Review of A Refugee's Rage by Anthony J Langford

I very much enjoyed being challenged in my thinking by the two novellas in this collection. It contains two very different stories: Caught Between Love and Loss, and the title story, A Refugee’s Rage.

Caught Between Love and Loss

This story begins as if it is going to be a story about Richard, a guy who buys a block of land in the bush and decides to build a house on it, but then gradually becomes a story about his girlfriend, Rachel, as she struggles to define what her relationship with Richard is. Is he just a lover or perhaps a potential long-term boyfriend? Is she in love with him, or is she just in love with the idea of building a house and living in a beautiful rural Australian setting? The house becomes a metaphor for their relationship as the reader wonders whether it will ever be complete. The story tugs at the heart as you hope they can find a way to really connect.

A Refugee’s Rage

In contrast to the first story, A Refugee’s Rage is a very angry story. It is the story of a sixteen-year-old Romanian refugee, Alexlandru, in Rome. He has had to look after himself for most of his life and will do anything to survive. He is a volatile character who readily resorts to violence. The story is written in the first person, so the reader sees the world almost exclusively through the eyes of someone who is not only a refugee in a foreign land but, in many ways, a refugee from society. One day, he meets a Syrian refugee, Ara, and the story revolves around their attempts to survive and whether his desire to survive will allow him to develop a relationship with her.

I think the linking factor between the stories is that both main characters are searching for a place in life. The writing is excellent and frequently poetic (Anthony J. Langford has authored a few books of poetry).

I thoroughly recommend this book’s stories, as they will engage the reader while taking them out of their comfort zone.

Quick review of The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

The Windup Girl is one of the most imaginative dystopian science fiction novels I have read. It has fantastic world-building and is peopled with flawed characters who primarily look out for themselves. The novel is set in a future Thailand in a near-apocalyptic world, where the Thais try to cope with climate change, rising sea levels, running out of fossil fuels, and famines caused by diseases attacking genetically engineered crops.

Thailand is a holdout from food conglomerates who want to introduce genetically engineered crops into the kingdom and get access to the Thai seed bank that the Thais have used to create disease-resistant crops. Added to this mix are windup people or clones, servants created with jerky movements, hence the label windup.

The plot has four main strings: a battle between the trade ministry, who want to open Thailand to overseas food conglomerates, and the environmental ministry, who don’t. The second plot revolves around a conglomerate agent’s attempts to access the seed bank. A third plot is the plight of a windup girl who has been abandoned to degrading work in a brothel and her attempts to escape her predicament. The final plot is that of a Chinese Malay who escaped slaughter in his own country and is attempting, through dubious means, to survive as a despised foreigner in Thailand. All the stories intertwine, and the novel comes to a satisfying conclusion.

Quick review of When the Floods Came.

When the Floods Came is a well-written and imaginative take on an apocalyptic future. The novel is set in England, where a virus has wiped out most of the population. A few people live in isolated pockets using technology that is slowly running down. The main focus is a family who live by themselves in an otherwise abandoned apartment block. The story is told from the viewpoint of 22-year-old Roza. Due to the effects of the virus, people her age and under are rare.

The story centres around Roza waiting for her fiance (whom she has never met in real life; all their interactions have been on the web) to arrive on his push bike – no cars or pods are still running. While she waits, a mysterious stranger turns up. His arrival brings a sense of mystery and intrigue. Does he want to help and fit in, or does he have some hidden agenda?

The story is more character than plot-based. It is about how a family cut off from physical interaction with other survivors copes with a stranger and the outside world he introduces them to.