Numerous are the science fiction novels
I have read, and numerous are the adjectives I’ve encountered describing them:
epic, imaginative, technically detailed, futuristic, visionary, even
breathtaking and humorous. But ‘gorgeously
dynamic’ is not one of them. Yet that is
precisely the phrase which comes to mind thinking upon Ian McDonald’s debut
novel, 1988’s Desolation Road. Unable to be anything but science fiction,
the novel is a beautiful imagined history of an outback Martian town that
springs slowly to life with each eccentric who comes to call the quaint hamlet
in the dunes home. Occupying a most
unique position in the genre, if anyone is looking for something vastly
different in science fiction, this is it.
Though undoubtedly influenced by The Martian Chronicles, the lines
between reality, science fiction and fantasy are rarely clear in Desolation Road. Following in the footsteps of Bradbury’s
collection, religious passion, personal crises, family feuds, government
interference, love, the intrusion of newer technology with time, social bonds,
commercial exploitation, and strife are inherent to the lives of the people of
the lonely railstop. The founding of Desolation Road, its golden years, and the
town’s eventual fade into the sands of the desert could be anywhere-civilized-Western
World. Each author’s novel touching in
its own way, McDonald’s is just more bombastic.
The story opens with one Dr. Alimintando
roaming the Martian desert following a green man who mysteriously appears and
reappears beside his campfire each night.
Eventually lead to a tiny desert oasis beside a lonely stretch of
railroad tracks, the doctor decides to start a new life, thinking the seclusion
will allow him to make sense of the theorems and hypotheses ricocheting around
in his mind. It isn’t long, however,
before a man on the run from assassins, Mr. Jericho, arrives on a pushcart and
in need of anonymous shelter. Thinking
nobody will ever find him at such a remote place, he too takes up
residence. Kicked off a passing train
for vagrancy, Ranjan Das, a transient who has the Midas touch with machinery,
likewise desires nothing more in life and settles into the town. And it isn’t long before two warring
families, a grandmother and grandson, a downed pilot, triplets, and a handful
of others fall upon the burgeoning locale to call it home. But what these people become in time,
individually and as a whole, is what imbues the story with beauty.
Utilizing the link between science
fiction and magic realism (perhaps the only author to locate and unearth this
territory), the narrative McDonald produces is, as stated, gorgeously dynamic. The fascinating turns of event, the flights
of imagination, the daring stylistics, and most importantly, the poignant
relation of it all to humanity, slip and slide mercurially, setting Desolation Road apart from the genre
crowd. And an eccentric existence it
is. Mars an amalgam of life, little is
recognizable in appearance, yet all remains familiar in structure—a testament
to McDonald’s insight into society. Adam
Black’s Traveling Chautauqua and Educational ‘Stravaganza, the Heart of
Lothiani Anael, Total Mortification, the mechanical angel, The Hand, industrial
feudalism, and all the other wild ideas burst like exotic flowers in the open
fields of the Martian mind.
Told in short viewpoint episodes of
evolving nature, Desolation Road is
not a standard A-B-C narrative. Two
generations of settlers eventually born and raised in the little town, the
story describes the tragedies and comedies and everything between of the
parents, children, and grandchildren who call Desolation Road home. There are a couple moments of excess, but it
is impossible to deny that the characters are drawn from familiar places in
society and touch real places in the heart.
The coming to awareness of Rael Jr., Limaal’s duel with the devil, Babooshka’s
quilt, the immaculate contraption, Ms. Tatterdemalion’s sons, even M’bote’s
single-minded desires have been plucked from the tapestry we call life. The heavens are called upon for rain, wars
are fought, vengeance is sought, solitude is explored, and, perhaps most
importantly, some very fundamental aspects of being human are exposited in
poignant fashion.
Throwing a handful of cherries on top of
these imaginative elements is McDonald’s ability to use what seems an esoteric
and obtuse narrative to present a relevant version of reality. The set pieces and plot devices may be wildly
creative, but beneath it all, following the story arc every step of the way, is
an analogy to the developments of humanity throughout history—not an analogy of
any specific time period of the past, rather a amalgamated overview. Granulizing the major events and presenting
them in all their beauty and ugliness, sci-fi is rarely so affecting. In the opening chapter, Dr. Alimantando
celebrates the founding of his new town: “Desolation
Road,” he slurred, drinking down the final glass of peapod wine. “You are
Desolation Road.” And Desolation Road it remained, even though Dr. Alimantando
realized when he sobered up that he had not meant Desolation Road at all, but
Destination Road.” All so often it
is the little, unpredictable things of life that creep in and add up to take
larger-than-life effect, leaving us unsure in hindsight whether to be regretful
or thankful.
In the end, Desolation Road is a rich, rewarding novel that occupies territory
of its own in science fiction. Like Bradbury’s
The Martian Chronicles and Gabriel
Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, it utilizes untamed creativity for literary purpose, wholly
succeeding in telling an imagined history that directly comments on the real
world with characters as genuine and colorful as those we meet in our daily
lives. The fact the story takes place on
a Mars where machines come to life, time can be twisted, and the air can
crackle with purple and blue static makes no difference; the realism is all
there beneath the sparkling surface. Desolation Road won’t be a novel for
everybody, I will only say that if you are looking for the literary side or
something wildly unique in the genre, this is it.
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