Effie Black
Auteur van In Defence of the Act
Werken van Effie Black
Tagged
Algemene kennis
Er zijn nog geen Algemene Kennis-gegevens over deze auteur. Je kunt helpen.
Leden
Besprekingen
Lijsten
Prijzen
Statistieken
- Werken
- 1
- Leden
- 16
- Populariteit
- #679,947
- Waardering
- 4.5
- Besprekingen
- 1
- ISBNs
- 1
The book’s protagonist, Jessica, is a researcher in evolutionary psychology who emerged from an abusive childhood with an idea that suicide is a beneficial evolutionary adaptation that increases the well-being of the suicide’s survivors. The seed of this theory was her abusive father’s suicide attempt when she was very young, and the first part of the novel details other situations from her life that she believes back up her theory (though as she also cynically notes, scientists often produce findings that only support their own prior beliefs; a very human tendency not just among scientists that is difficult for one to counter, of course).
On both the professional and personal level Jessica has what you might call an embrace of darkness, of pessimism about herself and a dubiousness of the value of life. She understandably then doesn’t want children and uses her partner’s desire to be a mother as a reason to split up despite them both being very much in love - something of a putting into practice her theory of suicides only on the plane of relationships.
Jamie will be better off without her, she thinks. Jamie can have children with a partner who wants them and thus pass on her genes. At least Jessica’s literal death isn’t required in this instance.
The deep break with all this comes about due to two events, the birth of her niece and, you guessed it, a suicide. Caring for a baby leads her to reevaluate her perspective on herself and beliefs. It can be hard to sustain a deep pessimism when regularly gazing into the face of an infant, hard to devalue life when regularly holding a new one in your arms, perhaps (evolution knows what it’s doing?).
The love surfaced by the baby’s birth changes her, and in combination with a shocking and traumatic suicide jolts her entire belief system.
It makes for a terrific debut novel - philosophical and displaying a hopeful journey from pessimism to a superior widely encompassing love. Which, of course, supports my prior beliefs, so I would say that…… (meer)