Foe is relentlessly nightmarish
If you read Foe by Iain Reid, fasten your seat belt because you are in for a roller coaster ride.
The main characters are Hen and Junior. They are married with no children and live on a farm far from the big city. They seldom, if ever, receive visitors.
It is sometime in the future and we are told that things have got a lot hotter and drier. Hen and Junior have one of the few remaining farms. Large-scale agribusiness has taken over, most of the land surrounding Hen and Junior’s farm is owned by a single corporation.
Late one night Hen and Junior are visited by Terrance, a representative of OuterMore, a company that is involved in the colonization of space. Terrance has arrived to inform them that Junior’s name has come up in a lottery and he is on a list of candidates who may be chosen to help in the construction of a large space station that will orbit the earth.
OuterMore knows that Junior is interested in space because their algorithm picked it up. As Terrance explains, “the microphones in your screens are always on – you know that. Its data collection.” This is where it starts to get creepy.
The arrival of Terrance begins a chain of events that will fundamentally change the lives of Hen and Junior. If Junior is selected he will be gone for a very long time. His immediate concern is, of course, about Hen. She will be alone on the farm, who will look after her?
Not to worry, says Terrance, new technology will be used by OuterMore to produce an exact replica of Junior that will look after Hen while Junior is off in space. As I said, things are getting creepy.
As the story progresses the reader is rapidly drawn into a story that becomes relentlessly nightmarish and very hard to put down. Just what is going on here?
The story is told through the eyes of Junior who, at first, goes along with the project. Terrance is an enthusiastic, persuasive fellow and as he says, OuterMore is offering Junior the chance of a lifetime. According to Terrance, “Human beings progress. We have to. We evolve. We move. We expand.” How could Junior not be excited to be a part of the project?
However, as Terrance becomes more invasive, with constant demands, and actually moving into their home, Junior starts to suspect that there may be something sinister behind his intent.
At the same time Hen is acting strangely and Junior begins to suspect that she may be in league with Terrance. She seems to be all too ready to go along with his demands. Who can Junior trust?
All this results in a novel that asks fundamental questions about the nature of relationships and the ability of individuals to maintain their identity in the face of technological change.
In addition to posing some tough questions, Foe also delivers a wicked curve ball that will take the reader totally by surprise. I know I was.
Foe, 259 pages, is published by Simon & Schuster.
