Review of Galapagos Regained by James Morrow

Megan at From Couch to Moon recently reviewed Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth’s The Space Merchants.  In the discussion that followed it was noted that satire may be a lost form of speculative fiction.  The most recent title I could think of was John Sladek’s wonderful Tik-Tok, but that was published in 1983.  (I’m aware Pratchett is writing satire, Making Money is brilliant in this regard, but it’s satire amongst a wide variety of humor—slapstick, situational, wordplay, etc.)  I’m happy to say I’ve discovered who is still writing not only satire, but exquisitely pointed satire. 

Possibly the last of his breed, James Morrow is going about the the mode with all the spirit of those before him—Tenn, Sheckley, Malzberg, Pohl, and Sladek among them—but with an attention to detail perhaps not yet seen.  Galapagos Regained (2015, St. Martin’s Press), Morrow’s most recent title, is not only a wonderful addition to literature, but likewise in the early running for best books of 2015 given the focus, execution, and ultimately, the quality.  Possessing Gaiman’s charm, Vonnegut’s wit, and a sense of esoteric erudition of Morrow’s own, it comes highly recommended.

Sidetracking into the novel, Charles Darwin is undoubtedly best known for his work Origin of the Species. It has been called a lot of things, which I won’t even attempt to rehash here, but suffice to say it is a book that changed, and is changing, fundamental ways the West views existence—society, culture, religion, philosophy the perspectives among them.  Significantly fewer people are aware, however, of Darwin’s previous work The Voyage of the Beagle.  Laying down much of the field work for Origin, it is an account of the lands and seas, people and cultures, flora and fauna Darwin encountered on a round-the-world trip he took 1831-1836 gathering research material.  The lion’s share of the trip spent in South America, a good chunk of that time was spent on the Galapagos Islands, a place where key elements of his theorizing on the origins of mankind derived from.  Morrow incorporates the islands in his plot, but instead of taking Chuck as his main character, sets a young woman hell-bent on earning the £10,000 prize of the Percy Bysshe Shelley Society for proving or disproving the existence of god center stage.

Galapagis Regained is the story Chloe Bathurst.  An out of work thespian, she gains employment on the estate of one Charles Darwin, tending his vivarium of rare lizards, birds, and tortoises.  Her father deep in debt and brother a card shark with dull teeth, Chloe becomes desperate to get her family back on a good path, and in a flash of inspiration decides to submit a manuscript on the transmutation of animals she has stolen from a drawer in Darwin’s desk to the Shelley Society who are offering the huge prize for the person can settle the age old question.  Putting her acting skills to use, she doesn’t win the contest but at least succeeds in convincing the Shelley committee to fund a voyage to Galapagos, and there to find the tree of life that will prove “her” theory.  A group of Christian extremists, when hearing of her plight, resolve to arrive ahead of her on the islands and kill all the animals.  Adventure, it’s safe to say, ensues, and it is most insightfully humorous.

Written in a most cutting, playful tone, I gave up quoting Galapagos Regained; the entire novel is quotable.  A smile continually kept playing at the corner of the lips (literally), the book possesses a sustained sophistication of wit and humor oh so rare to see these days in literature; Morrow is a man in complete control of his craft, in the lines and between them.

Not all style, Galapagos Regained is likewise full of substance—brimming, in fact.  The light-hearted tone wonderfully disguising a density of information, Morrow did his research.  From the jungle rebellions to Medieval Christian theosophy, Mendel’s work with plants to the philosophy of Schopenhauer, Peruvian slave history to the fauna of Galapagos itself, when one scrapes away the tongue-in-cheek presentation to see the actual content, there can be no disappointment.  Some of the characters may be found smoking hashish in a time-traveling hookah bar—Mendel andTeilhard among them—but there is no mistaking the underlying intent.

In the end, Galapagos Regained is a delightfully irreverent, discriminately penned, laugh-out-loud clever, wholly picaresque adventure that has Christian theism square in its cross-hairs, Darwin’s theory of evolution the loaded gun.  Drawing on interests as wide as Daniel Dennett’s Darwin’s Dangerous Idea to the poetry of Omar Khayyám, the style is pure enjoyment word to word, its substance as thought-provoking, idea to idea. Morrow on point from the first sentence, he satirizes Christianity as perhaps no one else writing currently can, at least that I know.  

*And do ignore the review on Strange Horizons. It was written by a person who, even if they do not like satire, does not possess the tools to recognize satire. For example, the criticism of the style of language.  Overblown prose is one of the key points making the novel such strong satire...  But I digress. I just expect more from Strange Horizons...