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Subterranean
Hil Mills is missing. Worse, her boyfriend Ronnie can’t find out anything about her because she’s been living off-the-grid since childhood, and doesn’t even have an online profile. In a world loaded with Screens, where robots do almost every job, Ronnie and a team of misfits try to solve the mystery of Hil’s disappearance. Through warehouse raves, transcendentalism-obsessed communes, and bougie corporate parties, Ronnie digs for answers. Meanwhile, Hil’s busy saving herself from her past, and a future she never wanted. Is it a conspiracy, a terror plot, or just a bad break-up? Spoiler alert: it’s all that and more.
- GenresScience Fiction
197 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 28, 2018
1 person is currently reading
28 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 14, 2018
Did you guys ever listen to EMA? Pitchfork gave her first one their seal of approval. It was Past Life Martyred Saints. The track PFork gave special props to was "California." I really dig the album on its own merits, but there was something else special about it. EMA is my age. This was the first piece of indie art I was aware of enjoying made by somebody from my historical time zone. Here was another person making art (good art) who had her own perspective of the world that shared a lifeworld not radically different from my own, but more different than the art that preceded it. I related to it in a way that I guess I'm barred from relating to Bob Dylan or The Boss, just because the times they have changed.
Okay, yes, I'm structurally incapable of being objective here. But when it comes to art, can you ever be 100% empirically objective? Sarah and Jon are like my best friends, and everything they do is important because it's a friend giving their own representation of the lifeworld (I know I'm just throwing lebenswelt around like a rookie grad student, but what else do you call the world you, personally you, with all your anxieties and loves, experience and, for your own psychological wellbeing, have to make some sort of sense out of?). It's important because it's a friend telling you something that they can only express through their art, and the force of friendship lights that shit up way brighter than something you see on TV or buy at BN.
Dude, I'm not even going to try to be objective. Sarah's book made me laugh and cry, and feel those subtle shades of interpersonal squick that, I believe, only make sense when you've been there. Like towards the end when Johns condescendingly, yet not without affection, makes fun of Ronnie's effort to rescue Hil. It's like somebody you respect just not liking you as a person: that always hurts.
The plot really is like a Pynchon novel. It reminded me of Vineland. America is crazy. And going of the grid (I joke to my coworkers that I'm going to burn my social security card and disappear into the mist of the mountains, never to be seen or heard from again) is a very, very attractive option to some of us, and in my case, because of this sort of horror of institutions that reward psychopathy. Yeah, John Denver songs sound particularly alluring. But, you know, OTG is, at this late stage of American history, just another lifestyle option among others. None of the transcendentalist communities remain (if they do, they wisely don't advertise); the Manson Family is a good example of how a community can turn into a murder cult, and Waco is a good example of how the overall American Order can bring down the hammer on alt-communities, and Preppers are your crazy gun nut uncle gettin ready for an End-Of-Fight-Club event. OTG is hard, and unless you have the start up capital or the survivalist training, you'll probably go the way of the Into The Wild guy. Obviously, this is something I dwell on. In Sarah's novel, there's a small independent community, with the best intentions, that gets manipulated by The Man into a terrorist organization. It's unspoken, but the theme is there: the institution with the most power will do whatever is necessary to maintain that power, even at the expense of its constituent's lives. I'm extrapolating, but this is one of the plot engines: surveillance and control by groups with more power over groups with less.
But why Sarah's novel is great is because it's a novel. It's about inept schmucks like us dealing with conspiracies that are beyond our capacity of intervention. (It's like one of Pynchon's Rules for Paranoids: you may never encounter The Master, but you can tickle his minions). The best we might do is rescue a friend out of a bad situation. And Sarah really turns on the brights when we see our motley crew fumble around in their picaresquecapades: that's us, I think to myself. That's us, I mean, my generation, trying to figure out what and how to do the next bit. It's funny and it's a little disheartening: there's no graduate program for how to be a competent human person in a time of unceasing change. I guess, at the end of the day, you just have to fuck up, not quit, and try better the next time.
Sarah's book has a special place in my heart. It's weird and funny. My whole world revolves around weird and funny.
Okay, yes, I'm structurally incapable of being objective here. But when it comes to art, can you ever be 100% empirically objective? Sarah and Jon are like my best friends, and everything they do is important because it's a friend giving their own representation of the lifeworld (I know I'm just throwing lebenswelt around like a rookie grad student, but what else do you call the world you, personally you, with all your anxieties and loves, experience and, for your own psychological wellbeing, have to make some sort of sense out of?). It's important because it's a friend telling you something that they can only express through their art, and the force of friendship lights that shit up way brighter than something you see on TV or buy at BN.
Dude, I'm not even going to try to be objective. Sarah's book made me laugh and cry, and feel those subtle shades of interpersonal squick that, I believe, only make sense when you've been there. Like towards the end when Johns condescendingly, yet not without affection, makes fun of Ronnie's effort to rescue Hil. It's like somebody you respect just not liking you as a person: that always hurts.
The plot really is like a Pynchon novel. It reminded me of Vineland. America is crazy. And going of the grid (I joke to my coworkers that I'm going to burn my social security card and disappear into the mist of the mountains, never to be seen or heard from again) is a very, very attractive option to some of us, and in my case, because of this sort of horror of institutions that reward psychopathy. Yeah, John Denver songs sound particularly alluring. But, you know, OTG is, at this late stage of American history, just another lifestyle option among others. None of the transcendentalist communities remain (if they do, they wisely don't advertise); the Manson Family is a good example of how a community can turn into a murder cult, and Waco is a good example of how the overall American Order can bring down the hammer on alt-communities, and Preppers are your crazy gun nut uncle gettin ready for an End-Of-Fight-Club event. OTG is hard, and unless you have the start up capital or the survivalist training, you'll probably go the way of the Into The Wild guy. Obviously, this is something I dwell on. In Sarah's novel, there's a small independent community, with the best intentions, that gets manipulated by The Man into a terrorist organization. It's unspoken, but the theme is there: the institution with the most power will do whatever is necessary to maintain that power, even at the expense of its constituent's lives. I'm extrapolating, but this is one of the plot engines: surveillance and control by groups with more power over groups with less.
But why Sarah's novel is great is because it's a novel. It's about inept schmucks like us dealing with conspiracies that are beyond our capacity of intervention. (It's like one of Pynchon's Rules for Paranoids: you may never encounter The Master, but you can tickle his minions). The best we might do is rescue a friend out of a bad situation. And Sarah really turns on the brights when we see our motley crew fumble around in their picaresquecapades: that's us, I think to myself. That's us, I mean, my generation, trying to figure out what and how to do the next bit. It's funny and it's a little disheartening: there's no graduate program for how to be a competent human person in a time of unceasing change. I guess, at the end of the day, you just have to fuck up, not quit, and try better the next time.
Sarah's book has a special place in my heart. It's weird and funny. My whole world revolves around weird and funny.
September 15, 2018
I devoured this book. I was drawn in from the first sentence and greedily tore through it as fast as I possibly could. All hyperbole aside, I haven't neglected my everyday responsibilities to such a large degree in order to finish a book since I was a teenager.
On the second day of reading, my toddler asked to watch one of my most hated movies in his collection, The Polar Express. Normally I would make up some excuse about not knowing where it was (or simply tell him the truth: people, normal people, don't watch The Polar Express in September). However, on this particular morning I acquiesced and made good use of the 100 minutes I was guaranteed of (relatively) quiet time. Later that day I gladly allowed him to watch possibly my next most hated movie, Minions, a movie I was almost certain he had long since grown out of. (I'm still not sure why he felt compelled to request two of the most annoying kids movies ever created back to back but kids are weird.) I practically threw the disc in the player knowing I would have another uninterrupted 91 minutes of reading time. Dad of the year material right here. Having already made plans to catch the final screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey that evening (highly appropriate, considering the subject matter of this book), I knew I had little time left to read. Because of this, I did something I almost never do: I read, not on my comfortable couch, but standing in the kitchen while I finished cooking. The kitchen timer went off but I ignored it, at the risk of ruining dinner, to read one more chapter.
I'm only using these personal examples to illustrate how incredibly compelling Subterranean is - how nearly impossible it is to put down. I'm not an analytically minded person so I'm not here to dissect the text. I've already read several wonderful reviews which do a much better job than I'm capable of at summing things up nicely so I won't attempt a summary either. However, one sentence, a mere 16 pages in stuck with me throughout my all-too-brief time spent with this book: "He was struck by the despair of objects." In this austere grouping of words, perhaps the entire work is encapsulated.
This is a frenetic and fantastic (in both senses of the word) debut novel and I eagerly await a followup.
On the second day of reading, my toddler asked to watch one of my most hated movies in his collection, The Polar Express. Normally I would make up some excuse about not knowing where it was (or simply tell him the truth: people, normal people, don't watch The Polar Express in September). However, on this particular morning I acquiesced and made good use of the 100 minutes I was guaranteed of (relatively) quiet time. Later that day I gladly allowed him to watch possibly my next most hated movie, Minions, a movie I was almost certain he had long since grown out of. (I'm still not sure why he felt compelled to request two of the most annoying kids movies ever created back to back but kids are weird.) I practically threw the disc in the player knowing I would have another uninterrupted 91 minutes of reading time. Dad of the year material right here. Having already made plans to catch the final screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey that evening (highly appropriate, considering the subject matter of this book), I knew I had little time left to read. Because of this, I did something I almost never do: I read, not on my comfortable couch, but standing in the kitchen while I finished cooking. The kitchen timer went off but I ignored it, at the risk of ruining dinner, to read one more chapter.
I'm only using these personal examples to illustrate how incredibly compelling Subterranean is - how nearly impossible it is to put down. I'm not an analytically minded person so I'm not here to dissect the text. I've already read several wonderful reviews which do a much better job than I'm capable of at summing things up nicely so I won't attempt a summary either. However, one sentence, a mere 16 pages in stuck with me throughout my all-too-brief time spent with this book: "He was struck by the despair of objects." In this austere grouping of words, perhaps the entire work is encapsulated.
This is a frenetic and fantastic (in both senses of the word) debut novel and I eagerly await a followup.
September 5, 2018
This book is a lot of things—a hilarious comedic romp, a rousing paranoid thriller, a series of stirring character portraits—but basically it's just awesome. There are a lot of lazy comparisons I could make (Philip Dick if he had an actual ear for dialog and was a much better prose stylist? Black Mirror if it had anything resembling a sense of humor? Thomas Pynchon if he wasn't so into ribald song lyrics and pedantic tangents on technical topics?), but I think that those would belie the surplus of heart that sets this book apart. A powerful meditation on technology and human connection and the ways that they interact, one that I'll be puzzling over for a long time.
September 13, 2018
This book is so good. It sucks you in on the very first page and doesn’t let go until you’ve finished. It’s funny, thoughtful, and hits pretty close to home for me as a ukulele playing children’s librarian.
September 4, 2018
Great Journey! What A Ride!
The story revolving around Hil and Ronnie is one of a great journey filled with psychedelic characteristics and overbearing government conspiracies. It is a story that will make you think about how much technology has a hold on our modern day society and where it could lead to. I really enjoyed the read and I hope for a sequel from this debut author.
I will say that this book is geared towards adults with strong language throughout and a couple controversial scenes here and there. Regardless, this book has a very excellent plot and kept me hooked until the end leaving me wanting more.
The story revolving around Hil and Ronnie is one of a great journey filled with psychedelic characteristics and overbearing government conspiracies. It is a story that will make you think about how much technology has a hold on our modern day society and where it could lead to. I really enjoyed the read and I hope for a sequel from this debut author.
I will say that this book is geared towards adults with strong language throughout and a couple controversial scenes here and there. Regardless, this book has a very excellent plot and kept me hooked until the end leaving me wanting more.
May 10, 2020
This book was incredible. Seriously, I could not put it down, and immediately upon finishing it ordered two more copies. It hit me in waves on very personal levels, from the first mention of "nature schools" to the last page with "OK"... I needed this book right now at this time in my life. The tale is timely and the characters timeless. Many experiences could've been taken straight from my own life. It's relatable, and there's something about nearly each character I could see in myself. The characters remained with me throughout the days I read it and even made their way into my dreams after finishing the novel. It resonated with my own fears, paranoias and superstitions where technology and people are concerned. I took away so many basic yet strong truths from the pages- the two biggest being:
Trust No One and You Are OK
My absolute favorite segment of the novel was the portion where HDT cult leader Lasi's Companion Bot is explaining in detail how anger felt to a machine - the machine equivalent of pounding heartbeat and rising blood pressure - I hope if the bots of the future have as much self-awareness and concern as this bot. The robot-to-robot interactions were just as, if not more so, revealing about our human relationships than their non-wired counterparts. A fantastic read that is unforgettable - one I know I will be pondering over for months to come.
Trust No One and You Are OK
My absolute favorite segment of the novel was the portion where HDT cult leader Lasi's Companion Bot is explaining in detail how anger felt to a machine - the machine equivalent of pounding heartbeat and rising blood pressure - I hope if the bots of the future have as much self-awareness and concern as this bot. The robot-to-robot interactions were just as, if not more so, revealing about our human relationships than their non-wired counterparts. A fantastic read that is unforgettable - one I know I will be pondering over for months to come.
November 4, 2018
Excellent book! Lots of different layers to the story. Now I need to read On Walden’s Pond.
July 7, 2024
Subterranean written by Sarah Colombo
Format: KU ebook
Genre: Science Fiction
Ronnie (MMC)⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hil (FMC)⭐️⭐️⭐️
I am not usually a fan of science fiction novels but this title was recommended to me by a friend so I wanted to give it a try and I am glad that I did!
It was recommended to me due to the fact the MMC was a children’s librarian who just lost his job due to robots being trained to take over storytime. When the author was describing the robot with the children, I laughed so hard!! The fact that in this title there were only a handful of children’s librarians left in the country made me extremely sad, hits a little too close to home in the world we are living in right now.
I also loved the film and music references in the book, the author truly knew how to work them into the plot.
I enjoyed both of the main characters, Ronnie a little bit more than Hil, but my favorite character was Losi!!
Overall score:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Format: KU ebook
Genre: Science Fiction
Ronnie (MMC)⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hil (FMC)⭐️⭐️⭐️
I am not usually a fan of science fiction novels but this title was recommended to me by a friend so I wanted to give it a try and I am glad that I did!
It was recommended to me due to the fact the MMC was a children’s librarian who just lost his job due to robots being trained to take over storytime. When the author was describing the robot with the children, I laughed so hard!! The fact that in this title there were only a handful of children’s librarians left in the country made me extremely sad, hits a little too close to home in the world we are living in right now.
I also loved the film and music references in the book, the author truly knew how to work them into the plot.
I enjoyed both of the main characters, Ronnie a little bit more than Hil, but my favorite character was Losi!!
Overall score:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
July 29, 2023
How different is the world we live in from the one described in this book? All in all, not a bit. So why read it? Because it is surreal and profound at the same time. Because we can easily recognise ourselves in the characters, addicted to technology and yet nostalgic for a simpler way of life. Because we disseminate our data everywhere with extreme liberality but at the same time say we value our privacy. Because we are ready to listen to anyone who says they want to fight our battles, without checking whether or not they are cheating us. In the end? In the end 'omnia vincit amor', of course, as long as we turn away from the lords of steam.
July 27, 2019
It really should be 3 1/2 stars.
The first chapter or two, I felt kind of lost trying to orient myself in this future world. Once I got the acronyms down and focused on the story, it was good. I liked the commentary on people being so addicted to their screens, and those who tried to live off the grid. I liked the robots. I liked Ronnie trying to track down Hil and save her. It was a sweet, geeky, awkward romance with some serious cyber repercussions hanging over people's heads. Then the ending, and I was lost again. Maybe I'm too old to "get" the cyber world?
The first chapter or two, I felt kind of lost trying to orient myself in this future world. Once I got the acronyms down and focused on the story, it was good. I liked the commentary on people being so addicted to their screens, and those who tried to live off the grid. I liked the robots. I liked Ronnie trying to track down Hil and save her. It was a sweet, geeky, awkward romance with some serious cyber repercussions hanging over people's heads. Then the ending, and I was lost again. Maybe I'm too old to "get" the cyber world?
April 18, 2020
Here's a novel that uses story to present thoughtful ideas on the future of social media.
September 19, 2018
Subterranean is a ridiculously fun and perceptive near-future satire, effortlessly dropping silly acronyms in one sentence and thorough examinations of a tech-obsessed culture in the next. Hil's backstory and relationship with Ronnie was actually interesting and empathetic rather than just serving as the setup for yet another thriller plot centered around a kidnapped woman. Which I don't mean as a back-handed compliment -- it's miles ahead of things like Taken as far as plot ingenuity and character agency go.
I'd definitely recommend it for any fans of James Morrow, Max Barry, or Futurama.
I'd definitely recommend it for any fans of James Morrow, Max Barry, or Futurama.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews