Lesley Nneka Arimah’s debut collection elicited rave reviews across the country, including from the NYTBR where she was compared to Ben Okri and Margaret Atwood, noting “. Lesley Nneka Arimah, What it Means When a Man Falls From the Sky This highly anticipated second novel, an intimate journey of many years across the Indian subcontinent, was nominated for the Man Booker Prize and met with mostly glowing reviews (although, perhaps tellingly, not from the Times, which negged it with the descriptor “ambitious”). The Ministry of Utmost Happiness is notable for the mere fact of being Arundhati Roy’s first work of fiction in 20 years. (The Times’ reviewer also acknowledged that Vandermeer, a Floridian, “knows as well as anyone that bears have a formidable precedent in American literature.” That’s yet another notch in the author’s belt: writer, bear connoisseur.) Borne defies easy description and plot summary-shape-shifting creatures, shadowy corporations, lost children, and yes, bears are involved-but represents a high-water mark in an ascendant strand of science fiction, one that looks with a sharp eye toward a near-future of ecological calamity, chaos, and monumental ethical battles.Īrundhati Roy, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
The New York Times chimed in with its own plaudits, calling his latest novel, Borne, a “wilder, more reckless and more breathtaking” form of eco-fiction than previously seen. The big-screen adaptation of his 2014 novel, Annihilation, is soon to hit theaters (starring Mars Attacks!’ Natalie Portman) and his follow-up to the much-heralded Southern Reach trilogy was released in April to wide acclaim. Vandermeer is certainly having what most would consider a notable year.