World-building lecture time!

World-building, my friends, is the bread and butter of science fiction.



I refuse to believe that only Americans exist in this world.

I also refuse to believe only wealthy Americans exist in this world.

This is the world of Wither. The first is intended, the second is an implication.

For you see, there's a little thing that a writer should take notice when considering writing a dystopia or science fiction work.

It's called class consciousness.

Classicism, poverty, and non-privileged people exist. The third world exists. Developing countries exist. Countries other than America exist. They should and must be considered in your vision of the future.

Let me explain why this is important and what it has to do with Wither.

Even if scientists somehow "perfected" the human being via genetic engineering 50 to 100 years from now (and I won't even touch the science aspect of the story), there is one small fact that needs to be considered:

Gene therapy is expensive.

Only the wealthiest individuals in industrialized countries would be able splice and replace their unborn children's genes. Genetic therapy, this early in time, would be a privilege.

The huge populations of people living in rural societies would have little to no access to gene therapy, especially if such therapy is a privilege.

Most middle-and working-class Americans could never afford the therapy.

Economic reasons aside, this is also considering that altering our genes would become acceptable and normal in 70 year's time.

Using gene therapy to "perfect" humanity is (arguably) a form of modern eugenics. It would require special ethical, philosophical, social, and religious considerations from scientists, doctors, bioethicists, and religious leaders. After all, what is an "imperfection?" What kinds of traits do we weed out once we have determined what is imperfection? What do we consider a disease? Genetic engineering in humans would be a huge controversy not only in American society, but most every society.

Considering how controversial such an operation would be, I imagine a sizable population of people in this world (if not most of them) would not be genetically modified at all (either for economic, philosophical, religious, or social reasons).

All things considered, in an industrialized nation like America, I can imagine the genetically modified population would be small.

In a developing nation, I can imagine the genetically modified population would be minuscule, if not non-existent.

So how is it that every single person in Wither is genetically modified?

These facts make the entire point of Wither (the extinction of humanity because everyone has been modified to die young) moot.

Let's talk a bit about developing nations.

I understand the premise is that only America survived, but it's simply not feasible. Consider China, India, and most of the African continent. Consider the mountains along the Pacific coast, places with mountains and highlands -- places that, even given global flooding, would still exist. Even if you could create bombs that could break up the entire world, why would only North America exist?

Did America simply bomb everybody else around them, until the entire continent was surrounded in the rubble of other countries?

Also, why would New York or Florida exist (the two settings mentioned in the novel) if both are so close to sea level?



We are told thousands of small, inhabitable islands exist in this world. Still, I cannot believe that the billions of people in the most mountainous countries wouldn't find some way to escape, or find some islands to live on in small communities. Thousands of years ago, ancient peoples boated across entire oceans to tiny little islands - and they survived! And they still exist today!

Let's go back to economics. Or rather, let's talk about trade.

In Wither, the characters are seen eating strawberries and candies and desserts. They're considered opulent, but if one considers the world we're given, I'll explain why having access to these sorts of goods would be almost impossible.

Where do the crops come from? Most of American agriculture takes place in places like California and the Midwest. The Midwest is closer to sea level than much of the US, especially around the Mississippi - it would undoubtedly flood, meaning finding fertile places to grow wheat, corn, etc. would be difficult. China, which also doesn't exist in Wither, is also a huge exporter of corn, soy and wheat. Common day foods that exist in this world (genetically modified or not) would be near impossible to grow.

How is America existing as it is, without the support of other countries, for their resources, labor and trade? How do the sister wives suck on all those candies on their silk(import of India) sheets without the world's biggest sugar suppliers (import of EU and India)? Even if America did grow every single one of its own crops to the poor cities, where do they get the gasoline to fuel their cars? How do they build new cars?

Where do they get raw materials? Do they salvage the materials from the old cities under the surface? Where do they get gas to run their cars? The guns and ammo? The power to heat and light their houses? Where do these things come from?

If New York still exists as an industrialized city, how have they lost all communication with the outside world? Radios, computers, phones, satellites should still exist, shouldn't they? They didn't simply stop existing, did they? Shouldn't the wealthy at least have them?

In terms of labor, considering that the population is made up of young people, how would you maintain a stable, growing workforce of skilled laborers? How do you find the resources (and time) to train laborers if anybody of mentor age would be sick or dead?

The industrialized state of America we see here is simply unfeasible.

Furthermore, genetic engineering requires advanced technologies and labs that require materials that would not be commonplace or inexpensive. The raw materials themselves have to be mined out of places in the Middle East or Africa, but we are told these places don't exist either.

Also, one final thing: it is important to consider how and why social and religious beliefs change over time.

Wither doesn't take place that far into the future. A hundred years at the most. Still, I can't imagine something like polygamy, even given the drastic world situation, ever becoming normalized or mainstream in American culture. We are a monogamous, Christian-influenced culture, and many Americans consider polygamy as barbaric or cult-like.

It would make sense if polygamy was mandated by the government/church/some other power, although we do not see much of this organized governmental terror outside of the Housemasters and Gatherers (I am still not entirely clear as to what these roles mean and their exact function in this society). Or, it would make sense if the story take place in a culture/country (or even a cult!) where polygamy was once common, so it's more of a step back to traditional ways.

Beyond all the world-building issues, however, I enjoyed DeStefano's writing -- she has some beautiful, thoughtful imagery that would make me stop and ponder. I even marked pages where I loved a certain passage. I enjoyed the dynamic between the sisterwives, and I even liked Linden in a strange and fascinated sort of way, but I like gray characters and reading about their distasteful situations.

3.5 stars, despite my rantings, and mostly for the beautiful writing and keeping me up through the night.