Theory of Bastards
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4.1 • 18 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The Philip K. Dick Award–winning sci-fi novel: “A riveting page-turner” about the behavior of primates—human and otherwise—“in a very near and dire future” (The Washington Post).
Winner of the 2019 Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award for Speculative Fiction
One of The Washington Post’s 50 Notable Works of fiction in 2018
In a world where coastal cities flood, dust storms plague the Midwest, and implants connect humans directly to the Web, Dr. Francine Burk has broken new ground in the study of primate sexuality. While in recovery from a long-needed surgery—paid for with a portion of her McArthur “genius” award money—Frankie is offered placement at a prestigious research institute where she can verify her subversive scientific discovery: her Theory of Bastards.
Leaving Manhattan for a research campus outside Kansas City, Frankie finds that the bonobos she’s studying are complex, with distinct personalities. She comes to know them with the help of her research partner, a man with a complicated past and perhaps a place in her future. But when the entire campus is caught in a sudden emergency, the lines between subject and scientist—and between colleague and companion―begin to blur.
Audrey Schulman Award–winning novel explores the nuances of communication, the implications of unquestioned technological advancement, and the enduring power of love in a way that is essential and urgent in today’s world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Schulman's wonderful, intricate novel (following Three Weeks in December) is set in the palpably near future. When the superstar of the biological research world, 33-year-old Frankie Burke, joins the team at an ape foundation in the Midwest, she thinks things are finally falling into place. She has just undergone major surgery to eliminate the chronic pain from endometriosis she's suffered from since childhood, she is fresh off a MacArthur "genius grant," and she now has a fascinating group of bonobos to help test her wild new theory about evolution that women cheat on men because children born of extramarital affairs have evolutionary advantages. What she doesn't plan on is the arrival of a dust storm, which causes a power outage, rendering useless the technology that keeps the foundation functioning from the screens and cameras in the researchers' eyes to the 3-D printer that feeds the apes. She also doesn't plan on the closeness she develops with Stotts, her ex-military fellow researcher, or the relationships she will build with the creatures she cares for, or the harrowing journey they'll all have to take together out of the research station. Schulman's vision of the future is powerful and strange, but it is less a commentary on society's dependence on technology than a propulsive story rooted in a future that feels possible. The incorporation of research into the narrative is seamless, and the result is an astute, impeccable page-turner readers will savor.
