Wow, I can’t believe it’s the last week of classes–I will definitely miss this class! It has been a great sense of routine and normalcy for me each week, so thanks to everyone for being so insightful all throughout this term for each book we explored:)
This week I had the pleasure of reading “Fever Dream” by Samanta Schweblin. It is a book that made me think of three words in particular: eerie, thought-provoking, and suspenseful. Schweblin’s writing style has a way in which she is able to show the effects of environmental harm, familial love and protection, and psychological unease all in one book–three topics, that in my opinion, are usually not seen all together at once. The book centralizes on the characters of Amanda and Daniel, two polarizing figures that perfectly depict the three words I listed above. Amanda becomes suddenly very ill from suspected poisonous insecticides that were sprayed throughout the area in which she was staying in. David, a boy who continually questions her, helps provoke her memories and recollections to come back to her as the toxins from the insecticide presumably affected her memory and prompted her illness. She is oftentimes discombobulated and her memories are disjointed, but David acts as a constant to help her memories come back. Although it is not exactly implied, it could be suggested that human contact or action/intervention on the environment can have profound impacts on both humans and the earth–typically negative. I keep coming back to this theme of environmental degradation that runs simultaneously with psychological aspects or memory loss–it’s very interesting–I really haven’t seen it done before. I found it refreshing and an interesting way to portray the impacts we as humans have on our surroundings. There is a sense of urgency throughout the novel in which we aim to find the truth, for example, what REALLY happened to Amanda–was it actually the insecticide? David’s questioning throughout makes not only Amanda more curious or uncertain, but perhaps has the same effect on the reader as well. It made me want to keep reading more and more until I reached the end of the book. When faced with memory loss, it is certain that one likely grapples with what is real and what is not, as we see Amanda struggle with that throughout. Overall, I found this novel to be an interesting read. It was unique, and I am thankful for the chance to have read it in this class.
My question for you: I mention that it seems a central theme to this novel is that of environmental harm or the impact that humans have on it–what are some concrete examples of how this plays out in the book? Do you think Schweblin is trying to convey a certain message about the environment through her writing?
The two novels with which we close this course have several points in common: the first of all is that they seem to need a reader with detective skills and instincts to enter the fictional world that they propose (something with which we already found ourselves a bit with Bolaño’s Distant Star). But in this novel the dialogues are a kind of interrogation, but also an (almost religious) invocation, a ceremony in which memory must appear, a healing rite for using the right words. As you say, the topics that the novel elaborates don’t usually appear together, especially not in this way. Thank you for your insightful and detailed comment.
Hi Ashley, great post! It’s been interesting to read everyone’s perspectives on the environmental impact presented throughout the novel. I think this carries some interesting comparisons to One Hundred Years of Solitude with the introduction of technology into this sequestered community. Seeing how foreign agricultural intervention has shifted with the development of Western chemical technology, it was interesting to read how modernization is still impacting rural South American towns, except in a more “real” sense and example.
Hello, Ashley 😀
This was a very scary story and some of the scenes were really frightening. There is no monsters, murders, or creatures, but the scares are mysterious and unseen. I really enjoyed the way Samanta Schweblin took inspiration from the use of harmful pesticides in Argentina, and using horror to explore current issues. As agriculture, methane, coal, oil, gas, and other byproducts leave their mark on local communities, the public has become savvy and protests. However, we rarely saw what happened in other parts of the world where the legal infrastructure was not as developed and the public was not as well educated about the ways in which the benefits manifested themselves. “Fever Dream” might be a good educational book for schools, to create a strong attachment to the locals.
Hi Ashley! Thanks for your thoughtful post! I think that the author definitely had some intention in her writing and the emotions that were perhaps evoked were designed to do so. I think the state of anxiety or fear is quite fitting when looking at a lot of environmental issues around the world, especially the use of pesticides. I think what’s most scary is that as a consumer, you really don’t see or know how something as simple as your food/water is having such a deadly impact on you. However, I think that this lines up with Amanda’s experience throughout the novel of not knowing… until it’s already done.
An interesting aspect of this book’s environmentalism is how indirect it is; without background knowledge, this would seem far more like a horror story with an ambiguous “poison” as the culprit. It could be argued that environmental issues are more of a backdrop than a theme. But this uncertainty about the causes of the poison reflects the general uncertainty and powerlessness one feels in the face of environmental disaster. I know some recent writers have incorporated elements of horror into environmentalist writing (such as Donna Haraway’s invocation of Lovecraft with her “Cthulhucene”), so it seems like this book does something similar from the horror angle.
Hey Ashley, really enjoyed reading your post. To answer your question, I think she might be trying to convey a certain message, but I also think the vagueness thats prevalent in the book from start to finish, offers a lot of space for interpretation from the reader.
Hi there, thank you for sharing with us.
In regard to your question, a clear scene that addressed the environmentalism was when Amanda’s daughter was playing by the water. Then David was taking to Amanda about the dangers of the water. That’s why I think the water was the most obvious containment of this story and of our own.
Hi Ashley! Great blog post, you did a great job capturing the main aspects of the novel. To answer you question, I think the environmental message the author was trying to send was about the harm of pesticides. How something so horrible and poisonous can enter your system without even knowing.
Hey Ashely! The most concrete example that I can think of is the mentioning of all the deformities inherited by the kids when Amanda saw them cross the road, or describing the pastures as “perfumed fields” to highlight something about it being artificial in its presentation as it is something “Dressed up”. But I would actually think that the author’s focus sort of isn’t directed towards environmentalism at first glance, but rather the livelihoods of the people around it, and ultimately to provide this supernatural tale about the pesticides effects, and presenting it as if its a intangible evil spirit. At least thats the vibes it gave me anyways.
Hi Ashley, I really like your thoughts on the parallel themes of environmental degradation and memory loss. It definitely read like an underlying environmentalist theme, that the destruction of the environment comes at the cost of all of us. I’m not sure if this answers your question, but I thought the most disturbing part of Schweblin’s descriptions of the environment were the ones that removed its “naturalness,” e.g. the dead silence of the homestead, the perfume-y smell of the fields. It all felt very artificial and threatening in a way I haven’t experienced in a book before.