June’s pick was Paolo Bacigalupi’s, The Water Knife, a dystopian novel about the state of the world where water is a scarce resource. The book follows the perspective from 3 different characters – a water knife, a journalist, and an everyday person just trying to survive. Each of them has their reasons for doing what they’re doing in a fragmented United States, where each state is its own country. When rumors of a new water source surfaces…everyone gets called to action.
The novel overall, I thought, is based on a really cool and scary idea around the FACT of climate change. What would the world look like politically when water is the most valuable resource? How do the people work to stay alive and in the know? Some of this is explored as we follow these 3 characters as they navigate spies, murder, and betrayal.
What is most fearsome about this idea is the fact that this is based in the not so distant future! “Cadillac Desert” is a nonfiction book that is named dropped PLENTY throughout the novel – a book about land development and water policy and how it is affecting our lives in a very real way.
Overall, an interesting read and something I would recommend. Leaves many things unanswered and the sex scenes are a bit odd (felt like I was reading a script for a movie).
3/5.