Ann: February 2015 Pick: Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

[John (Taloni)]

I dunno if the (view spoiler)[Veniss Underground thing (hide spoiler)] is actually a spoiler, but as this thread's title doesn't say spoiler, maybe stay away from talking about plot points of the book or trilogy here? I've only just started the first book.

[Brendan]

John wrote: "I dunno if the [spoilers removed] is actually a spoiler, but as this thread's title doesn't say spoiler, maybe stay away from talking about plot points of the book or trilogy here? I've only just s..."

Its nothing to do with plot points but I'll spoiler tag it anyways.

[Rob, Roberator]

This is an announcement thread. Technically no one should be reading/discussing the book until Sunday, but people usually read things on their own time/at their own pace.

At a minimum no spoilers in this thread. If you want to discuss spoilers, feel free to make a new thread using a title like:

Ann: [My Thread Topic] (Spoilers through Chapter X)

[AndrewP]

I'm not making any comments on the content of the book even though i've finished it. Even my review of the book just contains a 'pending' notice until the middle of next month.

[Rob, Roberator]

I'm not trying to scold anyone, or tell anyone how or when to read the book. Just simply explaining to John the idea behind the thread.

[Robert]

Ruth wrote: "I don't think folk should get so hung up on the sword or laser thing. Usually we read one one month and the other the next, but this isn't a rigid rule, certainly not when there are books that stra..."

This book feels very Lovecraftian, a la "Who Goes There? which is probably a good thing.

[Joseph]

FWIW, the three books are different enough from each other in tone & structure that I thought it made perfect sense to publish them in separate volumes.

[Ruth (tilltab) Ashworth]

Robert wrote: "This book feels very Lovecraftian, a la "Who Goes There? which is probably a good thing.
"

Yeah, I agree. It also reminds me a little of Hyperion somehow, the Priest's story.

[Joseph]

Ruth wrote: "Robert wrote: "This book feels very Lovecraftian, a la "Who Goes There? which is probably a good thing.
"

Yeah, I agree. It also reminds me a little of Hyperion somehow, the Priest's story."

The Lovecraft story I kept flashing on was Colour Out of Space. Although Annihilation is almost a photographic negative of that story.

[Daniel]

Ruth wrote: "It also reminds me a little of Hyperion somehow, the Priest's story."

Interesting comparison. When i was reading Hyperion i didn't feel this "unfathomable mystery" thing. Maybe it was such but in a completely different way. Character's impressions were written clearly, not as fuzzy as in Annihilation IMO. Also nature and environment description was far richer and immersive in Simmons' masterpiece. Whole world was so detailed and real that the story arc didn't feel like some kind of hallucination.

[terpkristin]

Robert wrote: "This book feels very Lovecraftian, a la "Who Goes There? which is probably a good thing."

If you like Lovecraft. ;)

I have no idea if I like or dislike Lovecraft, having never read anything. I know that I steer rather wide of horror in general which is why I haven't read Lovecraft.

[Rob]

I'm getting the Lovecraft vibe people have, what with the unspeakable evils, scientist protagonist, and (view spoiler)[ lighthouse (hide spoiler)], but there's one big difference-- VanderMeer's prose is excellent while Lovecraft's is more purple than a Catholic priest after a Lenten mass and a stroll through the streets of North Ireland

[Linnea]

I'm so happy we're reading this! It's been on my wishlist ever since I saw it on the SFF180 channel on youtube (this video in case you're curious). Now I'm finally getting around to buying it. :D

[Adam]

Super happy this book was picked. I read it a few weeks ago and really liked it, I feel like if H.P. Lovecraft wrote an episode for LOST, it would be similar to this book. I'm also pleasantly surprised that the series made a number of non-SF "Best of" lists for 2014 which I feel is kinda rare. Looking forward to the discussion and the rest of the trilogy!

[Joanna Chaplin]

terpkristin wrote: "Robert wrote: "This book feels very Lovecraftian, a la "Who Goes There? which is probably a good thing."

If you like Lovecraft. ;)

I have no idea if I like or dislike Lovecraft, having never read..."

Lovecraft varies wildly for me. I adore The Outsider. (available here) http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/t... . But he was crazy racist, and that comes out in a lot of his short stories. He out and out assumed that white folks were smarter and harder to mind-control than brown folks. He felt that being a mixed-race person was worse than death, as an unholy union of nobility and corruption. His rampant xenophobia might have enabled his ability to describe unhuman beings.

His major novel theme was that idea maybe knowing all there is to know about the universe isn't always a good thing. Maybe knowing too much will drive you mad, or attract the attention of beings you can't possibly handle. Maybe the universe is alien, apathetic, and even outright hostile.

He was a master at using description to make you feel unsettled. Sometimes to the point of describing something commonplace in a way that makes you look at it with new eyes, like it was an alien artifact.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Jeff posted this article today, from The Atlantic, about his journey during the writing process: From Annihilation to Acceptance: A Writers Surreal Journey.

The dream he describes that kick started the whole thing - I got to hear him read just that section back in 2012 during his part of a reading during Shared Worlds. It was crazy, it was different, and I knew I'd love the trilogy.

[Richard]

After reading the first book I ended up confused. So I continued on to the second and third book. At the end, I still wanted more explanation.

[Fresno Bob]

Yep, i wanted more as well, the 1st was my favorite though

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Richard wrote: "After reading the first book I ended up confused. So I continued on to the second and third book. At the end, I still wanted more explanation."

Oh me too, just because now we know, imagine more of that, ha can't say more without spoiling. But I was intrigued.

[Will]

I'm sure I'm not the first one to draw comparisons between the Southern Reach trilogy and LOST, but Annihilation is essentially the first season of the show. Season 1 is all about the island and the mysteries, and Annihilation, too, is all about Area X. In fact, I daresay that Area X is the fifth character in this book. You don't get easy answers at the end of this book, just like how you don't get easy answers by the end of Lost's first season, but you are fine with it because you know that that's not the end. The problem comes, however, with the later books. Of course, no spoilers here, but suffice to say that, like Lost, VanderMeer does not provide any answers by the end of the trilogy. He does showcase more characters involved with or related to Area X, and you get their stories told in full. However, Area X, arguably the most colourful and intriguing character, actually receives surprisingly little "screen time", if you will, towards the end. I gave Annihilation four stars because, as a standalone, it provides enough to make you hungry for the rest of the series. It will, however, leave a bad taste in your mouth by the end of everything, knowing that nothing's answered and everything is for naught. If you need even a tiny sliver of answers to your mysteries, you will not find them here.

[Daniel]

Wei Lien wrote: "If you need even a tiny sliver of answers to your mysteries, you will not find them here. "

Thank you for clarification. I think this would be the final piece of evidence that i shouldn't continue reading the trilogy after the Annihilation.

[Dara]

Wei Lien wrote: "I'm sure I'm not the first one to draw comparisons between the Southern Reach trilogy and LOST, but Annihilation is essentially the first season of the show. Season 1 is all about the island and th..."

I respectfully disagree, good sir. I think Annihilation is all about the biologist and her experiences in Area X rather than Area X itself.

[Will]

Dara wrote: "Wei Lien wrote: "I'm sure I'm not the first one to draw comparisons between the Southern Reach trilogy and LOST, but Annihilation is essentially the first season of the show. Season 1 is all about ..."

I suppose you can say that the Biologist is the protagonist of this book, and she does fit the definition of what a protagonist is supposed to be. But when I read the book, I felt like she was just a conduit for the readers, in that she and everybody else were merely observers of Area X as a character. The Biologist reacts to Area X the way we, as readers, react to Area X. So in that sense, she becomes less like a protagonist and more like our eyes and ears, you know. Or, maybe I just felt that Area X to be way more interesting than the human characters.

Although, if you care to read further into the trilogy, a case can definitely be made that Area X becomes a side character. As mentioned in my previous post, humans take centerstage in the next two books—unfortunate, really, since Area X is so deliciously intriguing.

[Ulio]

I too agree with the lost similarity because of all the mysteries(the lighthouse, southern reach organization, etc...). It's one of the few series that asks more questions than it answers much like LOST(although LOST answered very few questions).

Also not sure if Area X is a character like the Island maybe the future books will make it seem more alive.

[Walter]

This book came across to me as the literary equivalent of a pastiche of Edvard Munch's The Scream by Jackson Pollock.

No matter where you go, there you are...

[Nicholaus]

Spoilers

Just read the first few pages. Already we have numerous intriguing details: "the tower that was not supposed to be there," Area X, and the threat the four specialists could not forsee. So far it's reminding me more of JG Ballard than Lost.

[Nicholaus]

Spoilers

At about 4%. Loved the line about names not mattering because few would surivive the encounter with this tower. Feels a bit like an epistolary novel so far and is managing to be quite intriguing with its adept foreshadowing.

[Rob, Roberator]

Nicholaus, please refrain from posting spoilers in this thread. Or is you do, please use spoiler tags. Simply saying spoiler is noy sufficient.

Or feel free to create a new thread with spoilers in the title and spoiler away there.

[Matthew]

I came into the book very open-minded, knowing its love and hate divide. I read it over two nights and I'm still not sure if I like it or love it.

I get that try at the Lovecraft feel, I think the author is trying for, but I get more of that badly written LOST episode feel from it. Going to venture into the second book and see how I feel about it.

[Joyce]

I enjoyed this book. I would not have normally picked it up. But Tom is correct definitely go on to the next book. It starts to explain a bit more of the world and what happened. I am really enjoying Authority right now. Annihilation intrigued me to see what the rest of the story might be. The first few chapters were a bit off-putting but once they found the Anthropologist I was hooked and had to know what happened. The book reminds me a bit of Scott Sigler type of storyline.

thank you Tom for telling me to keep going on the trilogy I'm glad I did.

[Sky]

Matthew wrote: "I came into the book very open-minded, knowing its love and hate divide. I read it over two nights and I'm still not sure if I like it or love it.

I get that try at the Lovecraft feel, I think the author is trying for, but I get more of that badly written LOST episode feel from it. Going to venture into the second book and see how I feel about it."

That was exactly my thoughts, to a point.

[Nicholaus]

Rob wrote: "Nicholaus, please refrain from posting spoilers in this thread. Or is you do, please use spoiler tags. Simply saying spoiler is noy sufficient.

Or feel free to create a new thread with spoilers in..."

oops. sorry about that. it all makes sense now. I like the way this group is arranged with people posting interesting spoilery theories in separate threads, almost like an invitation for mini-collective essays to grow

[Rob, Roberator]

No problem, nothing you posted seemed especially spoilery to me or I might have deleted them, but I wanted to warn you before you did post something that was.

If you're using the mobile app, I think it doesn't really support spoiler tags.

I'm not sure since the app is pretty much useless for discussions in my opinion. Personally, I just open the site up in chrome on my phone/tablet instead of using the app.

[Trike]

I am at the beginning of "04: Immersion", which is very close to the end. So far I feel like we've barely scratched the surface of what's going on, so I can see how reading the next installment would be helpful. Since it feels like 1/3 of a normal novel anyway, that doesn't surprise me.

I had just hoped there'd be more going on by now. The atmospherics of the piece aren't grabbing me. It's weird, but anyone can do weird. Weird is literally the easiest kind of thing to write. It certainly hasn't been scary at all.

Right now this feels like a lesser version of stories like Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson or the comic Manifest Destiny, Vol. 1: Flora & Fauna.

[Andrew]

I've been listening to the audio book, which is okay. I am 70% sure that this book is not my cup of tea. Introspection is one thing, but golly gee! There is nowhere near enough dialogue to keep me interested in these characters. I can only care about moss and cypress knees for so long. It is creepy, I'll give it that. It possesses a Stephen King vibe, for sure.

I will report back in detail after I'm finished.

[Andrew]

Karly wrote: "I'm so excited this book was picked. I read it last January and loved it. This will give me an excuse to re-read. I read #1 and #3 in print and listened to Authority. But I wish I had done it the o..."

It certainly is creepy to listen to, I mean, any creature called "the crawler," c'mon, that is nightmare fuel right there. However, until I reach the end, the jury is still out as to whether I like this sort of book or not.

[Michele]

I'm listening to the audio, and there's something about the narrator - I like her voice, her tones, her inflections, etc. but sometimes she sounds like she needs to swallow, like there's some spit in the back of her throat or something and it bugs me. Has anyone else noticed this? Am I crazy?

Anyways, not my usual fare, but I am enjoying the story so far, spit and all, though I find it more creepy and fascinating than scary.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Michele wrote: "I'm listening to the audio, and there's something about the narrator - I like her voice, her tones, her inflections, etc. but sometimes she sounds like she needs to swallow, like there's some spit ..."

The second book's audio is much better!

[Fredrik]

Hm. What do make of this book? It's certainly a weird and fascinating world, but the story, told in a detached way that does suit the narrator's personality, is a bit of a slog. I nevertheless liked it and am reminded of both STALKER (the Tarkovskij film, which I found really tedious and impenetrable) and 'At the mountains of madness' (the HP Lovecraft story, but with less ice).

Now then, having finished it, the question is; do I want to know more? Well.. not necessarily. There's no character or plot I care to see to conclusion, and I have no reason to care about the world outside Area X either.

On the other hand; does that matter? I don't regret reading the book, it was an interesting observation of an alien environment. Annihilation is a book that stands a step outside the typical genre boundaries, and is worth remembembering.