Let’s take another break from the deluge of generation ships and instead focus on another type of ship, the ark. Didn’t see that one coming did you? Or maybe you’re here to hold me to task on the books I promised to read in our Black Author Appreciation post from earlier this year. Either way, I’m going to talk about Lost Ark Dreaming by Suyi Davies Okungbawa. It’s an eco-science fiction that cleverly engages with class hierarchy in a world already underwater that mostly succeeds, while taking a few interesting missteps.
Five towers remain standing above the ocean off the west coast of Africa. Their lower levels are submerged in the depths, designed to withstand the rise of the Atlantic ocean. What was meant to be a resort for the wealthy has become a sanctuary for human life in the new climate. The upper levels are populated by the ultra wealthy, while the poor and working are submerged below the water. When a leak occurs in the lowers, Yekini is sent down as a bodyguard to protect Ngozi while he investigates the cause and provides a solution to the problem. Tuoyo, a mechanic and inhabitant of the lowers, shows them that there is still life below. However, rumors about the children of Yemoja circle around the leak, though the legends have yet to be verified. Will the three be able to work together and cross their divides to solve the slow crisis?
Lost Ark Dreaming is an interesting novella. Okungbawa not only tells a narrative, he interweaves poetry, folklore delivered through dream sequences, and archival reports into the pages, providing more depth than a straightforward story would have accomplished. For a shorter story, this works really well, and I’m curious how such methods would play out over a longer page count. The world Okungbawa creates is a stark one; a small collection of skyscrapers where the first thirty floors are submerged in the ocean, designed to survive the rising sea levels. The lower floors are relegated to the poor and working folk, the middle section the middle class and well you see where this is going. It’s not unique, but I do find it compelling with the added stress of being actively submerged if you’re poor. It delivers a visual that is hard to shake.
The story follows three perspectives, each from a different section of the tower. Ngozi, a bureaucrat with dreams of being a part of the upper upper floors, is decently fleshed out as someone who doesn’t want to rock the boat, and is constantly doing the math. He pits his career against the lives and livelihoods of those lower than him. It clearly causes a bit of distress, but he’s also distant and removed. Yekini, a data analyst from the mid levels, takes a lot at face value. She is isolated as well, but rolls with the punches. Her preconceptions are open to changing data and circumstances. It gives her the connective tissue vibe between the layers that is sorely needed between the lower and the upper. Tuoyo, however, as much as I wanted her to, didn’t stick with me. She’s pragmatic, sure, but I can’t really grasp the things that made her stand out as a character. Tuoyo was competent as all hell sure, but we rarely got to see her as a lower, only someone who has to interact with the uppers and middles when they come down to investigate.
The biggest problem I had with the story, despite Okungbawa’s attempts at providing depth, was its length; it’s just too damn short. Everything in the book is designed to bring stark visualization and provide mental shortcuts to the themes. That’s not a bad thing, the story’s efficiency is a strength. It just doesn’t give room for the themes to breathe and grow into something more interesting. The city feels like it has a history, and it’s partially explored through the archives, but in short staccato bursts meant to crystallize the themes. The archival interludes felt like Okungbawa breaking the fourth wall to tell you the point of the story. The tower also feels empty, and I don’t know if that was a purposeful choice to highlight the degraded nature of the place, or if it was passed over for brevity. The shortness, while bolstered by Okungbawa’s exploratory instincts, also removes a lot of the curiosity. I don’t need a full re-telling of the tower and city’s history, nor a detailed accounting of the lives of the characters, but I think it would have been nice to actually see the tower. See how the levels have become what they are, and how people in the lowers make do as a society.
But when the novella shines, it really shines. The poetry is evocative and really feels like Okungbawa put his heart into nailing it. The use of African spirituality (both in and out of dream sequences) and the various ways different cultures use words and names, adds a fresh perspective. It makes the tower feel like the melting pot it became, but serves as a stark reminder that there are still cultural divisions intermingled with the class ones. Obviously, I am not well versed in African folklore and religions, but I’m starting to grasp some of them through exposure, and Okungbawa is very inviting. He doesn’t necessarily explain it to the uninitiated but does take time to highlight the differences between cultures in a way that leads to outside curiosity. It’s inviting you in to understanding, which couples nicely with some of the story’s themes.
Lost Ark Dreaming is a short and tantalizing vision that, for me, could have used a little more exploration. It feels like waking up from a dream and trying to grasp for deeper meaning, but only being left with whatever you can remember. The title alone makes this suggestion feel correct, and leaves me with both satisfaction, and a half-full stomach. I wanted more from the dream, and I’m left with the general feeling that I had one, scrambling to find meaning from it. If there was a little less of the archival fourth wall being broken, I could accept the dreamlike nature of the story, pushing the reader into exploring it outside the book. So maybe that’s what I will take away from it; the pursuit of curiosity, the vision of a future not yet decided, instead of craving that curiosity handed to me on a golden plate.
Rating: Lost Ark Dreaming – Dive in, and let it wash over you but at your own pace.
-Alex
An ARC of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The thoughts on this book are my own.
