SFF

The Shutouts

St. Martin’s. Dec. 2024. 304p. ISBN 9781250323484. $29. SF
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After escaping Inside, their climate refuge– turned–prison, Ava and her daughter Brook meet up with Ava’s ex-girlfriend Orchid. Their best chance to survive the brutally hot, storm-scoured outside world and reconnect with Brook’s best friend July is to head north. Orchid’s friend Camilla is waiting there for her return, along with cult escapee Max. Decades ago, Orchid’s mother Kelly inadvertently helped create the cult, a story she relates in letters as she makes her own cross-country trip in the past to reach her daughter. Korn’s (Yours for the Taking) second novel shifts its critique from corporate white feminism to the sinister side of activist culture and cults of personality. Kelly’s letters document the dangers of both, balanced by a present-day narrative in which characters recovering from betrayal and abandonment build healthier community bonds. The novel distinguishes itself from other postapocalyptic travel narratives with its focus on queer women and nonbinary people.
VERDICT Readers seeking cli-fi that celebrates queer characters and survival will find this a hopeful look at the future even after disaster.
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Barbara Struthers

I enjoyed The Cloisters. However I objected to your constant denigration of Walla Walla and Whitman College. I grew up in Walla Walla--a fairly cultured town, with good schools, an excellent liberal arts college and the oldest symphony orchestra west of the Mississippi--most of which you apparently missed. I have also lived in New York (Brooklyn), and didn't find it especially magical despite the Manhattan museums, symphony, Broadway, and Greenwich village dives. Maybe you should leave Walla Walla out of your next book.

Posted : 2022-12-13 20:06:04

Lisa I

Thank you! The descriptions of Walla Walla were so consistently off it threw me every time it came up. Even just passing comments picked the wrong crops and the wrong landscapes, it was like she imagined Iowa and figured Eastern Washington was probably physically similar, right?

Posted : 2023-05-04 00:31:03


Carmen Boyd

I’m knee deep in The Cloisters and love it! I went to school at Mother Cabrini for 12 years, right next to Fort Tryon and grew up in that museum. Thank you Katy!

Posted : 2022-11-24 23:49:58


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