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Oval
In the near future, Berlin's real estate is being flipped in the name of "sustainability," only to make the city even more unaffordable; artists are employed by corporations as consultants; and the weather is acting strange. In search of affordable housing, young couple Anja and Louis move into a community on an artificial mountain, The Berg—yet another "eco-friendly" initiative run by a corporation called Finster. They're offered a home rent-free in exchange for keeping quiet about the seriously malfunctioning infrastructure of the experimental house.
But when Louis returns home from his mother's funeral in America, Anja is convinced he has changed. He seems to be in denial of his grief and newly idealistic, consumed by a secret project at the NGO where he works as an artist-consultant. Anja is horrified when she discovers what Louis has invented: a pill called Oval that temporarily rewires the user's brain to be more generous. Louis is convinced that if he can introduce the drug into the Berlin club scene, he can finally remedy the income disparity that has made Berlin so unlivable.
Oval is a fascinating portrait of the unbalanced relationships that shape our world, as well as a prescient warning of what the future may hold.
But when Louis returns home from his mother's funeral in America, Anja is convinced he has changed. He seems to be in denial of his grief and newly idealistic, consumed by a secret project at the NGO where he works as an artist-consultant. Anja is horrified when she discovers what Louis has invented: a pill called Oval that temporarily rewires the user's brain to be more generous. Louis is convinced that if he can introduce the drug into the Berlin club scene, he can finally remedy the income disparity that has made Berlin so unlivable.
Oval is a fascinating portrait of the unbalanced relationships that shape our world, as well as a prescient warning of what the future may hold.
320 pages, Paperback
First published June 4, 2019
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July 12, 2019
In a time that sounds very much like our own, climate change has altered the weather so much that seasons can now be experienced within a day or week rather than a year, and hipsters gain notoriety through text message weather reports. Berlin is growing more unaffordable by the day, homeless encampments are springing up all over the place, corporations own everything, everyone wants to know why no one else cares about what is going on, and many people in Anja’s circle have bullshit jobs.
Everything around Anja is falling apart, including her relationship with Louis, an American expat who’s been rather odd since his mother’s recent death. They inhabit an eco-house in a planned community atop a fake hill made of trash on the site of an airport, an experimental site that is literally eating itself alive as blinking cameras in every room monitor the characters’ interior and exterior decline.
Their clever, creative-class friends seem at a loss for what to do about most things. They discuss artists whose art is giving their bodies over so their bones can be crushed into diamonds. They go to parties where the shrunken heads of bad consultants are on display - “consultants who’d died before their terms of contract had ended and whose heads had been all the investors had left to collect. It was hideous, but it wasn’t outrageous. It followed the logic of a system where a person’s whole life was part of someone else’s investment portfolio.”
Other friends are being evicted in the name of sustainability - “What was the justification? It fell far short of the recommended standards for environmental sustainability and it needed… new organic insulation, efficient lighting, solar panels, water filtration. A long list of efficiency improvements that would cost a few million euros to implement, and naturally as a result the rents would triple.”
Yet its hard for people to have real conversations about anything in Anja’s Berlin, because everything worth talking about in their lives - work, their living situations, relationships - are covered by Non-Disclosure Agreements. So they go out and drink. And take drugs. And dance all night in Berlin’s rollicking dance clubs. And give each other a hard time for not doing anything to stop any of the forces that are seemingly bent on their destruction.
Louis decides it is time to parlay his experimental consulting gig into a solution, something beyond charity and political activism, that strikes deep into the little partying hearts of his friends and Anja. He invents a drug, Oval, that reverses the inclinations to be selfish and blind to the plight of others. People who take it are forced to see the less fortunate and give them everything they can. He says of the drug, “If the only way to get some compassion and political responsibility back is chemical, so be it. We have to lead by example. We’re the last hope.”
"Beloved Louis," Anja thinks, “the funnel through which all the anguish of life leaked. He revealed and then healed through the revelation. He was the only problem and he was the only solution. He was the plague and the pox and the salve and the salvation.”
As with any experimental treatment, it’s all great in theory when you believe humans will act a certain way when exposed to something. But humans aren’t predictable, and every action has second and third order effects. In one memorable scene, a couple Anja "knew from around, friends of Prinz..(and) had been together so long that they looked like each other- or maybe they had always looked like each other, and that was the reason they got together" are high on Oval and see some homeless guys collecting beer bottles, so they go buy a 24 pack of beer (because it's nasty to collect bottles out of trash cans), and empty the beer into the local canal so they can give the man the bottles. Anja asks why the didn't just give the guys some cash, but they insist that charity is demeaning and one must teach a man to fish. "You have to nurture the ecosystem of the city so it stays alive," he insists. This mildly illogical scenario pales to others that arise though when the youth start taking Oval en masse - and the drug turns out to be the main contributor to even further catastrophe.
This is a fantastically brainy and weird book with so much rumination about what can be done about the now and how grand gestures often have unintended consequences. If you want your brain knocked around some and to really think about what a near future nightmare could be, read this book.
“You’re right that there’s no place left. But this place isn’t left either.”
“Berlin has changed.” “Amen,” said Louis. Everyone shook their heads in reverence. “Where’s the next place, though?” said Sascha. “I heard Dublin,” said Sara. “Or Vilnius?” “No way,” said Louis. He put his arm around Anja and kissed her cheek. “This is the end of the line. Nowhere to go from here.”
Everything around Anja is falling apart, including her relationship with Louis, an American expat who’s been rather odd since his mother’s recent death. They inhabit an eco-house in a planned community atop a fake hill made of trash on the site of an airport, an experimental site that is literally eating itself alive as blinking cameras in every room monitor the characters’ interior and exterior decline.
Their clever, creative-class friends seem at a loss for what to do about most things. They discuss artists whose art is giving their bodies over so their bones can be crushed into diamonds. They go to parties where the shrunken heads of bad consultants are on display - “consultants who’d died before their terms of contract had ended and whose heads had been all the investors had left to collect. It was hideous, but it wasn’t outrageous. It followed the logic of a system where a person’s whole life was part of someone else’s investment portfolio.”
Other friends are being evicted in the name of sustainability - “What was the justification? It fell far short of the recommended standards for environmental sustainability and it needed… new organic insulation, efficient lighting, solar panels, water filtration. A long list of efficiency improvements that would cost a few million euros to implement, and naturally as a result the rents would triple.”
Yet its hard for people to have real conversations about anything in Anja’s Berlin, because everything worth talking about in their lives - work, their living situations, relationships - are covered by Non-Disclosure Agreements. So they go out and drink. And take drugs. And dance all night in Berlin’s rollicking dance clubs. And give each other a hard time for not doing anything to stop any of the forces that are seemingly bent on their destruction.
I can’t believe you’re so chill about this.” “Everyone is chill about all this.” Laura shrugged. “The entire last decade in Berlin has been everyone sitting around and asking each other, how can you be so chill about all this? and then going on being chill. Everyone is chill because everyone else is chill, and it never ends.” “But that’s the point of Berlin. It’s the only chill place left.”
Louis decides it is time to parlay his experimental consulting gig into a solution, something beyond charity and political activism, that strikes deep into the little partying hearts of his friends and Anja. He invents a drug, Oval, that reverses the inclinations to be selfish and blind to the plight of others. People who take it are forced to see the less fortunate and give them everything they can. He says of the drug, “If the only way to get some compassion and political responsibility back is chemical, so be it. We have to lead by example. We’re the last hope.”
"Beloved Louis," Anja thinks, “the funnel through which all the anguish of life leaked. He revealed and then healed through the revelation. He was the only problem and he was the only solution. He was the plague and the pox and the salve and the salvation.”
As with any experimental treatment, it’s all great in theory when you believe humans will act a certain way when exposed to something. But humans aren’t predictable, and every action has second and third order effects. In one memorable scene, a couple Anja "knew from around, friends of Prinz..(and) had been together so long that they looked like each other- or maybe they had always looked like each other, and that was the reason they got together" are high on Oval and see some homeless guys collecting beer bottles, so they go buy a 24 pack of beer (because it's nasty to collect bottles out of trash cans), and empty the beer into the local canal so they can give the man the bottles. Anja asks why the didn't just give the guys some cash, but they insist that charity is demeaning and one must teach a man to fish. "You have to nurture the ecosystem of the city so it stays alive," he insists. This mildly illogical scenario pales to others that arise though when the youth start taking Oval en masse - and the drug turns out to be the main contributor to even further catastrophe.
This is a fantastically brainy and weird book with so much rumination about what can be done about the now and how grand gestures often have unintended consequences. If you want your brain knocked around some and to really think about what a near future nightmare could be, read this book.
“You’re right that there’s no place left. But this place isn’t left either.”
January 9, 2020
I liked the cultural satire of privileged 20-somethings in a near future Berlin, who spend their nights clubbing, and their days either living off trust funds or working as well-paid 'consultants' who develop pointless, fanciful projects for a megacorporation that uses them to put a humane, eco-friendly face on its rapacious, money-making designs. My problem was that the novel goes into extreme detail on the daily life of the 20-something characters, while the corporation, "Finster", has no presence at all, other than to serve as a background. I think this is why the novel feels like there's no there there. We follow some interesting characters around, but nothing meaty happens. If we had more of the inner workings of Finster, and more fleshing out of the ramifications of 'Oval', there would have been a really good novel here.
January 30, 2020
An interesting near-future setting, but not a lot happens directly in the book. We learn of corporate manipulation and social upheaval, but don’t witness it directly. More of the focus is on the oxymoron of a corporate-designed “natural” environment called the Berg and the relationship of two of its inhabitants. I often felt like this book was edging around some big topics, but never getting at them head on. For me, this was a little slow.
Read
March 26, 2021Wow, I did a DNF. And I don’t feel guilty. Because after p. 33 I was terribly bored and had well over 300 more pages to go.
So I did something I have never done before on Goodreads. I went to see how many people had read it…and there were a fair number, 1204 ratings and 205 reviews. But then I looked at the first page of ratings and found a number of 2 stars reviews, a couple of DNFs and decided then and there to bail. And I looked at more pages of reviews, and saw lots of 2 stars and less. So there. 🤨
To be precise:
Page 1 reviews
DNF—3
1 str reviews—2
2-star reviews—8
3-star reviews—4
4-star reviews—7
5-star review—6
I think I am perseverating on why I did a DNF…I will vacate the premises… 🙃
So I did something I have never done before on Goodreads. I went to see how many people had read it…and there were a fair number, 1204 ratings and 205 reviews. But then I looked at the first page of ratings and found a number of 2 stars reviews, a couple of DNFs and decided then and there to bail. And I looked at more pages of reviews, and saw lots of 2 stars and less. So there. 🤨
To be precise:
Page 1 reviews
DNF—3
1 str reviews—2
2-star reviews—8
3-star reviews—4
4-star reviews—7
5-star review—6
I think I am perseverating on why I did a DNF…I will vacate the premises… 🙃
July 5, 2019
"Why do we willingly submit ourselves to social defeat at the hands of those we don't respect?"
Anja laments the banality of Berlin's non-stop clubbing and drugging scene, a scene she at once wants to belong to and at the same time, abhors. Anja’s low self-esteem and overall feelings of inadequacy contribute to her shyness and ultimately, to her social defeat. Independently wealthy, she wears her “Real Job” jacket as an earth scientist to provide insulation from her friends’ all-night partying. Her job also gives meaning to her life. When the corporation she works for decides to merge her position in “Cartilage” back to “Biodegradables,” Anja’s self-worth takes a big hit.
Anja prefers to stay home in the experimental eco-community in which she lives with her artist boyfriend, Louis. That is, until Louis's mother dies. Then, Louis takes some time away from Anja, opting to sleep on his office sofa. He explains he needs time to grieve. Also, without the commute, he’ll have more time to devote to the mysterious project that’s consuming him.
In the world of Anja and Louis, corporations hire artists with their forward-thinking minds to keep their fingers on the pulse of rapidly changing culture, to find “the next niche for market expansion.” Gone is the concept of the struggling artist who sells his or her finished objects directly to the public. Artists are essential cogs of the corporation—part of the man. And Louis is no different.
Even though Anja and Louis are having problems, Louis confides in Anja. He tells her that he’s working on a secret designer drug that makes people more generous. He even lets Anja name the drug. Based on the shape of the pill, she calls it “oval.” She’s very upset when she finds out Louis’s work on the drug is not so secret and he wasn’t really confiding in her. In fact, his co-workers have actually tried the drug. Anja finds out Louis has been keeping other secrets from her. A drug that makes people more generous would seem to solve a number of societal problems, breaking down class barriers and promoting wealth redistribution. But sometimes, things don’t go as planned.
Meanwhile, Anja has been working on a project herself. In all the computer models, she and her co-worker Michel are sure their lab work on creating a housing roof out of a petri dish is feasible. The success of their experiment will show that roofs can be shipped long distances efficiently. However, before she and Michel get a chance to create the roofs in real life as opposed to in theory, their company RANDI does away with their jobs.
To understand what’s going on, it’s important to keep track of the different corporate entities at work. Wilk gives us a glimpse into what can happen when corporations are left in charge of sustainability. We see conservation taken to the extreme in a world of neoliberalism. The consequences are shocking and thought provoking. At the individual level, Anja undergoes a remarkable transformation, equally thought provoking.
The writing is good often bordering on the philosophical. Anja is infinitely likeable, while Louis, the only American, is equally unlikeable. At times, you may feel like you’re reading about life in any big US city in the not-so-distant future.
Anja laments the banality of Berlin's non-stop clubbing and drugging scene, a scene she at once wants to belong to and at the same time, abhors. Anja’s low self-esteem and overall feelings of inadequacy contribute to her shyness and ultimately, to her social defeat. Independently wealthy, she wears her “Real Job” jacket as an earth scientist to provide insulation from her friends’ all-night partying. Her job also gives meaning to her life. When the corporation she works for decides to merge her position in “Cartilage” back to “Biodegradables,” Anja’s self-worth takes a big hit.
Anja prefers to stay home in the experimental eco-community in which she lives with her artist boyfriend, Louis. That is, until Louis's mother dies. Then, Louis takes some time away from Anja, opting to sleep on his office sofa. He explains he needs time to grieve. Also, without the commute, he’ll have more time to devote to the mysterious project that’s consuming him.
In the world of Anja and Louis, corporations hire artists with their forward-thinking minds to keep their fingers on the pulse of rapidly changing culture, to find “the next niche for market expansion.” Gone is the concept of the struggling artist who sells his or her finished objects directly to the public. Artists are essential cogs of the corporation—part of the man. And Louis is no different.
Even though Anja and Louis are having problems, Louis confides in Anja. He tells her that he’s working on a secret designer drug that makes people more generous. He even lets Anja name the drug. Based on the shape of the pill, she calls it “oval.” She’s very upset when she finds out Louis’s work on the drug is not so secret and he wasn’t really confiding in her. In fact, his co-workers have actually tried the drug. Anja finds out Louis has been keeping other secrets from her. A drug that makes people more generous would seem to solve a number of societal problems, breaking down class barriers and promoting wealth redistribution. But sometimes, things don’t go as planned.
Meanwhile, Anja has been working on a project herself. In all the computer models, she and her co-worker Michel are sure their lab work on creating a housing roof out of a petri dish is feasible. The success of their experiment will show that roofs can be shipped long distances efficiently. However, before she and Michel get a chance to create the roofs in real life as opposed to in theory, their company RANDI does away with their jobs.
To understand what’s going on, it’s important to keep track of the different corporate entities at work. Wilk gives us a glimpse into what can happen when corporations are left in charge of sustainability. We see conservation taken to the extreme in a world of neoliberalism. The consequences are shocking and thought provoking. At the individual level, Anja undergoes a remarkable transformation, equally thought provoking.
The writing is good often bordering on the philosophical. Anja is infinitely likeable, while Louis, the only American, is equally unlikeable. At times, you may feel like you’re reading about life in any big US city in the not-so-distant future.
February 20, 2023
2.5 stars. In the year of DNFs this survived the DNF fate as I was intrigued about "Oval", the drug that gives you a high. In your high state you become extremely in love in giving and helping everyone you see. Give away your stuff, money and every time you do, you get a bost of serotonin. Until it were of. Interesting concept and ideas but didn't fully work for me unfortunately.
July 29, 2019
The subject seemed compelling, and with blurbs by Jeff VanderMeer and Tom McCarthy, the book seemed promising, but it was a disappointment. Wilk has some neat ideas, and she writes of things that reminded me of works by both VanderMeer and McCarthy that I admired, but ultimately, so much of the book was just dull recounting of dud relationships. It doesn't begin to be especially enjoyable until near the end, and then it stops.
May 4, 2019
I haven't read such a propulsively brainy and bonkers novel of idea[l]s—and a first novel, no less—since Tom McCarthy pulled his disruptive Kool-Aid® Man™ bit with Remainder. Elvia Wilk's Oval is a coruscating examination of the inherent contradictions and attendant evils of neoliberalism that also serves as a reminder that most of our store-bought dystopias are designed as lullabies for creatures of privilege. Capitalism is in the brain, as one character notes, and Oval will override that particular sector of your skullmush if you're willing to allow the text to go about its business as an invasive species. Recommended for any reader interested in pharmacologically-engendered acts of charity, hypergentrification, metastatic bioengineering, vampiric generosity, self-reflective hedonism, a flavor of batshit urban planning that evokes the unholy specter of Robert Moses snorting lines of Modafinil laced with good old-fashioned angel dust, the catabolic destruction of news in the age of corporate PR and the role capital-b Brands and mephitic interpersonal relationships will play in the apocalypse, which (*peeks at clock app*) should arrive any minute now. If heightened consciousness is the therapeutic effect of consuming Oval, the book is also a singularly human artifact, one that keeps time with a ragged and defiant heartbeat.
tl; dr: I love this fucking book.
tl; dr: I love this fucking book.
February 16, 2020
Tournament of Books
I really struggled to get into this book. I guess after reading the blurb I had expectations as to where this book was going. Then it never went there and it just didn't seem to get wherever it was going fast enough for me. I know that a slow burn can be a good thing but the full first half was just setting the scene. I didn't relate to Anja (trust fund baby) or Louis (small town American boy makes good). Nor did I take their relationship seriously. Their coupling didn't seem to have much depth. I was more interested in how Wilk tackled social issues and what cautions she had for our near future.
Anja and Louis live on "the Berg", a sustainability project set up by the corporation giant Finster and the last bit of greenspace in the entire city. There's a strange odor in the air and the weather is going crazy where every day is its own season. Anja struggles with what to do with her personal waste as their garbage disposal seems to be breaking down like the rest of the house around them. She has few people to share her concerns. There aren't many neighbors on this man-made mountain and Louis hasn't been the same since losing his mother. When her firing as a scientist from a non-profit is coupled with an offer to join Finster as a consultant she gets wary.
The title of the book, Oval comes from Louis's creation. He has designed Oval, a pill that is supposed to make people more generous by targeting the reward centers in the brain whenever they give something. Anja and Louis live life as part of a privileged class. Each week they waste their time away gossiping, clubbing and experimenting with drugs. Beside them is a world of the forgotten homeless. Louis thinks Oval is the cure for their banal existence and the woes of the poor. He expects that in the giving a free market society will form. People will willingly barter and trade not what they want but what others need. The disparity between the classes will be quelled.
I really struggled to get into this book. I guess after reading the blurb I had expectations as to where this book was going. Then it never went there and it just didn't seem to get wherever it was going fast enough for me. I know that a slow burn can be a good thing but the full first half was just setting the scene. I didn't relate to Anja (trust fund baby) or Louis (small town American boy makes good). Nor did I take their relationship seriously. Their coupling didn't seem to have much depth. I was more interested in how Wilk tackled social issues and what cautions she had for our near future.
Anja and Louis live on "the Berg", a sustainability project set up by the corporation giant Finster and the last bit of greenspace in the entire city. There's a strange odor in the air and the weather is going crazy where every day is its own season. Anja struggles with what to do with her personal waste as their garbage disposal seems to be breaking down like the rest of the house around them. She has few people to share her concerns. There aren't many neighbors on this man-made mountain and Louis hasn't been the same since losing his mother. When her firing as a scientist from a non-profit is coupled with an offer to join Finster as a consultant she gets wary.
The title of the book, Oval comes from Louis's creation. He has designed Oval, a pill that is supposed to make people more generous by targeting the reward centers in the brain whenever they give something. Anja and Louis live life as part of a privileged class. Each week they waste their time away gossiping, clubbing and experimenting with drugs. Beside them is a world of the forgotten homeless. Louis thinks Oval is the cure for their banal existence and the woes of the poor. He expects that in the giving a free market society will form. People will willingly barter and trade not what they want but what others need. The disparity between the classes will be quelled.
June 7, 2019
Disappointing. I had high hopes for this one. But the novel focused more on the narrator's relationship issues rather than creating a fully realized dystopian world. The more interesting critique of capitalism and neoliberal corporate takeovers faded into the background in sacrifice for the narrator's breakup. Ugh.
Other characters acted as foils to the narrator, rather than fleshed out people. The novel felt crowded with these half (if that) developed characters. I couldn't keep track of them, let alone care. The dialogue functioned mostly to parrot plot points.
At times, the prose made me cringe. For example, "Beloved Lous, the funnel through which all anguish of life leaked. He revealed and then healed through revelation. He was the only problem and he was the only solution. He was the plague and the pox and the salve and the salvation." Passages like this just didn't work for me.
While Wilk is no doubt intelligent and glimpses of this book demonstrated potential, it stumbled towards its underwhelming end.
Other characters acted as foils to the narrator, rather than fleshed out people. The novel felt crowded with these half (if that) developed characters. I couldn't keep track of them, let alone care. The dialogue functioned mostly to parrot plot points.
At times, the prose made me cringe. For example, "Beloved Lous, the funnel through which all anguish of life leaked. He revealed and then healed through revelation. He was the only problem and he was the only solution. He was the plague and the pox and the salve and the salvation." Passages like this just didn't work for me.
While Wilk is no doubt intelligent and glimpses of this book demonstrated potential, it stumbled towards its underwhelming end.
April 23, 2023
At first glance, the Berlin of Elvia Wilk’s novel appears utopian, the perfect meeting of sustainability and technological innovation. Anja and Louis live on the Berg, a mountain that’s home to a community of ultra-eco-friendly, self-sustaining homes. There are hovering speakers, a social capital-swapping app, and – the book’s central concept, although it doesn’t make an appearance until more than halfway through – a pill that temporarily makes the user much more generous. Scratch the surface, though, and Oval is revealed as a story about the manifest failure of these ideas. Everyone is under constant surveillance, seasons have ceased to exist, half the new inventions don’t work properly. Anja and Louis’s home is falling apart; elsewhere in the city, rents are tripling as landlords try to make their buildings acceptably sustainable.
Yet for all its high-concept ideas, Oval is not very plot-driven at all, preferring to linger on Anja’s obsessive concern about Louis’s unusual lack grief over his mother’s death, and delving into her insecurities, friendships and feelings of displacement in minute detail. There are a lot of clubbing scenes. It’s one of those books I found somewhat compelling not because the narrative itself actually is compelling, but because I was convinced exciting developments were surely coming up on the next page, in the next chapter. At some point I realised this was not going to happen: Anja’s thoughts and fears are the story (and as with so many modern novels about frustrated young people, these thoughts and fears are somewhat cancelled out by the fact of her having a very wealthy family and therefore an easy escape route from her career, relationship, decaying home and, towards the end, the ramifications of a humiliating viral video).
So this is basically a meandering, slightly frustrating novel that is, nevertheless, full of interesting ideas. It’s like a long late-night conversation that everyone’s forgotten by the morning. I’m not sorry I read it, but the plot isn’t really as described.
Yet for all its high-concept ideas, Oval is not very plot-driven at all, preferring to linger on Anja’s obsessive concern about Louis’s unusual lack grief over his mother’s death, and delving into her insecurities, friendships and feelings of displacement in minute detail. There are a lot of clubbing scenes. It’s one of those books I found somewhat compelling not because the narrative itself actually is compelling, but because I was convinced exciting developments were surely coming up on the next page, in the next chapter. At some point I realised this was not going to happen: Anja’s thoughts and fears are the story (and as with so many modern novels about frustrated young people, these thoughts and fears are somewhat cancelled out by the fact of her having a very wealthy family and therefore an easy escape route from her career, relationship, decaying home and, towards the end, the ramifications of a humiliating viral video).
So this is basically a meandering, slightly frustrating novel that is, nevertheless, full of interesting ideas. It’s like a long late-night conversation that everyone’s forgotten by the morning. I’m not sorry I read it, but the plot isn’t really as described.
December 31, 2019
Another book I asked for and received for Christmas, which I found insightful and frustrating in approximately equal measure. From the blurb, I had high hopes of it examining urban housing shortages and pervasive corporate greenwash. Which it does, when not preoccupied with the very dull relationship between the protagonist Anja and her boyfriend Louis. Separately they seemed like interesting characters, but together they were terribly boring. Why must a disintegrating straight relationship be central to any and all novels that aspire to be literary fiction? I'm so tired of hopefully searching for environmental themes amid the miscommunication, jealousy, etc, etc. Although 'Oval' was definitely less guilty of this than some, I think a good 50-80 pages could have been cut to make a tauter, more incisive piece of fiction. The remaining 250-odd pages were excellent, though.
As to what I specifically enjoyed, the disintegrating eco-home inhabited by Anja and Louis is fascinating. Their recursive jobs as corporate consultants are depicted with a pleasingly sharp satirical edge. The discussions about the titular substance 'Oval' are thoughtful and reminded me of a favourite sci-fi novel, Stand on Zanzibar. Surveillance capitalism and the meaninglessness of Corporate Social Responsibility are brought into the narrative and dissected neatly. Anja's observant and introspective narration is excellent, as long as she isn't pondering her relationship with Louis. He is a convincingly frustrating person, idealistic yet blinkered. There are many quote-worthy paragraphs, of which here is a pithy example on networking:
Anja, and by extension Wilk writing her, appear very self-aware about how straight romantic narratives dominate culture. This is explicitly talked over at one point. Similarly, the ending is discussed by characters in a distinctly meta fashion. There are a great many cleverly observed moments in 'Oval' and the writing is really good. I just wish Anja's relationship with her boyfriend had been pushed into the background by their work.
As to what I specifically enjoyed, the disintegrating eco-home inhabited by Anja and Louis is fascinating. Their recursive jobs as corporate consultants are depicted with a pleasingly sharp satirical edge. The discussions about the titular substance 'Oval' are thoughtful and reminded me of a favourite sci-fi novel, Stand on Zanzibar. Surveillance capitalism and the meaninglessness of Corporate Social Responsibility are brought into the narrative and dissected neatly. Anja's observant and introspective narration is excellent, as long as she isn't pondering her relationship with Louis. He is a convincingly frustrating person, idealistic yet blinkered. There are many quote-worthy paragraphs, of which here is a pithy example on networking:
"It's a waste of time," said Laura of partying. "You have better things to do."
I do? Anja thought. Am I 'above' partying? Am I fulfilled by my work? Do I hold a vestige of the belief in the goodness of work?
People who spent all their time out there - people like Prinz - could no longer even draw a distinction between productive and unproductive time. The act of partying had become an act of production: they were producing relations - relations as objects. And objects as opportunities. Content was subordinate.
Anja, and by extension Wilk writing her, appear very self-aware about how straight romantic narratives dominate culture. This is explicitly talked over at one point. Similarly, the ending is discussed by characters in a distinctly meta fashion. There are a great many cleverly observed moments in 'Oval' and the writing is really good. I just wish Anja's relationship with her boyfriend had been pushed into the background by their work.
January 2, 2020
Dystopia as if written by an academic. It's cutting and intelligent, with some ideas I expect to come into vogue in the next decade. The contention that the specter of climate change will be manipulated to push austerity seems especially prescient.
Oval is a novel of ideas, heavy on the ideas, low on the novel bit. The plot swings into effect only after reaching the halfway point, and the characters didn't have quite enough meat on them to sustain 300+ pages. I wonder if this novel could have worked better as a set of interconnected short stories: biting dispatches of white-collar working culture, a nightmarish housing community designed by a corporation, the contested bonds of friendship among young people living through an apocalypse they haven't yet identified as such; the incompatibility of romance and irony, no matter the place or time or economic system.
The ideas are strong on their own and could populate an entire short story collection. Together, novelized, they became uneven, confusing, and sometimes boring.
Oval is a novel of ideas, heavy on the ideas, low on the novel bit. The plot swings into effect only after reaching the halfway point, and the characters didn't have quite enough meat on them to sustain 300+ pages. I wonder if this novel could have worked better as a set of interconnected short stories: biting dispatches of white-collar working culture, a nightmarish housing community designed by a corporation, the contested bonds of friendship among young people living through an apocalypse they haven't yet identified as such; the incompatibility of romance and irony, no matter the place or time or economic system.
The ideas are strong on their own and could populate an entire short story collection. Together, novelized, they became uneven, confusing, and sometimes boring.
February 16, 2020
Jfc, this was boring. I had such a hard time getting into it. I literally found myself going to empty the dishwasher instead of reading. Ugh.
February 3, 2020
A speculative fiction debut with unobtrusive writing and some interesting insights into capitalism, charity and human relationships, but the whole thing feels underdeveloped.
March 4, 2020
In an alternate/near future Berlin, Anja lives in a malfunctioning eco house on a steep hill with her American boyfriend, Lewis. It's a world where corporations control everything and artists are contracted to companies, their work and even their bodies part of the corporate machine. The weather has gone haywire, with vast fluctuations taking place within single days. Anja works as a scientist until she's promoted into a consultant role, while her boyfriend grows distant as he works on a new idea.
Elvia Wilk is more concerned with discussing the philosophical implications of the world of this novel than it is in world-building or character development. It wasn't a bad book, but it also wasn't a terribly interesting one. There are a lot of novels out there exploring possible futures and I would suggest choosing one of them instead of this one.
Elvia Wilk is more concerned with discussing the philosophical implications of the world of this novel than it is in world-building or character development. It wasn't a bad book, but it also wasn't a terribly interesting one. There are a lot of novels out there exploring possible futures and I would suggest choosing one of them instead of this one.
Read
January 2, 2021Seeing as though this was from last years TOB shortlist, and now this years shortlist is out, I think I may dnf this for now. May come back to it. Who knows? :-)
January 11, 2020
Dystopias are rarely boring. Dystopias rarely make you think, "meh", when the characters meet the horrors of their world. Dystopias rarely lack plot, drive, an every calling telos. The world of dystopia may be hedonistic but the characters rarely are: after all, what's the point of creating that kind of world if your character are too nihilistic, hedonistic and selfish to care what is going on around them?
Elvia Wilk's "Oval" manages to be all that: a boring, bland, myopic, pointless dystopia full of nihilistic and selfish characters that don the mantle of social awareness and environmentalism as nothing more than a status symbol. I hesitate to call "Oval" a speculative novel, since so little speculation happens in it. Corporations are going to be ever more powerful at the expense of governments? That's a known truth in 2020. The housing crisis is a thing worldwide? No kidding. Economic disparity, young people despairing from the political system, partying your way to the end – it's not just that there's nothing new here, it's also that Wilk didn't even try to dress it differently, give it an interesting or thought provoking spin. After reading "Oval" to the end I felt like I felt after watching "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace": was this all that it's for?
I don't like feeling cheated as a reader, and "Oval" wears the mantle of a high brow novel while providing less satisfaction, interest and down to earth character moments than works like Corey Doctorow's wonderful "Radicalized". Go read that instead.
I read "Oval" as part of the 2020 Tournament of Books, where it's up in the play-in round against "Golden State" and "We Cast a Shadow".
Elvia Wilk's "Oval" manages to be all that: a boring, bland, myopic, pointless dystopia full of nihilistic and selfish characters that don the mantle of social awareness and environmentalism as nothing more than a status symbol. I hesitate to call "Oval" a speculative novel, since so little speculation happens in it. Corporations are going to be ever more powerful at the expense of governments? That's a known truth in 2020. The housing crisis is a thing worldwide? No kidding. Economic disparity, young people despairing from the political system, partying your way to the end – it's not just that there's nothing new here, it's also that Wilk didn't even try to dress it differently, give it an interesting or thought provoking spin. After reading "Oval" to the end I felt like I felt after watching "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace": was this all that it's for?
I don't like feeling cheated as a reader, and "Oval" wears the mantle of a high brow novel while providing less satisfaction, interest and down to earth character moments than works like Corey Doctorow's wonderful "Radicalized". Go read that instead.
I read "Oval" as part of the 2020 Tournament of Books, where it's up in the play-in round against "Golden State" and "We Cast a Shadow".
February 9, 2020
This was quite a disappointment. The dystopian world building had a lot going for it, much of it blackly humorous. A world where everyone (especially artists) are "consultants", and almost everything in the work world is PR babble. A world in which a few giant corporations control all of the aforementioned artists, and the non-profit world as well. A world in which the pursuit of "social capital" is frenzied, and the movement towards environmental sustainability is a cynical tool for gentrification...
So many good ingredients! And yet there is no plot - or just a smattering at the end. So many intriguing premises are not followed through upon (self replicating architectural cartilage, I'm looking at you!). Instead, we dwell on the relationship dramas of Anja, our trust-fund baby (another crumb that ends up having nothing to do with anything) heroine. Those dramas are insufficiently interesting to make up for the lack of plot.
Seems like a handful of great ideas - maybe the setting for some dystopian series - but not really, in the end, a novel at all.
So many good ingredients! And yet there is no plot - or just a smattering at the end. So many intriguing premises are not followed through upon (self replicating architectural cartilage, I'm looking at you!). Instead, we dwell on the relationship dramas of Anja, our trust-fund baby (another crumb that ends up having nothing to do with anything) heroine. Those dramas are insufficiently interesting to make up for the lack of plot.
Seems like a handful of great ideas - maybe the setting for some dystopian series - but not really, in the end, a novel at all.
Read
June 26, 2021Depressed woman moving in privilege clinging to the aesthetic of sustainability
May 3, 2023
Well, this was disappointing.
I think this had a lot of potential, but the way the author decided to develop the story didn’t work for me.
I also wanted to know more about Finster and the Berg, but that didn’t seem to be the goal of this book.
Finally, I really disliked the dialogues.
I think this had a lot of potential, but the way the author decided to develop the story didn’t work for me.
I also wanted to know more about Finster and the Berg, but that didn’t seem to be the goal of this book.
Finally, I really disliked the dialogues.
September 14, 2025
This book blew (or read?) my mind. It's unlike anything else I've ever read, and feels like exactly what I have been needing/wanting to read. Oval is a cultural satire, articulating so many of the frustrating and/or intriguing unspoken dynamics in relationships that I have never been able to put into words myself and imagining a near-future where sustainability has been coopted by corporations and the upper/cultural class (where seemingly fantastical 'green' architecture and improvements in the name of eco-friendliness coexist with mass homelessness and wealth inequality).
The book's premise is the horror of Louis's new generosity-inducing pill, Oval, but most of the story is about the devolvement of Louis and Anja's relationship and the eco-house/biome/colony they live in, the Berg. Louis, Anja, and Howard are complex and fascinating characters -- each of them flawed, but startlingly realistic. Oval is a climax and tipping point in the story, accelerating their eventual breakup and Berlin's breakdown. Since Oval's (omni)presence in the story is evident so late, I can understand readers who might feel that the story moved too slowly, but I think this book has so much more to offer in the introspection x social commentary departments!
How do our relationships function -- what power dynamics, transactions, assumptions, equalities, and sacrifices do they depend upon? Do we have separate relationships with the relationships themselves from the people they are with? What does a truly sustainable future of humans coexisting with nature look like in reality, or have we lost the ability for such peaceful coexistence? We can't say no to sustainability -- but is there a right or wrong or best or worst way to pursue it? What does a world without weather in any consistent way look like -- how do patterns and cycles like weather dictate the way we socialize and operate? Do our motivations matter if the outcome is more generosity? What obligations do we have to each other? Greenwashing... planned obsolescence... gentrification... ethics of technology/pharmacology... transactions of social capital... gender dynamics.... all of these questions about the future are investigated in Oval. I think it paints a striking, troubling, and extremely plausible picture of the future (culturally, if not technologically), and for that reason is highly worth the read and consideration.
The book's premise is the horror of Louis's new generosity-inducing pill, Oval, but most of the story is about the devolvement of Louis and Anja's relationship and the eco-house/biome/colony they live in, the Berg. Louis, Anja, and Howard are complex and fascinating characters -- each of them flawed, but startlingly realistic. Oval is a climax and tipping point in the story, accelerating their eventual breakup and Berlin's breakdown. Since Oval's (omni)presence in the story is evident so late, I can understand readers who might feel that the story moved too slowly, but I think this book has so much more to offer in the introspection x social commentary departments!
How do our relationships function -- what power dynamics, transactions, assumptions, equalities, and sacrifices do they depend upon? Do we have separate relationships with the relationships themselves from the people they are with? What does a truly sustainable future of humans coexisting with nature look like in reality, or have we lost the ability for such peaceful coexistence? We can't say no to sustainability -- but is there a right or wrong or best or worst way to pursue it? What does a world without weather in any consistent way look like -- how do patterns and cycles like weather dictate the way we socialize and operate? Do our motivations matter if the outcome is more generosity? What obligations do we have to each other? Greenwashing... planned obsolescence... gentrification... ethics of technology/pharmacology... transactions of social capital... gender dynamics.... all of these questions about the future are investigated in Oval. I think it paints a striking, troubling, and extremely plausible picture of the future (culturally, if not technologically), and for that reason is highly worth the read and consideration.
January 12, 2022
Aion
Prima parte ✸1/2
Seconda parte ✸✸1/2
Purtroppo questo romanzo mi ha portato quasi da subito a dubitare della sua natura. Magari non avrei dovuto leggerne li elogi ma già dai primi capitoli ho capito l'andazzo. Io non ho problemi con la sospensione dell'incredulità ma qui purtroppo, pagina dopo pagina - vuoi anche per un font formato presbite - si "allungava il brodo". Dovrebbe trattare di temi quali:
- l'ecosostenibilità (Case autosufficiente a emissioni zero, le Berg, vengono appena accennate nelle prime 100 pagine).
- Una Berlino futuristica (ma non c'è una connotazione forte della metropoli, tantoché potevamo stare anche in altre città o paesi).
- Il precariato e il tema del lutto.
Su quest'ultimo punto li tratta con dei pensieri della protagonista (le parti introspettive e descrittive sono le più riuscite) e i dialoghi.
I dialoghi sono discussioni fini a se stesse. Siccome accostano l'autrice a DeLillo, il buon Don, almeno da due dei suoi romanzi che ho letto, attraverso i suoi personaggi, sembra stia parlando del più o del meno, di relazioni, di reazioni, come potremmo viverle noi nella vita di tutti giorni. Ciò che DeLillo fa in realtà è sganciare una bomba di profondità che detonerà in maniera imprevedibile dopo X pagine e da lettore sono stato costretto più volte ad abbassare il libro e restare attonito, e chiedermi cos'è appena successo.
Con Oval, i dialoghi, soprattutto nella prima parte, sono fini a se stessi. Peggio, sono degli riempitivi. Per quello ho già i dialoghi di tutti i giorni, non voglio ritrovarmeli stampati su un libro.
E poi c'è la nuova droga (l'Oval che da il titolo al libro) piazzata per la prima volta al capitolo 12. Il libro ne ha 22 in tutto, di capitoli.
Forse, tagliando alcuni personaggi secondari e sfoltendo le pagine sulle relazione della protagonista, poteva uscirne fuori un bel racconto lungo/romanzo breve.
Prima parte ✸1/2
Seconda parte ✸✸1/2
Purtroppo questo romanzo mi ha portato quasi da subito a dubitare della sua natura. Magari non avrei dovuto leggerne li elogi ma già dai primi capitoli ho capito l'andazzo. Io non ho problemi con la sospensione dell'incredulità ma qui purtroppo, pagina dopo pagina - vuoi anche per un font formato presbite - si "allungava il brodo". Dovrebbe trattare di temi quali:
- l'ecosostenibilità (Case autosufficiente a emissioni zero, le Berg, vengono appena accennate nelle prime 100 pagine).
- Una Berlino futuristica (ma non c'è una connotazione forte della metropoli, tantoché potevamo stare anche in altre città o paesi).
- Il precariato e il tema del lutto.
Su quest'ultimo punto li tratta con dei pensieri della protagonista (le parti introspettive e descrittive sono le più riuscite) e i dialoghi.
I dialoghi sono discussioni fini a se stesse. Siccome accostano l'autrice a DeLillo, il buon Don, almeno da due dei suoi romanzi che ho letto, attraverso i suoi personaggi, sembra stia parlando del più o del meno, di relazioni, di reazioni, come potremmo viverle noi nella vita di tutti giorni. Ciò che DeLillo fa in realtà è sganciare una bomba di profondità che detonerà in maniera imprevedibile dopo X pagine e da lettore sono stato costretto più volte ad abbassare il libro e restare attonito, e chiedermi cos'è appena successo.
Con Oval, i dialoghi, soprattutto nella prima parte, sono fini a se stessi. Peggio, sono degli riempitivi. Per quello ho già i dialoghi di tutti i giorni, non voglio ritrovarmeli stampati su un libro.
E poi c'è la nuova droga (l'Oval che da il titolo al libro) piazzata per la prima volta al capitolo 12. Il libro ne ha 22 in tutto, di capitoli.
Forse, tagliando alcuni personaggi secondari e sfoltendo le pagine sulle relazione della protagonista, poteva uscirne fuori un bel racconto lungo/romanzo breve.
June 15, 2021
Oh this was yummy. Satirical at times. A really interesting sneak peak into one possible future. Not as bleak as The Circle but just as thought provoking.
October 14, 2019
This book is about 338 pages too long. (My copy happens to be 338 pages long.)
It is not about anything the summary blurb says it's about, and it's not funny or witty or anything else the back cover quotes say. If you're interested in reading this because of the "futuristic" or other vaguely dystopian/post apocalyptic/sci fi things that are said about it, you will be deeply disappointed. If you're intrigued by the setting in Berlin, you will be deeply disappointed; Berlin is not a character or necessary in any way to the "plot."
All this book is about is some unlikable twenty-somethings and their uninteresting relationships and pages upon pages of uninspired commentary on society and corporate culture, and how the unlikable twenty-somethings regularly get high and sometimes put drugs up each other's butts in a club restroom. REALLY. And, the weather is wonky.
It is not about anything the summary blurb says it's about, and it's not funny or witty or anything else the back cover quotes say. If you're interested in reading this because of the "futuristic" or other vaguely dystopian/post apocalyptic/sci fi things that are said about it, you will be deeply disappointed. If you're intrigued by the setting in Berlin, you will be deeply disappointed; Berlin is not a character or necessary in any way to the "plot."
All this book is about is some unlikable twenty-somethings and their uninteresting relationships and pages upon pages of uninspired commentary on society and corporate culture, and how the unlikable twenty-somethings regularly get high and sometimes put drugs up each other's butts in a club restroom. REALLY. And, the weather is wonky.
October 22, 2022
This is a drug haze of a book, unsurprisingly if you judge based on covers (which, be real, we all do). It's a drug haze that critiques neoliberalism, human nature, social capital, and greenwashing -- but still a haze, confusing and unhinged, plot skips and character jumps, unclear where it started and when the comedown is coming. It's imperfect, but it effectively transmits its dreamlike near-future dystopian vision of a Berlin held firm by crises of home, space, and weather, corporations comfortably in control but never really explaining how or why, the metaphor of capitalist "growth" from ultimately getting shown up by mold and memetics. All in haze.
in-sospeso
September 13, 2021A metà libro ci presentano Oval, la curiosità, già messa a dura prova dalla lentezza e dall'inconsistenza della prima parte scompare completamente. Accantonata in attesa di tempi migliori, se mai ci saranno
November 3, 2019
look just put some solar panels on your roof and call it a day
October 6, 2019
Great Zeitgeist of Berlin culture and mentality, even though it's based in fictional world. The author missed some details about the interactions between the main characters, that would have added to the story.
February 19, 2020
15th read for the 2020 Tournament of Books (ToB) with only 3 more to go - will he, for the very first time, read them all?! Tho, as you can see by the rating, this is the type of book that also questions my loyalty/commitment to ToB. I always says even if I didn't like a ToB book, at least it was interesting. And while I guess that technically still qualifies here, 'Oval' just barely escaped being only my 3rd 1-star rating in over 500 books here on Goodreads.
What saved it (well, perhaps too strong a word) was some good, some original, and yes, some interesting elements of this near-future dystopia(-lite?): Big-Brother-like conglomerates, an eco-community gone awry, and the titular Oval (which I will not reveal anything more about here - but be prepared to wade through over 50% of novel before finding out for yourself!). Any one of those elements could have made a great novel, but the combination here - coupled with a not terribly engaging protagonist - was a bit of mess. Ok, a pretty big mess.
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