Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer.
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“I’m not an answer,” she said. “I’m a question.” She might also be a message incarnate, a signal in the flesh, even if she hadn’t yet figured out what story she was supposed to tell.
—page 37, Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer.
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Acceptance is the final book of the Southern Reach trilogy. Similar to both of its predecessors, it stands alone fairly well, although it provides (some) answers to questions raised in the first two novels (and some of its own).
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The narrative is an alternating mix of stories—(1) Saul, the lighthouse keeper; (2) Ghost Bird from Authority; (3) Control from Authority; and (4) the Director from Authority, who preceded Control, and is also the psychologist from Annihilation. These four stories are woven into a fabric that frames a short piece written by the biologist, the narrator of Annihilation—in essence a continuation of (and conclusion to?) her story.
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There are monsters here, although they are more familiar than one would first imagine. And, just as in the first two books, I kept thinking of Lovecraftian monsters they resemble, perhaps as distant cousins.
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And then there is Area X. What is it? Where is it? I still keep imagining Pripyat prior to the Chernobyl nuclear accident and Pripyat after. The exclusion zone. An area reclaimed (and in the process of being reclaimed) by nature. A simulation of nature that is slightly off.
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