Book Review: “A Better World” by Sarah Langan
A New, Clear Family
Some time ago, I reviewed Sarah Langan’s Good Neighbors. I generally have pleasant memories about reading that book, as it was just before Christmas in a year that a member of my church who has now since passed on gave me some gifts unexpectedly on the same day that I finished the read. In looking at that review (at least, in part) now, I see that I made some comparisons between author Sarah Langan and Shirley Jackson. This is apt when it comes to her latest work, A Better World, because, in some ways, the book is reminiscent of Jackson’s famous short story “The Lottery.” By far, A Better World is the more ambitious of the two Langan novels as it is a longer tale on a wider expanse. It’s also a book that’s easier to respect than to outright love because its tone is so bleak. In some respects, A Better World is about the state of the current American family. If not the outright world in which we live. To that end, this is a book that works as an effective thriller: there are still shivers running down my spine from reading this, and, as I type this review into my laptop, I’m finding my body is trembling slightly. (However, I would say that the result is the opposite of being orgasmic!)
A Better World is set in the America of the 22nd century and centers around the Farmer-Bowen family of New York City. With that metropolis scheduled to be underwater in some 10 years’ time, the family is looking for a way out. They are introduced to a corporate gated community in the Dakotas called Plymouth Valley which is an island against threats, either nuclear or the results of climate change. However, once they move there, they find their life to be in upheaval. People in the town seem to have fake personalities and go out of their way to ignore the newcomers. Add to that, the town has very weird rituals — they bow to a religion known simply as “Hollow” and offer up animal sacrifices on home-based altars. While it wouldn’t be a huge secret to let readers know that the Farmer-Bowens eventually ease into living within this society, it comes at a huge personal cost and it turns out the people of Plymouth Valley may be hiding several big enigmas that may be, at best, unethical and, at worst, downright criminal and murderous.
I suppose this is a work that predicates itself on the notion that the reader expects bad things to happen to seemingly good people. Even as the family begins to “fit in,” these bad things tend to lurk around every nook and cranny and every hidden corner. This goes a long way to say that the book is about the privileged people in America, whether they be Black or white, and the way that they treat others. However, this is — as noted above — a book about family itself. The family is split down the divide of male — a husband and one son — and female — a wife and one daughter, who is twins with the son. Both sides seem to treat their acceptance into the broader culture in different ways, with the males being accepting and believing that the society they’ve joined is good and will protect them, and the females being more skeptical (if not outright cynical) and weary of the seemingly plastic reactions of the people to any questions they may have about life in the valley. In the end, literal sacrifices are made in more than one way, and the book has a chilling edge in its final pages that will probably make most readers want to take a good solid bath.
I think I liked this book, but it took me a longer time than usual to read it owning to its foreboding content. The book practically telegraphs its Shirley Jackson-ness at you from the very opening, and I don’t think I’m giving very much away by claiming that this novel is influenced very heavily by “The Lottery,” as I did earlier. Thus, A Better World will give readers a good, solid case of the jitters. As much as “The Lottery” was shocking when it was first published in the late ’40s, A Better World takes that template and makes things even more shocking and devilish than its predecessor — if such a thing could even be imagined. Readers’ mileages may, thus, vary on how much they enjoy this work of fiction that feels too very real and acts as a sad commentary on our times. If you’re looking for something to unsettle you and disturb you in a work of literary fiction that doubles as a thriller, you will be engaged. For the rest of us, it might lead you to want to search out books with a sunnier disposition. After all, if you follow the news, life in this century is anything but easy — but as A Better World points out, there are always people out there prepared to be a hero no matter the personal cost or how much it paints them into a corner they can’t escape from. That might be saying too much, so to that end, I’d just recommend that you read A Better World and determine if this is the right novel for you. Maybe it is and maybe it’s not — but the issue might be largely a matter of taste, which is something I just can’t decide for you, no matter how many good vibes I’ve received from reading the author’s previous work.
Sarah Langan’s A Better World was published by Atria Books / Simon & Schuster on April 9, 2024.
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