The Rest Is Silence

by Scott Fotheringham

Eco-terrorism and future shock in an epic tale that travels from New York to Nova Scotia. North Mountain, Nova Scotia. An unnamed hermit lives off the land. He tries to find love and community in this place he has decided to call home and to shake off the ghosts that haunt him. Even in his newfound domestic bliss he can’t let go of his past and starts to tell his story as a way to make sense of things. Manhattan. Benny is an ambitious graduate student, obsessed with the idea of destroying plastic waste. She is driven by a clear-eyed understanding of humanity’s failure to self-regulate. In this brave, new world, she creates bacteria that consume plastic, inadvertently creating shortages of everything from water to computers and dissolving hospital equipment, pacemakers, and shunts. In this exciting novel, full of unexpected twists and turns, the lives of Benny and the unnamed hermit come together in a dramatic climax.

Genres: Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Canada, Science Fiction, Dystopia

330 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[George Ilsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unusual and moving novel. Refreshing to read fiction written by someone who is not a product of the creative writing machine. That said, however, there is a fine line in fiction when adding convincing detail. Fotheringham crosses the line a couple of times, adding so much detail the scene is unimaginable. When one is doing something in a lab, the process needs to be described so that a person can glimpse it, but not in so much detail that another genetic engineer can reproduce the experiment. The line is crossed again in the science article epilog, which is easy to skip (although it does deflate the beauty of the ending).

The big reveal is something I had figured out from the hints. (How is it possible, I had asked myself, for both of these characters to have had fathers who died by drowning?). It did make me want to read the book again, this time knowing what I know now.

All in all, this novel is remarkable. For days now I've been thinking of a world without plastic, or a future where technology becomes out of control in unexpected ways.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

My bias is strong on this one because Scott is not only a dear friend, he was also part of my writing group for a time. I read an earlier draft of this book's opening and had some insider knowledge of events that for most readers would have been revealed much more slowly. Further to this, Scott and I share a similar worldview, and he deals with many of the same themes that consistently occupy me. So it's no surprise that I loved his book.

Having said all that, in as objective a tone as I can muster: this is a fabulous novel. The story is compelling, a page-turner, and rendered in direct, eloquent prose. The result is an unflinchingly honest heart breaker, which will profoundly resonate for anyone even remotely aware of what human beings are doing to the planet. The characters are fully realized and believable people. They are as imperfect as anyone you know, and we want them to be OK, ache when they are not. And for those of us who care, which I think is most of us, Scott captures the sadness of that knowledge in a way that will leave a haunting echo across Canada's literary landscape.

You should absolutely read this novel.

[Therese · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a rare and exceptional novel, and I would like to thank Goodreads First Reads for the opportunity to read it. Scott Fotheringham has united his PhD in genetics and molecular biology with an eloquent written flow of understanding our cumulative ecological, and psychological dystopic human condition. This novel reaches for and exposes a deep insight into who and what we are, what we seem to choose to be,and what we will and do leave behind without goodbye when we are gone; until the last voice is gone. There is much in this novel to facilitate deeper thinking for any and all of us who have not yet started an evolution beyond the day to day of our habitual and destructive existence, and who have not yet begun to destroy the "plastic" and the harm that we are responsible for.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

In an alternate present-day, an unnamed young man begins to carve out a subsistence living on a plot of land abandoned by loggers in the forested mountains of Nova Scotia. While food supplies dwindle because of plastic-eating bacteria unleashed in the world, devastating everything from medical equipment to debit cards to the plastic waste clogging the earth, he works the thin soil, plants food and sleeps in a tent.

Not completely isolated, he meets an oldish man called Art whose wife, Louise, lives in a retirement home because she has Alzheimer's. At Art's house he meets young, beautiful Lena, who comes to live with him on his mountain and names his land Forest Garden. To Art, and then Lena, he tells the story of Benny, a young woman living in New York who worked on the plastic-eating bacteria for her Ph.D thesis.

And at night he remembers, remembers growing up as a kid in Maine, going for camping trips in summer with his dad, and learning to skate on the ice rink his father created in the backyard. He recalls his mother leaving them and never returning, of his father slowly slipping into solitude and alcoholism until the day he died - accident or suicide? He is haunted by the ghost of his father and the unanswered questions of his life.

What do all these tales have in common? Where do they connect? It is in Fotheringham's beautiful, subtle prose that the threads are slowly woven together, creating a vivid world of survival, hope and young love. My one regret is that I didn't note any pages for quotes, but I will try to find the passages that spoke to me.

The story begins quietly and unobtrusively, just like the main character, our narrator. Throughout the novel, the peace and tranquility, the sounds and smells, of the untamed natural world are juxtaposed against the epitome of humankind's cleverness, our cities and inventions and drive to conquer. Benny's story in particular is a stark contrast to the present-day narrative, switching from growing potatoes and listening to the rain on the tent canvas to the noise, smog and frantic bustle of New York City, to Benny's life holed up in a research lab avoiding her chauvinistic and patronising boss, Leach. Yes, apt name isn't it?

As someone who loved reading the Silver Brumby books and other works of fiction that had such wealth of detail in the natural world and the day-to-day living in it, the details of the narrator's life weren't dull at all: they were both tranquil and energising, and absolutely fascinating. I come from a farm where we grew our own veg, and I'd like to live in the country again so I could do that once more. I was quite engrossed, learning what it would be like to live in a tent for more than a long weekend, eating what you grow along with some rice from the neighbours, and having to contend with no plumbing and wild animals. It is not only the natural world he is exploring and discovering, but that of people at their most elemental as well.

I actually would have liked more detail rather than less, but considering not everyone would be as interested as me, it was a nicely achieved balance. And in the background are little snippets of what is happening in the world because of the plastic-eating bacteria - a bacteria that certainly solves the problem of what to do with our billions of tonnes of plastic waste that will never break down, but causes more problems than it solves by rapidly reproducing and being easily transferable from one plastic to another, so that the IV drip in your arm melts, your pace-maker dies, your shoes dissolve. The interesting thing is that, while Benny is obsessed with getting rid of the world's plastic, her environmentalism isn't really what the story is about, but her humanity.

While it did take me a while to get into it, and I did find it hard to get a reading rhythm going (excellent prose has a rhythm to it, have you noticed?) due to some awkward sentences here and there, the story is cleverly, patiently crafted and by the time you get to the revelation, towards which the whole story has been gradually building (with a slow-burning tension edged with a hint of creepiness), you should be as thoroughly hooked as I was. There are clues throughout, making this a literary mystery novel of the kind that will keep you thinking, and while I figured it out in one way (or at least, it was one of my theories, despite the red herring), I would never have guessed at the truth because the story's so cleverly told - and for reasons of language. I would love to share my thoughts on this aspect of the novel, but even mentioning it would act like a big fat spoiler so I can't, in good conscience. I'm all about letting others experience a story as I did.

The other thing about this novel that made it slow at first was the characters: they are hard to get to know, no matter how many personal and intimate thoughts they share. But without even realising it, the narrator and Benny, in particular, came to be very real, and very ... necessary. It speaks to Fotheringham's subtlety that you start thinking of them - and treating them - as real people without even realising it. But perhaps because so much is withheld about the narrator - or some important points, anyway - some of his thoughts, actions and reactions can be irritatingly confusing. Later these details become clear, but because I wasn't expecting there to be any kind of mystery or secret, I didn't know these things were clues and hints. On a second reading, the story would be much more about the power of language and our propensity for - ugh, I can't say the word I really want to use, so I'll say "stereotyping" instead. That'll have to do.

The Rest is Silence is about many things essential to life and living: love, hatred, fear, hope, resilience, loyalty, perseverance and finding your place in the world. It's also about our place in the world in a larger context, an Us vs. Nature context. It's not a moralising story, and it's not a lecturing one. Through the medium of speculative fiction it presents a What If... scenario, and follows it through to a disturbing conclusion. Possibly, for some readers, the narrator's personal journey and revelation won't seem to connect much with the over-arching themes of the story and its environmental activism angle, but to me it's quite clear.

My thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book.

[Annie]

I am going to abstain from rating this one... Being married to the author does result in a slight bias!! Please read and rate it though, I think it's a fabulous novel.

[Barbara Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another book published by Goose Lane in New Brunswick, Canada. I discovered it by browsing their website.
This is an unusual read. It almost seemed like two separate stories.
The main story is told in first person by a young nameless man living in the woods on the North Mountain in Nova Scotia.
The alternating chapters are of an earlier time in New York City, a woman called Benny, and her development of a plastic eating bacteria.
He is telling the story and at times I wondered how he knew so much about her.
There is a lot about biology and chemistry and science parts hard to understand for the average person.
I was especially confused at one point in the story when Benny related how her father died and it was the same as our main characters father’s death. That was a bit confusing to me.
But the book gets even more strange and confusing in the last chapters when it takes a surprising, almost unbelievable turn, and ends up not being my favourite part of the book.
Life on the mountain seems very normal until you read these parts that pop up in the narration.
chapter 12: because there are so few computers left, nobody emails anymore except under urgent circumstances.
chapter 22: almost everyone has flaking skin, rashes, unexplained sores. The new diseases seem to come on faster, to be more intense, and they are more intractable to treat.
chapter 37: the reporter told of windshield wipers smearing slime trails of decomposing P ETE on the glass and eyeglass lenses melting like crayons left out in the sun.
At first it might seem simple to think about the world without plastic but in reality, it would be a nightmare because we depend on it for lots of useful things, not just disposable water bottles.
I’m not going to give away the ending because if you read this book, you definitely must experience it as it unfolds, and to find out if you come close to guessing the ending.

[Erin Hopkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and am grateful to the author Scott Fotheringham and Good Reads for sending it to me through the First Reads giveaways. This 4 stars is actaully more like a 4.5 stars, but we dont have half star options!

What I liked:

The character development. I think the best part about this book was getting to know the characters throughout the book. The way their backgrounds were woven into the story and the relationships between all the characters was stunning. This book truely revolves around the characters and relationships, i didnt feel like i was reading a novel where the characters were created solely to fit the story-line, i really felt like i was reading their story which is rare.

The "biological disaster" (for lack of a better term) that the story revolves areound was chillingly realistic. By using his background in molecular biology the author creates a realistic situation that makes the novel that much more evocative. The disaster was created out of an act of environmental activism by one of the characters and as more and more was revealed about the characters, and the intricacies of the story were unwoven, i found myself understanding why and truely feeling for the character.

The theme of grief and death (of family and friends) is woven throughout and I think is excellent. I found these parts moving and (perhaps due to my own experiences)felt more connected to the characters.

I think my favorite quote is "We won't survive. That's no reason to stop trying though, no reason to stop caring. There's nothing else we can do." The fact is everyday we do things that a destroying our world and we will destroy ourselves. We are not willing to give up the conveniences we are used to to make the drastic changes necessary. But that doesnt mean we shouldn't stop trying. Little things can help. Many scientific discoveries only make things worse but some do help. I think this story, even in its most nihilistic parts, is a story of hope.

What I didnt like:

I found some of the science parts hard to understand as they are a bit beyond the limited biology and chemistry that I took years ago in high school. However I did get the gist of what it meant and what was going on in terms of the story line.

[Bookworm Adventure Girl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book through the giveaways and was first drawn to it because it is Canadian.
It is unlike any other book I have read. It is clear from the beginning that the author has something to say about our world and what we are doing to our environment. The characters deal with many themes besides this, some taking me by surprise.
The main character leads us through a couple of different stories and as the stories unfold we learn more about why he has come to Nova Scotia, to live almost as a hermit.

[Sarah]

Excited to read this. The last post-apocalyptic novel I read was a disappointment, so I'm hoping this will remedy that situation. Thanks to Scott Fotheringham and the First Reads program for sending this over!

[Chloe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written and made me think about how one's social belief could make the world a better place. This novel is apocalyptic, and beautifully atmospheric. Rated 3 stars because I found myself bored in some chapters, and very hard to become engaged in the story in the beginning. I love how the book references Nova Scotia. The plot is complex and the twist at the end is unpredictable. Overall a good read.

[Lianne Burwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Rest is Silence is a novel from a small East Coast Canadian publisher, that to be honest, I'd never heard of before. If the rest of their books are similar quality, I will have to check them out.

This book falls into the category of slow apocalypse, or soft apocalypse, written in the first person from the point of view of a man who has bought land in the backwoods of Nova Scotia, and is now living in a tent and trying to eke out a living from this land. But between his battles with mosquitos and the weather and falling in love with a woman named Lina, there are hints about a larger problem on the horizon. Mainly that something is affecting plastic, which will have huge impact on everything, since food comes packaged in plastics, computers are using plastic, etc. There are touches about how companies are trying to come up with new plastics that are immune to whatever microbe is eating them. As well, there is talk about how more frequent pandemics are happening

This ties in with the periodic bits where he is telling about Benny, a grad student who is hunting for a microbe that will eat plastic to save the planet. She's focused on her work, but also torn between Leroy, who is in love with her, and Rachel, who she fell in love with.

The use of language is interesting in this book. The protagonist's sections are in first person, present tense. Benny's sections are in third person past tense, which will leave you wondering how it ties back to the protagonist. Even though modern writing has left me always looking for the twist, this book honestly surprised me at times.

Definitely a book worth tracking down, and a great book for a read on a lazy summer day.

[Josie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book through Goodreads First Reads giveaways.
This book successfully marrys detailed science with deep character development and in doing so Scott Fotheringham did something that many authors shoot for but miss. The characters grabbed my attention and my heart from the beginning and every day I looked forward to finding out more about my new friends. As someone who appreciates science I admired the detailed use of science in this novel. I know some people will find the science parts too esoteric to follow but I think they add to the book rather than detract from it.
I highly recommend this book to fans of dystopia novels but also to readers who revel in character development. I'll admit I was surprized near the end (I won't include a spoiler here) but as a result I'm going to re-read the book with the knowledge of the end to see how it changes how I view the main character's story.

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book until the last few chapters where I felt the author stepped down from the excellent prose of character studies and profound contemplation of the state of the earth and our part in it as humans that he had established and instead went for the "big reveal" that was unsuccessful for me because it was neither a surprise nor necessary as a surprise in terms of the impact of the novel. I can't be more specific without spoilers, so I'll leave it at that. And I felt that the origins and implications of the obsession with plastic on the part of one of the main characters was left unclear and unresolved.

But the writing itself is concrete and poetic at the same time, the characters are mostly well realized, and the issues addressed are well worth exploring. So I'm glad to have read it and give it 4 out of 5 stars.

[Galactic Hero · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise is interesting enough: plastic-eating bacteria are out of control which is devastating to modern plastic-dependent life. Now what about the story? Oh it's mostly some mopey dopey guy living in the forest trying to wax poetic about the state of the world and reminiscing about his dad and with his old neighbour and talking about his tent and feeling isolated and *SNORE*.

Wish I could have gotten further into it then I did. But even if/when the plot does kick in Fotheringham just seems to take his mediocre-at-best writing too seriously for me to ever enjoy.

Being set in Nova Scotia was pretty cool though!

[Ronan O'Driscoll · Rating 3 out of 5]

It would be easy to be too critical of this book. It makes a number of first novel mistakes. Where it works, however, it works well. Of course, there is the interest of reading a book set where you live. Beyond that, Fotheringham has a real feel for nature descriptions and his pacing is good. Some of the prose is a bit purple but the simpler pleasures of living in the woods are related well. The sci-fi/environmentalism aspect is ultimately not what the book is really about. The key to the book is the narrator coming to terms with their past and sexuality. Notice I said their...

[Jane · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought this would be an environmental survivalist story and for the first 200 pages or so, it was. Then it got weird and the focus seemed to change and wasn't interesting to me. I would not recommend this book.

[Scott Fotheringham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't really say, can I?

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoying a most excellent summer read.

[Clare]

HS to review @ www.GoodReadingGuide.com

[Marissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book lacking in a lot of ways, which is too bad because I think it contained some interesting ideas. There were two separate stories here that could have been great on their own - the author should have focused on either the environmental aspects of the story or the genetic. I understand these things exist in the same realm, but I think the story could have been much more impactful if it were about Benny discovering her genetic make-up or if it were about her personal plight to save the world from plastic.

There were also some things I just couldn't get past. The author goes into way too much detail about the scientific experiments. This is a difficult thing to write about - balancing between making it believable but also not getting bogged down by jargon and processes. But the latter was definitely the case here.

As well, there was far too much "telling" rather than "showing" closer to the end of the book. The narrator spent a lot of time preaching to the reader, giving her thoughts about life and the world. This creates the impression that it is the author who is really just trying to get their message/worldview across and took away from the experience of reading about fictional characters.

I did think it was interesting that I had an inkling on the first page of the book that the main character was a girl. When the first "he" pronoun was used I was confused because I thought the main character was female. I think this was mainly due to the use of the passive voice - it just sounded very feminine to me. Once the hints starting coming in later I very quickly caught on to the fact that Benny and the protagonist were one in the same. I wonder if this was the author's reason for using the passive voice or if that is just his writing style. Unfortunately this meant I was a lot less impressed by the twist. Again I think it would have been much more interesting if Benny were learning about her genetic make-up along with the readers and we were getting her real-time reaction, rather than hearing a re-telling of it.

[Maddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

Initially, this book had a strong start I was very interested in it and was excited to read more. By the end I was glad it was over and was not satisfied.

My biggest complaint is the unfufillment of the story. There was no purpose. Sometimes that is the point of novels, to have no purpose. But this novel clearly had a purpose and a plot and it felt like it was going somewhere but by the end absolutely nothing had changed. No characters developed, I did not gain anything from reading it, and the entire point of the novel itself changed.

The last 20 pages is just rambles about how the world is ending but oh well. Also there was inconsistency in the writing and the story often felt like it didn't know where it was going.

The twist was way to obvious and felt unnecessary, not every novel needs a twist I feel like it would have been better to remove the concept of a twist and just make the reader aware of what they are reading.

The lack of plastic served nothing to the plot. The exact same story could have been told in any other setting so that was an interesting choice. It could have focused only on Benny's genetic condition rather then her obsession with ridding the world of plastic.

The book is also not accessible to understand for the regular reader. Benny's chapters are extremely science heavy and it was rough reading them. I did not understand anything and did not want to take the time to Google 20 different scientific terms to attempt to understand what I am reading. Obviously, science in a novel is alright. But the Benny chapters went on and on about her pseudomas (I probably didn't even spell that right) and I don't understand why that is necessary. Sure, give us some detail into Benny's experiments, but multiple chapters? No thank you.

A lot of parts just felt like an excuse for prose, the author has lovely writing but a lot of it felt unnecessary.

It was not a terrible novel but it definitely could've benefited from some improvements.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book for my role as an ambassador for Digitally Lit.

This book is both a guidebook for apocalyptic survival and a love letter to Nova Scotia. It's also a story about living authentically and moving on from the past.

Catastrophe has hit the world in the form of a genetically modified bacteria that digests plastic. Hospitals, cars, computers, and more all succumb to this fast-spreading bacteria. Alone, in the backwoods of Nova Scotia, a man has withdrawn from the world and is living off the land.

I really liked the back-and-forth nature of the book, between the present in Nova Scotia and the previous years in New York. The story was compelling and cohesive, and serves as a warning for the fleeting way of life we take for granted.

I also appreciate all the science behind the bacteria included in the book. The author himself is a research scientist so I trust that it was all scientifically correct!

[Rachel Robbins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book. I read this for an English course and kept a journal while reading. Starts off slow but has a crazy twist. Totally recommend. Set in Nova Scotia so that is also very cool!!

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book at an event where the author was signing it, many years ago. Then I somehow misplaced it. I found it again a couple of years ago, but didn't pick it up until recently, which actually kind of worked with the Oppenheimer references. I liked it - I was sort of bracing for a maudlin single-character monologue, so I was happy for the supporting characters and the chapters that took place in the past. I enjoyed the writing and the descriptions of learning to live off the land. The 'twist' was telegraphed from a mile away and is the kind of thing I'm finding wearying at this point, but was only unnecessary, not damaging.

[Derek Newman-Stille · Rating 5 out of 5]

Memories are a significant part of our experience, particularly when things are changing rapidly. Scott Fotheringham’s "The Rest is Silence" is a novel about rapid changes – personal, social, and environmental. Two narratives intertwine in this novel: that of a man in the Nova Scotia woods who has learned to live off of the land and an earlier narrative of a woman who is obsessed with getting rid of plastic from the world. She eventually succeeded and the man in the Nova Scotia woods is coping with the impact of that decision. The future is one in which a bacteria is consuming all plastic and the world is struggling as things are rapidly changing. Scott Fotheringham invites his readers to look at how dependent we have become on plastic and how many uses we have put plastic to in our basic, everyday life from the plastic on electric wires to the plastic covering our food, we live with plastic in every part of our day. Environmental patterns change, and even behavioural patterns change as characters are required to shift their daily activities and the way they interact with the world. Computers are now rare, and even telephone lines can be dodgy.

Characters in both narratives alternate between a desire to share memory and also a need for secrecy. Memory is both experienced and simultaneously hidden and also run from. Memory becomes like a weight holding them down, demanding to be voiced no matter how much they desire to run from it.

To check out a more detailled version of this review, visit Speculating Canada at http://speculatingcanada.wordpress.co...

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read, the authors first novel. Nice to be reading an emerging Canadian author. It is a story about relationships - beginning and ending - with lots of questioning of the characters about death, especially the death of loved ones.

It is a story that takes place in nature, between Nova Scotia, Maine and New York.

The author has a PhD in molecular biology so I learned a few things (as much as I could take in) about this subject while reading.

Most of the story takes place out in nature and the descriptions are wonderful.

Towards the end of the book there are some twists and turns and some revelations that are interesting and tie back to earlier hints of what could come towards the end.

I really feel that I was able to get to know the author behind this book by reading it - it felt like much personal thought is revealed in the telling.

[Deodand · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I found this book to be pleasingly original, covering subjects that fiction doesn't usually tackle. I had some minor problems with the character development, though. Wouldn't a person who has studied plastic so intensely, over the course of decades, recognize that it has its place in saving and improving lives? I feel like a molecular biologist would have a better view of the unexpected consequences of their actions on a large scale. Perhaps the protagonists' other problems were obscuring the view of reality.

As for the twist in this book, which I won't reveal - I figured it out fairly early, but it didn't impede my enjoyment.

[Sean Maguire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engaging and compelling and dark. Surprisingly enjoyable, for Can-Lit. And I almost know the author!

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh!! I just couldn't finish it....

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was intense! Thought provoking, unusual read.