Christina lives in an Enclave. She receives a constant bombardment of reports telling her how dangerous and evil the world outside the wall is. The Enclave has cameras in every room and the lives of those who live within are mapped out in a uniform fashion from birth to death. SafetyNet knows everyone’s wants and needs before the individual does. After a life-changing event, Christina is forcefully ejected from the Enclave. She survives the Wasteland and makes her way to the mainland where all her preconceptions are challenged, and she finds answers to the questions she never thought to ask.
The first third of the book, set inside the Enclave, is a little slow with simple prose, but this amplifies the vanilla lives of the residents. When Christine is ejected the writing comes alive and is powerfully and graphically written. The final third explores the themes of the book more deeply.
This book could be read as a straight dystopian novel and enjoyed but, with Claire G Coleman, a novel is never totally what it seems. There is the obvious theme of racism that is established early in the book, but there is also capitalism, segregation, climate change, social media, homophobia and social responsibility that swirl around in your mind as you read.
Enclave will not be to everyone’s taste, but I applaud this author’s fresh take on difficult topics. This novel still had me contemplating it days after I finished reading.
Reviewed by Nicola Skinstad
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