former Soviet Union, Marina Fontaine has learned the concept of art as weapon. Depending on who wields the power, our cultural icons—artists, writers, singers, actors—can serve oppression or freedom, conformity or subversion.

Set in the near future, “Chasing Freedom” opens in a United States you won't recognize. The cast of characters is richly drawn: Real people. Real passion. Fighting the new government that turned America from the world's greatest nation, the envy of the world, the heart's desire of illegal immigrants, into a place to flee. In this novel, our border problem is that of U.S. citizens escaping into Canada - the new land of opportunity. Even Mexico is doing better than the U.S.: "Long ago, illegal immigration had been moving in the opposite direction, with Mexicans sneaking into the US. … Today, Mexico was a banking haven and a great place to live, assuming one had enough money."

The place to stay *free and alive* is no longer the United States? If that doesn’t sound surreal, picture horse-drawn wagons carrying ex-patriot Americans from the cities (oh, the cities), through Amish country, to Canada. The caravans are guarded by notoriously dangerous “Guides” who are nowhere near as scary as their reputations. That’s all part of the carefully orchestrated propaganda of The Rebels.

Ah, those rebels! For all the flack and lack of respect our video-gaming children get, it’s fun to see a positive spin on this generation. While the most of the adults just get with the program, or get killed or exiled, the teenagers use their gaming and hacking skills to launch a revolution.

It’s no job for slackers. When caught, some of our favorite characters face death or dismemberment in a torture facility. Not everyone comes out alive, but most do. More than one needs a prosthetic hand afteward, and help with PTSD nightmares.

The “Easter Eggs” are fun, and the characters are fun-loving and funny, when they’re not being tortured or separated from their loved ones. Their code name would make sense only if anyone in government surveillance had read the iconic novel that supplies the name Ragnar Danneskjold, a hot Viking-philosopher-pirate. (Nope, not telling you what novel he’s in.) Those caravans to Canada, “Cruz Lines,” were in the story long before a certain politician entered the race to become U.S. President. (I know this because I've been reading this manuscript since it first began as a short story. A chapter at a time, I've seen it unfold, expand, and morph into a novel.)

Revolutions seldom change the world overnight. Years pass (and Fontaine dates each new chapter for our benefit). Our quirky teenage rebels grow up. Two of them have a child together but are forced to let him grow up in safety with another family. Daniel the artist, dismissed as “too soft” by his girlfriend’s father, turns out to be anything but. Chris, who will do whatever it takes to keep his little sister out of foster care, finally reaches legal adult status and escapes the morally degrading system. Randy starts out as a nerd who’d steal to buy that precious commodity, strawberries. Daniel sells a rare and treasured orange – yes, a mere piece of citrus fruit we take for granted – in exchange for something he values more than his own health. Julie, the girl of Randy’s dreams, earns the kind of face- and name-recognition that today’s celebrities get just for “entertainment” value.

There's more, so much more, but even some of the authors I've reviewed have said my reviews are daunting in length.

This novel is a feast of memorable characters, a great theme, a great cause. English is Marina Fontaine’s second language, but nothing in her prose gives that way. Her word economy is enviable. She cuts to the chase -- chasing freedom. Fast paced, funny and heart-rending, spanning decades, but ultimately triumphant, this is a riveting dystopian thriller with fun-loving, vivid characters, the kind who become household names, the way Charlie Brown trusting Lucy with a football is “just fiction” but also a universal truth.

At my blog, I’ll post a longer review with excerpts from the novel – if more than one person should happen to tell me via the “comment” button below that they’d read a longer book review than this. Maybe I just need to form a Discussion group instead – I’ve yet to take advantage of that feature at the bottom of the Amazon review page. Speaking of groups, Marina Fontaine has one over at goodreads. You might have heard of the mysterious Masha99. Her debut novel may very well make her a household name.

Hmm, anyone can create a book discussion group over at goodreads, too. Who'd join me?

[Declan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hang out with a lot of political writers. Then again, most if not all writers still to be political, to some degree or another. And the most common form of political writing lately is the distopia, or perhaps dystopia, depending on who's writing it.

And dear God, I am sick of them.

Granted, there have been some solid ones. Remember, after all, Daniella Bova's Tears of Paradox, which honestly looked something like it was out of Walker Percy than anything else. There's Ordinance 93, that was mostly an action thriller with heavy espionage elements than a distopia. There's every John Ringo novel, which looks like he's destroying the world at one point or another.

But for everyone one of those, there are easily ten that don't make the cut. Or drive me to tears. Or drive me insane. I don't even finish them, because I can't. Honestly, it's either the despair, or the writing, and the occasional "Why am I not doing something fun, like having a root canal?"

And then a friend of mine, Marina Fontaine, wanted me to look at Chasing Freedom.

Finally, at long last, something fun.

And this one is a distopia that's easy to digest, easy to read, and simply enjoyable.

Our main characters are Julie and Randy, and we follow them from being teenagers rebelling against a Politically Correct system gone amuck, via blogs and rallies, and watch them blossom into resistance fighters against a totalitarian system.

What's that you say? Sounds like a variation on Red Dawn? Sounds like a TEA partier's worse nightmare? Must be written by some redneck in flyover country?

Oops, sorry, no. Marina lived under the USSR. She's been there, done that, got the t-shirt. You want a tyranical nightmare, she can build one. However, this isn't Tolstoy (who was a moron). You will not want to read this one with a bottle of vodka.

Chasing Freedom is different from all the other distopias for a number of reasons. The tone is lighter and hopeful. It's also filled with creative ideas about how to circumvent a dictatorship. For example, Amish country becomes a safe haven for people fleeing the nightmare that is the urban environment (like New Jersey). Also, this is a distopia that operates on the level of a Tom Clancy novel, following various and sundry people at multiple levels of the resistance and the political hierarchy -- from the schlub in the street, to the grunts running the black sites, to smugglers getting people to Canada.

Despite having all of these characters at all of these levels, they're easy to keep track of. They have histories, they have easily traced relationships, and they all connect to each other.

Another difference is that this is not outlandish. This is not a delusion. Much of the tyrannical elements are visible from here. You can see these coming. And when you see the ones at the start of the novel, the ones to follow are easier still to see.

And the best difference? This is one book. Sure, there could be more novels, but this is basically it, one novel, one story -- a history of a resistance, encapsulated in a few hundred pages. I honestly can't name you one person who's done that.

Just do yourself a favor, and buy the book already.

[Hobart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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A few decades from now, the government of the United States (although I don't think it's directly called that, but it's clear that's what it is) has become the totalitarian regime so many fear, imposing a type of public "civility" on the citizenry. Public protests are closed down by the authorities, but keep springing up (and seem to be coordinated in a way that the authorities can't pin down) -- and then they evolve into organized resistance groups and information dissemination efforts (counter-propaganda efforts).

On the whole, the book focuses on the resistance groups, their allies and those they aid -- with the occasional look at those in power and their operatives. The resistance groups are full of people who are looking for different things -- some out of ideology, some out of concern for the safety and health of their loved ones, there are even criminals who help just to get under the heavy thumb of the government, some just want a way to express themselves and make art rather than be "contributing members of society."

In different ways, these people (and many others) work together (and apart) to force the government to get back to its own foundational principles. There are glimpses of violence here, but mostly this takes place between the battles -- in the ramping up to them, or in the aftermath. It's violent enough to satisfy those who want that and to seem grounded in the subject, but that's not the focus. The focus is on what the struggle means to people and what it does to them -- some characters are scarred, some characters are driven to find hidden strength(s), a few characters are both.

I noted while reading this that the type of government/society depicted in a dystopian novel tells you a lot about the politics of the author -- as does what the characters of behind the resistance/opposition want to replace it. Fontaine grew up in the U.S.S.R., and knows a little about real dystopia, that's reflected in these pages, too. Her vision of the future isn't one you typically see in fiction -- and agree with her or not -- it's a breath of fresh air.

I've read works that were better written, more convincing -- but this one hit me right. I love the vision of this book, the way that Fontaine gets her characters to work together -- even when there's little reason to. Their hopes of the good life -- or at least a better one -- really resonated with me. There wasn't (much) drive for vengeance, it wasn't one or two people against the system -- it was a variety of people, doing various things that drove the action of this novel. A solid effort, an entertaining and borderline inspirational read. I hope to see more from Fontaine in the future.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

merica as we know it is dead. All of our freedoms, from the freedom to worship to the freedom to own guns and even the right to eat what we want have been taken from us. People have been forced to live in cities for "environmentalist" reasons. America is a place where cell phone time is rationed and children born with birth defects are immediately put death. Well, at least in Marina Fontaine's Chasing Freedom it is. The crazy part of the story is that it all seems so possible.


The story here, though, is not one of downtrodden people with a boot on their neck sitting quietly. There is a reason Fontaine has work published by Superversive Press. This is the story of a fight from the shadows against an unforgiving government. It is a story of cyber warfare and sometimes outright violence. It is the story of people fighting the only way they can against a government that has them outnumbered and outgunned. It is, in its way, the story of the plucky underdog. It is also a story of sacrificing safety and wealth for freedom. Chasing Freedom also asks a question that pops up again and again in literature and in history: Was it all worth it? I won't reveal Fontaine's answer, but at the end of the day, I agree with it.


It's easy to see why Chasing Freedom was nominated for a Dragon Award for Best Apocalyptic Novel. It really moves. The characters live and breathe. I couldn't put this thing down. I read it in a day and was left wanting more. That's not to say that the ending wasn't satisfying. It was. It also made sense and was realistic which is something you don't often see in fiction anymore. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Fontaine's work.

[Chessy The Cat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Juliette Jackson is a teenaged girl with a vision. She believes that the oppressive government should be overthrown. With the help of her friends she seeks to start a revolution. But, at what cost? How many friends and innocents will die?

Fontaine’s first novel, Chasing Freedom, covers the life of the rebellion from its earliest beginnings. The book takes place over an eighteen-year period. It is told from many points of view. There does not appear to be a clear protagonist and no real character development. The story jumps from person to person to different points in time and back.

Even though it was a relatively short book of 223 pages it felt much longer and took me a long time to finish. The novel could have been expanded and made into a series that allowed for a reader to get attached to a central character. Overall, I was not impressed.

2 out of 5 stars.

I received this book for free from the author for review consideration. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun and short look into a dystopian near future where the government has taken itself to its logical conclusion and overstepped in every way possible. Reminds me a little bit of Ayn Rand's anthem in that feel, but it follows the story of a rebellion taking back, or rather chasing, freedom through small vignettes that create an aggregate whole of a story of a resistance.

The writing style honestly reminded me a lot more of classic works like Bradbury than it did a lot of contemporary, more cinematic books, because of the vignette style. It was refreshing to read a story like that which I don't see too often. Marina has great writing talent and it's worth checking out if you like dystopian sci-fi and anti-statist/libertarian ideals.

[Simone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Chasing Freedom is an intriguing dystopian novel. Randy and Julie are the leaders of the Rebels as they fight against the government. The government has taken away all freedoms, everyone lives in poverty, food is rationed, and free thinking is forbidden.

This dystopian was as intriguing as it was disturbing. It's extremely plausible, and the continual struggle for a happy life felt real. This novel has lots of action and although there is torture, it isn't graphic descriptions. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I think anyone that enjoyed The Hunger Games will enjoy reading this.

[Matt McRoberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall this isn't exactly the kind of book theme that I normally would go about reading and it did start a little slow for me (not slow paced, just slow for me specifically to get into the story). I did end up liking the story once I was able to get more time to read it and better get into the story. I liked most of the characters and the overall story progressed very well (i liked the little time leaps every so often in the book).

Even though Chasing Freedom wasn't exactly the type of book I would normally read i did end up enjoying it.

[Joanne G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I've recovered from most of my brain dysfunction in 2004, I still have difficulty when there are too many characters if they aren't reintroduced, made distinctive, or described in excruciating detail. This is my problem and not that of the average reader. Chasing Freedom had too many characters for me to keep track of and the perspective switched quickly from one to another, so I spent most of the book confused and playing catch up. This is unlikely to be a problem for most.

[Bill S · Rating 3 out of 5]

I stopped in the middle. It just didn't grab my attention although I like the theme of chasing freedom, I just couldn't get into the story.