| Review: T.Coraghessan Boyle, A Friend Of The Earth |
| In A Friend Of The Earth,
TC Boyle manages to make the elimination of most animal species and
the slow destruction of human habitat by apocalyptic weather patterns
almost seem like minor subplots. Oh, they’re there on every page, but most of Boyle’s characters are so textured—so damaged, so aged, so angst-ridden, so emphatic, so bizarre—they insist on center stage. Everything else is a backdrop to their refusal to lie down and die. 2025 is a miserable year. Certainly nothing for any of us to look forward to. But despite the creeping viruses, the torrential rains and searing heat, the rampant depression, the non-existent economy, no one says I-told-you-so. The environmentalists who warned and the earth savagers who savaged merely struggle to exist. As though the preceding 50 years had been nothing more than an elaborate kabuki dance with a pre-determined finale. Boyle insists his authorship a bit too much in the beginning, but after the first third or so of the book, he lets his characters take over and goes to hide behind the desk. Despite the extravagance of events on the page, Boyle manages to provide the reader excellent moments of caring, tenderness, apprehension, and surprise. Not at the world turned topsy-turvy, but at events that happened much earlier. It’s not, it turns out, the world gone mad that is so affecting, despite its impending doom, it’s the world before it went mad that makes one feel. There is much to admire here. Boyle has flair, guts, and wit. A Friend Of The Earth will hold your attention to its apocalyptic end. And even toss you a sliver of bitter hope.
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