Synopsis:
In the vein ofThe Book of M comes a fast-paced, character-driven literary apocalyptic novel that explores life, love, and loss in a post-truth society.
In the aftermath of a deadly outbreak—reminiscent of the 1962 event of mass hysteria that was the Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic—a city at the tip of Africa is losing its mind, with residents experiencing hallucinations and paranoia. Is it simply another episode of mass hysteria, or something more sinister? In a quarantined city in which the inexplicable has already occurred, rumors, superstitions, and conspiracy theories abound.
During these strange days, Faith works as a fulltime corpse collector and a freelance “truthologist,” putting together disparate pieces of information to solve problems. But after Faith agrees to help an orphaned girl find her abducted baby brother, she begins to wonder whether the boy is even real. Meanwhile, a young man named Sans who trades in illicit goods is so distracted by a glimpse of his dream woman that he lets a bag of money he owes his gang partners go missing-leaving him desperately searching for both and soon questioning his own sanity.
Over the course of a single week, the paths of Faith, Sans, and a cast of other hustlers—including a data dealer, a drug addict, a sin eater, and a hyena man—will cross and intertwine as they move about the city, looking for lost souls, uncertain absolution, and answers that may not exist.
Edition:
E-ARC (Net Galley)
Disclaimer:
I received an e-arc of The Down Days from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
Trigger Warnings:
Since we’re in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, just FYI: this book deals with mass illness. If your brain isn’t up for it (I understand, believe me), feel free to skip. The Down Days is about a very different type of sickness than we’re experiencing now, but it’s still a mass sickness.
My Thoughts:
It has taken me an abnormal (for me) amount of time to finish this book. Like, several weeks. And it isn’t because it’s a bad book – it certainly isn’t. It’s very well written. Unfortunately, reading a book about the aftermath of a pandemic (or maybe an epidemic, I’m actually not sure, but either way, this thought process stands) during…an actual pandemic…is horrible. It is thoroughly un-fun.
While the sickness in the story is mass hysteria, it still causes mass death. The parallels with the current COVID-19 situation were too much for me – as far as the amount of damage done, the questionable governmental responses, etc. I just couldn’t lose myself in the story.I thought maybe the release on this one would be postponed, but apparently not – although I feel like at one point I looked at it in Net Galley and it had been changed to August, but then I went back a few days later and it was back to May, so maybe I just saw what I wanted to see.
“WELCOME TOT THE SOCIETY OF THE DOWN. PROUDLY A-HISTORY, A-BELIEF, A-REALITY SINCE 1800. FIGHTING OPPRESSION. GIVING A VOICE TO THE VOICELESS. WE BELIEVE EVERYTHING. WE BELIEVE NOTHING. REALITY IS FICTION. FICTION IS TRUTH. WE RECORD EVERYTHING. WE DON’T CHOOSE THE TRUTH.”
There was a lot going on in this story which I appreciated, and the multiple narrators were surprisingly easy to follow. Everyone had a distinct voice, which meant that I never had to go back and double check whose perspective I was supposed to be getting – that was nice because I feel like I tend to struggle with that a lot where multiple narratives are involved.
There are also a lot of interesting thematic elements woven throughout as well – there are government conspiracies, shades of truth, fear, hope, elements of the supernatural, lore, and illegal trade. There’s a sin-eater, hair trade, loads of ghosts, hyenas, virus patrols, and black market nuns. And at least it offers some hope – so, there’s that.
There are definite shades of Orwell here, but, (and I don’t know if this is just because one is familiar and the other isn’t) where I find comfort in reading 1984, (and I really do), I didn’t get that same feeling from The Down Days. This one really wasn’t playing well with my admittedly already ratcheted up anxiety.
About the Author:
Ilze Hugo is a South African author. The Down Days is her first novel. She can be found on Twitter @ilzehugo1
x
xx
XXX
Rating:
Normally bleak stuff is my jam during tough times. I like to wallow, I guess. But this one is just a little too on the nose for me right now.
This is definitely a well-written story, but ultimately now doesn’t feel like quite the right time to be reading a book about a pandemic of any kind. I’ll definitely be picking this one up to give it another shot sometime in the future.
The Down Days By Ilze Hugo Skybound Books ISBN: 9781982121549 Published: May 5, 2020 Hardcover, E-book, Audio 368 Pages
