The Plot Thins in Nicola Barker’s Inventive Exploration of Sensory Deprivation
AT THE HEART of any book lies a conversation between the author and her work. “Other people can join in,” Nicola Barker says, “but really that conversation has to be the important one.”
It is bewildering to imagine the dialogue between Barker and her 12th novel, H(A)PPY, which tells the story of Mira A., who lives in a future after an apocalypse—what Barker describes as a post-truth world, one that is equally perfect (“Nothing can run out—not even life”) and devastating (its inhabitants, The Young, can live only in the moment). Mira A., is one of The Young, a species of perfected human that, while never aging, does occasionally develop technical faults. Each has a computer wired to their brain, a Sensor, and Mira becomes preoccupied with shaping a story from its relentless stream of information.
This story is from the July 14 2017 edition of Newsweek.
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This story is from the July 14 2017 edition of Newsweek.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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