The Alex Crow

The Alex Crow

YA dystopia
YA and adult adult dystopia fans will find The Alex Crow to be
compelling and fascinating. Three story strands that would seem on
the surface to have nothing to do with each other are woven together
seamlessly and suspensefully.
Ariel thinks that his brain holds a library holds a library of
tragic stories. That would not be surprising. The only survivor of
an attack on his village, he has also spent nine months in a refugee
camp in an orphan's tent where bullying and rape were rampant.
Adopted into an American family, he and his new brother are spending a
summer at a very strange camp with a frightening psychologist doing
research on the campers.
In 1880 an ill fated sea expedition had become trapped in an ice
pack, being pulled inexorably away from their destination. Members
died from cold and starvation. A few made it to land and the home of
a Russian exile who extended gracious and life saving hospitality.
One day he showed them a monster frozen in ice, a grotesque human like
creature they decided to steal and deliver to civilization.
Leonard Fountain, also known as the melting man, due to his
advanced state of radiation sickness, drives a repurposed U-Haul truck
with a humungous bomb in the cargo area. He hears voices. Joseph
Stalin tells him what to do. A GPS like voice comments on his every
move. Other auditory and visual hallucinations come and go. He's a
man on a bizarre and very dangerous mission.
Like most good dystopias, The Alex Crow pushes current
technologies just a smidge further and looks at their implications. I
wouldn't be surprised if today's labs were trying to make the
fictional part come true. Anyway it's a very pertinent and engaging
read.
On a personal note, the UMaine branch of Amnesty International held a
letter writing party, providing pizza and popcorn for all who would
write on behalf of victims of serious injustice: a woman given a 30
year jail sentence for having a stillbirth, girls who would be in
middle school in America being forced into marriage, a family
disappearing, no justice for gay crime victims, a man in solitary
confinement 40 years for a crime he might not have committed... It
was a privilege to join a fine group of young people in this crucial
endeavor.
A great big shout out goes out to people involved at all levels of
Amnesty International. You're rock stars!
Julia Emily Hathaway


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