[Review] - Survivor Song
Survivor Song
Paul Tremblay
Survivor Song will be released in the UK on 07th July, 2020, by Titan Books
Reading something centred around a pandemic, in the midst of a pandemic, is a weird feeling. Seeing the way people react in fiction to pandemics, after seeing actual real life reactions, is a weird feeling. Six months ago, I would have said some of the completely selfish choices made by characters in Survivor Song were unrealistic, but Tremblay writes about characters in a strange situation, pushed to and beyond breaking point, and right now it feels almost eerily accurate.
Natalie (Nats) and Ramola (Rams) are best friends, having met in college and remaining close as Nats moves in with, and then marries her boyfriend, Paul. But when their city goes into lockdown, when a rabies pandemic – spread by animals and humans – hits, there’s only one person the heavily pregnant Nats feels she can turn to.
Did I mention that, in this book, there is a pandemic?
People here, for the most part, seem a lot more sensible. The roads are quiet, people seem to be observing lockdown, and to try and curb the spread of rabies, bait packs are dropped.
For the most part, the story is told through Rams’ point of view, as the two women desperately try and get help for Natalie. Occasionally, we get an insight into Nats’ mind, as she makes recordings for her unborn child.
Rabies is a perfect explanation for a not-quite-zombie apocalypse. It presents more of a moral challenge than simply dealing with the undead. There’s constant hope for a cure, the knowledge these are real, living human beings, and the rate of full infection depends on where exactly subjects are bitten. Although they resemble zombies, Tremblay moves away from the more ingrained tropes of the genre by grounding the pandemic in something more real.
The infected aren’t the biggest threat here, and the tension underling the novel comes more from the people involved, the choices they make and the attempts to get the help they so desperately need.
I mentioned the selfish actions of the characters. This isn’t about whether they wear a mask or not (and people, please, wear a mask, okay?) but the characters have to make decisions about what to tell certain people, and they put others at risk by their actions. They justify it internally, in ways that make sense, and ways that make the reader uncertain about where they stand. Can you still root for someone who puts other, more vulnerable people at risk? It’s difficult, and Tremblay really plays on the moral quandaries facing the characters, while keeping us grounded in their predicament and able to emphasise with them.
It’s a tense, action-packed ride that I absolutely whizzed through, and one that feels shorter than its 300-odd pages. There are some honestly funny moments alongside touching, heart wrenching scenes and tense, pulse-racing snippets of horror. It’s horror at its best, giving you characters you greatly care for before ripping out your heart, squashing it underfoot, and making attempts to carefully put it back in.
Amazon UK: https://amazon.co.uk/Survivor-Song-Paul-Tremblay/dp/1785657860/
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Survivor-Song-Novel-Paul-Tremblay/dp/0062679163/
Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/books/survivor-song/9780062679161
Grade: A
Review by Elle Turpitt
Twitter: @elleturpitt
I received this e-book from Titan Books via NetGalley for review consideration.