My one experience with Rivers Solomon’s growing library of work has been with The Deep. An ambitious little novella that transcended the future and envisioned a world that has grown out of communal suffering. I decided to pick up their debut, An Unkindness of Ghosts because it took place on a generation ship – much to my delight. However, Solomon quickly disabused me of said excitement with a novel that centered on race and class in a society that reverted to a time reminiscent of the plantation slavery south.
Aster is a woman who does not belong. Her overseers called her ugly, an ogre, and a monster. Her obsessive and brusque manners cause friction with even those she calls friends and family. And her ill-fated crush on her mentor, the ship’s top doctor, doesn’t help her either. But when her mentor, Theo Smith, invites her to help him autopsy the ship’s Sovereign, she discovers a surprising link between the sovereign’s death and her mother’s suicide decades previously. The link has disturbing consequences for the society as it exists and the future of life on board the HSS Matilda. But society, which resembles the antebellum South, will not budge as she tries to investigate, and her overseer holds a grudge. Can she envision a way off the ship, or will the grinding horror of the Matilda and its new sovereign hold her down?
Solomon offers a vivid portrayal of a future that has been thwarted. The HSS Matilda is a brutal caste society that is based on the enslavement of non-white and non-christian folks. The sovereign is dead, long live the new more sadistic sovereign as he tries to right the ship in how he sees fit. Aster’s mobility through the ship is hampered with daily and nightly roll calls, permission slips, and paper check points. Her large stature is both a shield and a magnet for the worst of the punishment, both verbal and physical. Life aboard the Matilda is harsh and unforgiving, but there are pockets of community and care amongst the downtrodden. Solomon doesn’t really dive into the lives of those who live in the upper decks, but we’re not supposed to see the juxtaposition. All that matters is that they have wealth and a power that is designed to grind down the dignity of those in the lower decks.
I really liked Aster as well. Her thought process was foreign to me despite her conclusions being agreeable. Solomon really focused on highlighting how Aster thought through things, giving you a sense of inhabiting her mind. Considering this is a debut novel, it’s really impressive how much I felt Aster’s presence. She was not an empty vessel to fill with thoughts of “slavery is wrong.” Instead, she was a single lens through which to dissect the society she lived in. Her best friend, along with the doctor, gave brief reprieves, while shifting the lens enough to realize that no matter how askew you try to look at the society they live in, it’s brutal in different ways. Aster’s anger at the situation, and her determination to escape it or destroy it feels justified within the novel itself. It isn’t just a knee jerk reaction based on current values.
Where it fits within the wider sub-genre An Unkindness of Ghosts is the kind of book I look for. It tries to imagine a different society than the one that supposedly built the ship. It starts in that society as well, portraying a life that only those born into would understand. Solomon doesn’t try to fuss with the timeline, and show the degradation of life into the antebellum south-adjacent structure the Matilda is. Instead, they accept that people in power would see it as highly advantageous for them and their goals of maintaining a form of stability and control. It doesn’t need narrative justification, all it needs is force. This is shown time and again through the narrative, and is even explored through the themes and plot. The mystery revolving around the death of the old sovereign and Aster’s mother is also centered around the power structure, even though it’s not a direct correlation.
If you want to continue this journey into the far reaches of space and the restructuring of society and have yet to read Solomon’s debut, I highly recommend you pick it up. An Unkindness of Ghosts is an unflattering look at how power structures can just exist without your input. It doesn’t need you to care about it, and it doesn’t really need you to accept it. It would feel slightly better if you acquiesced, but in the end, you’re just another spot to put their boot heel down.
Rating: An Unkindness of Ghosts – Read It and Let It Linger In Your Soul
-Alex
