Camp Zero

Camp Zero by Michelle Min Sterling (2023) 320 pages

I listened to the audiobook on Libby. There are three narrators because there are three main parts of the story. This science fiction story is a subgenre called cli-fi, which means it is science fiction in the near future dealing with climate disaster. The globe is warming, the southern part of the U.S. is having record heat waves and wildfires (sound familiar?). Those that survive are pushing north into the previously frozen tundra of Canada. If you ever wanted to spend more time with the Jezebels in The Handmaid's Tale, this story might be for you. The main part of the plot follows Rose and other young women, all named after flowers, who work as "Blooms" in a far North mining/construction camp. Then there is a privileged college grad who takes a teaching job at the camp. His rosy outlook is quickly brought down by the harsh conditions at the arctic location. Third, we meet the women soldiers working at a military meteorological research station in another camp up north. Things get desperate and gruesome at times, since there is no escape for many of the characters. I didn't love the way the three plots are tied together in the end, but the journey leading up to those last chapters was pretty entertaining.
 

Molly

Molly by Blake Butler (2023) 316 pages

I confess that I didn't know about the writer Blake Butler, who has published 9 full-length books, until I heard a bit of controversy over whether he should have "told all" in his memoir about his late wife, Molly Brodak, who took her own life in 2020. 

Molly was a college teacher and a poet who had been published widely, and may have been best known for her memoir "Bandit," in which she went into the effects her father‒a bank robber‒had on his family. Molly was a perfectionist in both writing and baking, but never seemed to trust that she was good enough or worthy enough. Blake has a strong work ethic, too, and is a devoted son to his parents, but he admits to having a temper and to drinking to a blackout state regularly.

Blake lets us into his relationship with Molly, starting on the day she kills herself, and then details how they met and gives the often-bumpy, but not fully chronological trajectory of their 10-year relationship, as well as the time after she has died, when he finds out things about Molly that he never would have suspected. Blake's writing is engaging, in spite of the difficult topic. Sections are separated by lots of white space, which makes it more readable. He quotes Molly's work frequently, and includes many photos.

 

Amy Falls Down

Amy Falls Down by Jincy Willet (2013) 324 pages

Amy hasn't written anything to sell for 30 years, although she frequently makes time to jot story ideas in a notebook. She makes her living as a writing teacher now, interacting with most of her students online. A journalist is scheduled to come to her house one day, as part of a series of women writers in the San Diego area. Before the journalist arrives, Amy takes a fall in her yard and hits her head hard on a birdbath. She notices a lot of blood and wonders if she's dying at first, but gets herself up and into her house, not quite herself, fading into and out of awareness. This incident sets off a series of events that change her life. She had not been looking forward to the interview, but when the time came, she gave it, although she couldn't recall anything about it. However, when the story appeared in the local newspaper, interest in Amy began to build and to snowball, drawing her old literary agent Maxine back into her life, along with various interviews and panel discussions and more.

What I like about the story is Amy's quiet reluctance to put herself out there in the world again, but how she finds ways to do it anyway, along with her strategies for dealing with activities and people which she would prefer to avoid.

After reading this book, I learned that some of the backstory referred to in the novel is part of a previous book about Amy, The Writing Class (2008). Another book about her is more recent, Amy Among the Serial Killers (2022). One or both of these books will make their way onto my reading list soon.