In the film business, Mat Johnson’s Invisible Things would be called a story with a “high concept.” The first expedition to Jupiter discovers a city on Europa protected by a force field. The city, called New Roanoke, is inhabited by the victims of alien abduction and their descendants. They worship their unseen alien abductors and have developed strong cultural taboos around them. When a rescue ship finally arrives, it finds that not all of the original crew want to go home and that even the word home is taboo in New Roanoke. New Roanoke is not Tralfamadore, but Invisible Things is a satire that owes a lot to the satire of Kurt Vonnegut, Samuel Delany, and Philip K. Dick. Societies on Europa and Earth are deeply divided and exhibit a pathological unwillingness to face facts. Sound familiar? Johnson writes well and creates characters who think about the world and their place in it. ( )

The story starts from two places; a research space vessel on its way to Jupiter, and on the Earth. On the spaceship we have researchers who are treated poorly by the Bob’s, who are their more affluent, straight white colleagues. On Earth, we follow a very affluent man’s chauffeur, who’s just waiting for his mom to finally croak, so he can live the life he thinks he deserves with his estranged wife (that he suspects has been abducted by aliens). Both of these storylines collide on Jupiter’s moon Europa, where a small, very average American city seems to be prospering under very traditional, patriarchal rule.

This book is loud. It’s an allegory of our current society, particularly from the point of view of the United States. This book is technically science fiction, but not really. It’s a story where there’s a city, and in the city there are people, and the people are complacent, and they know their place. There are also Invisible Things, which in this story are literal invisible forces that effectively annihilate anyone who so much as acknowledge their existence. No one knows what they are, exactly, but everyone knows not to talk about them, and to not step out of line.

In this town, to be comfortable is the goal, and you get to be comfortable by staying in your lane, and by obeying the people in charge. Which is to say, the rich white straight guys. The people who get into positions of power are the opportunistic weasels who know how to look out for number one without any consideration for others, and who know not to ask too many questions. Oh, and if you happen to fall down the cracks, then you’re on your own, living where the wealthy wouldn’t dream of going.

The plot revolves around an attempt to do good for the whole colony (to help them get back to Earth), which is actively being hindered by the 1%, who just want to repurpose the resources for their personal gain in order to maintain the status quo.

This book isn’t subtle, but it’s definitely not trying to be, either. On the whole a pretty entertaining read. ( )

At turns entertaining and frustrating, with an intriguing setup that ultimately left me disappointed. Though I did find the satirical depiction of state-run propaganda media amusing, the tone and narration of those sections was quite annoying and tedious. And the ending, with nothing really explained, fell completely flat for me. ( )

I classified this novel as science fiction, mostly because of the space travel and exploration involved. But really it is a well constructed parody of our political, sociological, economic times. The mentioning of In-N-Out Burger in the text was most appreciated. Often, I laughed out loud at the absurdity of the situations depicted, much like real life absurdities we are living in. I wonder if the author was inspired by the Twilight Zone episode, Stopover in a Quiet Town. The synopsis can be found in Wikipedia. I don't want to give too much away. ( )

Other than a couple of short sections, I found this quite a page turner and was dying to know how it ends. No, I’m not telling ! ( )