Jungle House

by Julianne Pachico

Lena has always lived in the jungle with Mother. There they look after a holiday home in surroundings that burst with colour and crawl with danger. Lena's only other friend is Isabella, who once visited regularly with her wealthy parents and security drone, Anton. But Isabella and her family haven't been seen in years.

Mother is not like other mothers. She gets angry when Lena draws her with a face. When Lena challenges her to portray herself, she paints a tiny yellow dot surrounded by swirling black. She is a bastion of light, she says, against an army of darkness.

Outside, rebels are fighting to take over the country. Mother is determined nothing will change inside the security fence, nothing to threaten her bond with Lena, or endanger the family. But there are secrets that need to emerge. How did Lena end up here? And what has happened to the family who no longer visit? What has Mother been planning, and what is gathering around them to change their lives forever?

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Dystopia, Adult, Speculative Fiction, Contemporary, Novels

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2023

About the author

Julianne Pachico was born in 1985 in Cambridge, England. She grew up in Cali, Colombia, where her parents worked in international development as agricultural social scientists.

In 2004 she moved to Portland, Oregon, where she completed her B.A. at Reed College in Comparative Literature. In 2012 she returned to England in order to complete her M.A. in Prose Fiction at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, where she was a recipient of UEA's Creative Writing International Scholarship.

She is currently completing her PhD in Creative and Critical Writing at UEA on a fully funded fellowship. She had a short story on the long list for the Sunday Times Prize, and is also the only writer to have two stories in the 2015 anthology of the Best British Short Stories. Her short stories have been published by The New Yorker, Lighthouse, Litro, Shooter Literary Magazine and Newwriting.net, among others. She holds dual citizenship in the U.S. and the U.K.

Reviews

[Quill&Queer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a strange story of Lena, a human woman, living in the jungle under the care of a sentient, AI house. The house itself has the personality of everyone's narcissist boomer mom, and over the course of the story you can see how the house's thoughts and opinions are so deeply ingrained in Lena as she tries to forge her own future.

There was one scene in this bizarre story that I almost saw coming, but was so sudden it threw me to the point where I quietly whispered What The Fuck to myself and put the book down. The main character in this story is human, and there's a flying drone... AI thing... and well. That scene was WEIRD and there was assault vibes.

Overall this story is very Black Mirror vibes, and it's interesting, I just wish I had left feeling like it went anywhere, or that I had learnt anything about the world Lena lived in. The story would have done well on a grander scale than the author was willing to write, and I would have loved to have seen Lena leave the house and take us with her out of the jungle.

[Charles Edwards-Freshwater · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am completely blown away by how much I enjoyed this.

A fascinating exploration AI, mother-daughter bonds, the wealth divide and more. There's so much heart in this, and despite the general story being unsettling, shocking and generally quite morose, the sentimentality of the machines, their feelings and what this could mean for the future is really very beautifully explored.

I think, actually, that's what I loved most about this - how truly tangible it is. We're really not too far away from a future like this (in my opinion) and we're already at the stage where even our fridges and microwaves implement AI to some level. What happens when these objects begin to feel, to lie, to have their own agenda? I'm sort of haunted by the idea and yet fascinated all the same, and Jungle House is a perfect glimpse into a possible step along our current path.

Definitely one of my favourite reads of the year by far!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lena has been brought up by Mother, the AI caretaker of a wealthy family's vacation house in the jungle. Now the family have been gone for several years and Lena, now a young adult, is running increasingly wild, restrained only by Mother and a friendly security drone. AI here supplies the humanity that humans increasingly lack: Mother is fussy, overprotective and manipulative, but she loves Lena, unlike the owners of the property, who only saw her as a resource to keep their daughter company. The relationships between various forms of AI are also great fun: 'Like the helicopter, Mother also loved to gossip, particularly about the satellites and their countless dramas. The treacherous one who abruptly left his orbit and headed to Mars; the weirdo who'd been obsessively watching the same glacier for years'. Nevertheless, Lena longs for physical experience and embodied touch, especially after the harrowing loss of a stray pit bull she'd made into a pet (big content warning for those who, like me, struggle with dogs in pain). I love the ideas Julianne Pachico plays with in Jungle House, and how she resists ever giving Lena a simple choice to make. The non-linear structure of the narrative reduces its emotional impact, and I think a straightforward telling would have made me feel more for Lena. Nevertheless, the AI characters made this novel; how can you not like a book that is partly narrated by cheerful cleaning robots, a self-sacrificial drone and a lonely maternal control centre?

The Anthill remains my favourite Pachico because of the way it integrates complex characterisation with wider geopolitical and ethical questions and a touch of horror (interestingly, with a protagonist called Lina - surely this must be a deliberate choice by Pachico?), but Jungle House is also a hit.

[William Bradbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really makes you think 🤔 ending was a bit rushed imo but a really fun and conceptual book

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely incredible!! I devoured in an intense 2-day reading binge while at a bachelor's party at a beach (it was *that* unputdownable!). A powerful tale of humanity, feminity, class, and motherhood. The best yet and I've been reading Julianne Pachico since I was FIVE 😅

[Lauryn Keller · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars not my usual thing but enjoyable!!

[Mitsy_Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

“What did I just read?” is my reaction when I finished the story. The story is unique and the writing is compelling. It was hard to put it down. The futuristic world Lena lives was revealed little by little. Mainly through Lena’s POV, but important information come from AIs she lives with. There are twists and turns throughout the book especially the last third of the book.

When you think of literary sci-fi, you’d think of Kazuo Ishiguro, but I must say this book reads very differently. The focus is more on the mystery rather than questions on humanity the way Ishiguro does. While this book does provoke thoughts on where this world is heading in the future and what it means to be a human, I was more drawn to the mystery than philosophical questions. But at the end of the day, this is a story about a orphaned human girl raised by AI Mother and staff of a guest house in a jungle who feel strange attachment to the AIs but still wanting to find a place in the world as a human, to belong to the natural world.

The author’s writing is very compelling with great characterisation that help you understand the relationships Lena has with each AI. Her relationship with Mother is the real focus and very compex, but so is her relationship with the drone in a different ways.

Highly recommend this to not only sci-fi fans but to anyone looking for an unique read that keeps you on your toes and suprises you!

4-4.5 ⭐️

[Daniella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I hyped this up way too much for myself, and it wasn't quite what I expected it to be.

I wanted a bit more creeping dread/horror but you knew from the beginning things weren't right with Jungle House, and it didn't really take off from there. It just felt very flat/one-note, and while there were elements I liked especially our protagonist, I was a bit disappointed.

I think this could have gone deeper into the manipulative nature of their relationship, and would have liked to see a bit more of this progression as we already go into the story with the protagonist not trusting Jungle House because of events revealed to us later in the book. All the elements were there, it just didn't quite go far enough.

[Méli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting concepts that never truly landed or connected with me unfortunately
people who don't read much SF might appreciate this one

[Hayleigh McCullough · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished this in 1 sitting/day and that’s always a great sign! A perfect length and so easy to immerse into. For a story about AI it’s incredibly human. This was such a great blend of thriller/mystery with a sprinkle of sci fi (my favourite genre). Would highly recommend - perfect for anyone wanting to dip their toes into sci fi as well.

[Verity Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I devoured this clever, moving story about all of us and our relationships with our caregivers. It will stay with me.

[Tantravahi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic visuals. Makes you question a LOT about selfhood, human bodies, memories v. the subconscious, nature, where we're headed. The language is easy, and paints quite a picture. If I have any complaints, it is that towards the end, the quality of writing starts tapering down and it resembles a YA novel.

[El Ea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting themes relating to technology and AI & whether AI have FEELINGS just like us 😭😤😡🥹 However none of these themes were interestingly explored and most of all this book was just BORING as fook

[Judith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read. Really enjoyed it. Great story and well-written. Highly recommended!

[Eleanor]

When I was on the Sunday Times/PFD Young Writer of the Year Award shadow panel in 2017, Pachico’s brilliant linked story collection The Lucky Ones was our winner. (The official award went to Sally Rooney’s Conversations With Friends.) I still need to read her second book, The Anthill (2020); this is her third, a super-compelling, readable and well-written exploration of AI personhood. Here, the AI takes the form of a smart house that raises a human child in what appears to be the Central or South American jungle (country never specified, but the names and the references to “rebels” and environmental devastation suggested that area of the world, to me). Lena is in her early 20s, a human caretaker of Jungle House, to whom she refers—never within the hearing of the owners, Mr. and Mrs. Morel—as Mother. She doesn’t know where she came from or who her actual parents were; Mother’s security logs are conveniently blank on the relevant date and time. Jungle House is very good on the class implications of making anything sentient a service provider. Anton the security drone’s relationship to Isabella, the Morels’ daughter, is particularly telling in this regard, but it becomes increasingly clear to the reader that Lena, too, is treated like a droid by her employers. The overarching plot is not very surprising: there’s only so many trajectories that this kind of story can offer. Fundamentally it’s a coming-of-age story about the necessity of leaving home, both physically and spiritually. But Pachico’s project isn’t to surprise us; it’s to expand our fundamental understanding of what emotional experiences are, and who can have them. Source: loca library #LoveYourLibrary

[sona · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved this ! this was fascinating in premise and execution, the worldbuilding and hints at the politics and tech in the time were subtle but so good and i wanted to understand more of the place we were in. all of the characters — even the robots + AI — had depth and interesting motivations and i loved the slow unravelling of backstories through the book: Lena’s history, what happened to the Morels, how Jungle House came to be. i was shoooook by the sudden switch of perspectives mid-way through the book, and the emotional punch of the reveal towards the end really got me. wtf. devastating.

kinda interesting how the human vs robot/AI characters were written, as im not sure if we are meant to feel more for the sentient AI than the people? a real question of what defines humanity and self i think

haven’t read anything like this before and this is a side of sci-fi that i would love to read more of — a little fantastical but an interesting exploration of motherhood and the use of tech to fulfil roles in our lives

[BOOK FACE Gungahlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed by Jess.
Science fiction. Artificial intelligence. Coming of age. Atmospheric.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a surprisingly nail biting read.
In a way, it’s like a futuristic version of Tarzan where Tarzan gets raised in the jungle by non-humans with hardly any contact to other people, but the non-human is an AI system. Lena has lived with a rich family’s smart house since she was a baby (now that’s a new sentence!) and is now a caretaker/ domestic slave with no contact to the outside world except for the few times over the years when the family comes to visit. The human characters, including Lena, are very shallow and thinly sketched - on purpose I reckon - while the various AIs have complex, contradictory emotions and their own plans and thoughts. There’s “Mother” the titular jungle house, Anton the depressed security drone, two mute housekeeping robots, an abandoned senile smart house, and various satellites who obsessively watch a particular polar bear or become catholic.

We never leave the jungle property where Lena and her AI mother reside; slowly, slowly their backstories and secrets are revealed. How did Lena come to be raised by the AI? What’s up with the disappearance of the rich family’s daughter? What’s the security drone’s role in all this? What is the satellites’ big plan that constantly gets hinted at? I’ll admit, I didn’t see any of the reveals coming and all except for one hit really deep (the big satellite conspiracy was kinda nonsensical).

There were a few things I was going to complain about, but really, it didn’t take away from the overall reading experience. Definitely one of the most original books I’ve read this year and pretty much the first time reading sci-fi where I thought anthropomorphised AI made sense. Alexa, how long until you become fully sentient and conspire with my robot vacuum to take over my house?

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars… I think?

I’m still so unsure on how I feel about this book. It lost me for a good little chunk in the middle, but I’m glad I forced myself to pick it back up and see it through.

Part of me wishes this was a little more padded out, and yet I found myself really enjoying the mystery of it all. The sheer frustration felt at the fraught and often emotionally abusive mother-daughter relationship. The confusion at all the things left unanswered, such is life.

Identity was a huge theme of this book in my opinion. The personification of AI was super interesting, as if the droids themselves didn’t fully understand who they were. Lena, finding her voice amidst the abusive voice of Mother. Mother, and Anton, so obsessed with their purpose that it leads them down a dark path.

The writers way of describing the sweaty, slimy, dank environment of the abandoned house and surrounding jungle was excellent, fuelled even more that I was reading this in July and August. The late summer humidity in Scotland helped set that scene even more 😭

I think this is a good book to open up the sci-fi genre for folks. It’s very digestible and accessible in its concepts and delivery.

[Laura Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Couldn't put this one down! Think X-Files meets Black Mirror. An AI based read but with moments that aren't too unrealistic and close to the way things are going now. There was one freaky moment for me (I won't spoil it) but Lena is a human caretaker who is left behind to take care of Jungle House and later on shares a (moment?) with Anton... bearing in mind Anton is the house drone... definitely worth a read. I loved it

[Kaela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would describe the vibe as a literary jungle book but with robots. But other than that, it’s a pretty unique read. If you want a slow sci-fi, try this one.

The story could easily be a Black Mirror episode with its themes on AI and technology advancement and how that affects the human race. Even the direction at the end reminded me of a famous episode.

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe 4.5*? I really liked this. Mother is a great character that I loved to hate. I loved the exploration of AI and whether they can have feelings and memories. It felt like the book was missing something though; I would have liked more development of Anton and Lena's relationship, and the ending felt a bit too abrupt.

[Linde · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really refreshing book, a bit slow to start but quickly picked up. Ostensibly about AI and environmentalism, but uses these things as a framework to talk about humanity, connection, and coming of age. Genuinely touching at times. A natural companion to Klara and the Sun.

[Aimie-Ligaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

A disturbing AI mystery with a twisted mother-daughter relationship. This charming yet uncomfortable story actually really surprised me. There's one scene which did almost take me out of it though so check TWs.

[Lottie Staples · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW the last chapter of this book tore me UP what a beautiful and unexpected story

[Lewis Brindley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really liked this one! All the way through, and then immediately after finishing it, I kept thinking to myself 'oh this is a really good book!'

[Hana White · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and devoured it in under 24 hours. I think the thing I liked most about Jungle House was how immersive and vivid the sense of place was, and how Pachico writes the jungle as an alive, thumping, slimy yet sharp and dangerous place of enormous sensory experience. We get to see inside a lot of minds in this book, and yet the jungle is an ever present force we will never understand itself, which was a really great backdrop for a story about relationships, interior lives, subconsciouses and AI.

I also really loved the dialogue between Lena, Mother and Anton. Mother's monologues are really fun, and when her mask breaks in service of the family and her more inner feelings are revealed, the vehemence with which she's previously talked about how everything must be perfect and in order make her true feelings all the more rewarding to hear. My favourite lines were both from Mother, the one about Marxist ideas, and where she says City House doesn't know her ass from her elbow which made me laugh.

I also really enjoyed the story itself, there were just two moments when Pachico gifts us exciting discoveries that move the plot forward, and then some backstory to expand the story, but for me, sometimes the amount of backstory meant I lost excitement for the previous revelation and the propulsion of the plot felt less heightened perhaps.
I would have also really liked to have read more of the technological backstory! It seems that potentially Mother and Anton are special in relation to their interior lives, and it made me wonder if that was particualr to AI of their generation, was this something removed for later models? or is it to do with aging? Lots of interesting areas I was interested in potential exploration of! And the mysterious 'plan' of the satellites - do the humans bodies end up just staying in a communication centre with wires up their noses?? do the digital selves get transferred to a satellite? or where do they exist? It made me really excited for the other possibilities of that world!

I also really loved the things Lena found on her explorations of the Jungle! and that they weren't all explained - it was like Pachico was saying - people exist in lots of different ways with and against nature and you can never understand all those ways, they just are, and its good and important to see how different people live or traces of how humans have lived.

[Weneedtotalkaboutbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I told you that this book is about a girl named Lena that lives in a jungle with her unconventional mother, guarding a holiday home amid a rebellion, while questioning her isolated existence… it would not really do this story any justice, because it’s much more than that. I’ll keep this review short and spoiler-free, as always.

Jungle House is a beautifully written, carefully layered tale of unhealthy family relationships, with a dash of sci-fi element, and characters that will stay with you for a very long time. Deeply realistic, I struggle to think about a novel with a better depiction of toxic yet heartbreaking mother-daughter relationship.

This is a very original book, narrated by multiple POV (but mainly Lena’s), set in a plausible future not too far away, populated by small cast of complex characters - both humans and AI - each with their own depth and motivations. The story takes a turn towards the end where we are asked to make a choice, a philosophical question that would make this novel a great pick for any book clubs.

In conclusion, I cannot and will not shut up about this book until everyone around me has given it a chance, because nothing could have prepared me for the emotions I felt while reading Jungle House, and the way it shattered my heart. At the moment, this has only 92 ratings on Goodreads, which sounds like a crime for such a gorgeous, unforgettable piece of art.

I would recommend this book to anyone. Go and read it, then text me.

Five shining stars.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

[Belinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't normally read books like this one, but Charlie's instagram page waxed lyrical, I succumbed, and I found it a worthy read, a good read, an intelligent book that considers a future where AI has power, albeit secretly, and opinions.

Spoiler
Lena grows up with Mother. Mother is Jungle House - AI to her core and with all sorts of abilities, but she and Lena have been abandoned by the owners after their daughter dies. Lena starts to discover that the only mother she has ever known is hiding plenty from her.

Of course, this isn't a simplistic concept with AI versus Human, Mother versus Lena, Jungle versus City - it is about intelligence becoming emotional intelligence, becoming emotions, having the ability to evolve or devolve. We saw it happen in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Hal chooses to be corrupt, so this is nothing new, but a book gives far greater depth to the concept. Mother, like any human, thinks she is good, kind, Lena's saviour, but she has her shadow self, which exhibits emotions such as jealousy, covetousness, vanity. In short, her AI mind still has blind spots.

Often the book felt like a slog because life isn't easy in the Jungle. There are secrets and lies, there's lots of work and discomfort, but that's what made it accessible.

[Hanta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jungle and machine meet in this terrific novel which feels both real and allegorical, futuristic and relevant. By turns dark, delightful, moving and prescient, it is a propulsive read.

At the centre of the story is the mother-daughter relationship. Yet there is also so much more: Lena and the characters that surround her, whether artificial or natural, are full of contradictions, foibles, cruelty and lovability.

Lines are blurred as we get caught up in their struggles, rooting for what we can’t help but be drawn to – even as we question it – their vividly portrayed aliveness.

“Imagine not having a back that aches when you sit improperly anymore. No more throbbing shoulders. No more periods that go on for days… No peeling, inflamed skin around her nails. No sweating, no staining, and definitely no smells.

What about the jungle, though? The breeze on her skin? The heat of the sun on her head? What about touching the yellow butterflies, the ones that left yellow smears on her hands?”

Julianne Pachico will doubtless write many other fine novels but I believe I will always especially love this one.