We have talked a lot about climate change in the past year. We cannot avoid it. It’s happening. And since the pandemic started, I have generally shied away from dystopian novels because they hit a little too close to home. Recently, however, I have become a fan of author Catherynne M. Valente, and so I have been wandering through her books kind of randomly. She writes everything from YA fantasy to a book literally called Space Opera to some franchise novels for Minecraft and Mass Effect.

So when her latest novel, The Past is Red, came out, I immediately snagged a copy and settled in, without really reading the description. Oh, hi, dystopian novel set in a post-climate change Earth. Oops.

But here is the thing. This book was fantastic. I was immediately sucked in and found myself halfway through it in one sitting. I was finished in two days. Valente writes with wit and a sense of wonder that pulls you in and keeps you reading. She is really very talented, and I’m going to do my best to review her latest book without spoiling anything.

As I said, The Past is Red is set in a post-climate change Earth. Think Waterworld but less Kevin Costner and none of the Mad Max-esque villainy. Well, maybe a little of the villainy. The glaciers and ice caps have melted, cities are underwater and gone, the people that caused the problems have a not-family-friendly name I cannot use on air, and all that remains are a few ships roaming the world and a place called Garbagetown.

Garbagetown is what becomes of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, that floating horror in the Pacific Ocean caused by currents and, well, trash. I don’t think we’ve talked about it on the show before, but it’s a real thing. It’s the size of Texas. It’s awful and horrifying, and in Valente’s novel, it’s where a small fraction of what was humanity has managed to eke out an existence, including the main character, Tetley. Yes, she’s named for the tea, and no, I’m not going to explain why. That’s a key part of the story that I think you need to read for yourself.

Garbagetown has been sorted by types of trash and is thick enough and stable enough to house this tiny portion of the remaining humans. Tetley is the most hated person in Garbagetown, and she is also its savior. This contradiction sets up the story, which is told in a mix of present-day narration and flashbacks. Basically, Tetley prevents a tragedy that no one believes would have happened, and from there, she does everything she can to convince people that Garbagetown is a wonderful place and that there is still hope.

And that’s the big takeaway from the novel for me. Hope. There is still hope for humanity. There is still a lot of awful. But there is also hope. And that is something I think we all need to hold onto. We can get through these times, but it’s going to take work if we don’t want to end up with our great-grandchildren living in a place like Garbagetown. We can and we need to band together and make the world a better place.

More Information

Amazon (affiliate): The Past is Red (Kindle)