Book Review: Dead Astronauts by Jeff Vandermeer

Dead Astronauts by Jeff Vandermeer

Hardcover, 323 pages

Published December 2019 by MCD

I really hard to think about how to write this review, and I just finished reading it an hour ago. I should probably sit on it but hey I will give it a shot. My experience with Vandermeer is strictly reaching Annihilation a few years back and enjoying following his online musings. I much preferred the first Southern reach novel to the film although I liked both. I had always meant to read more. When I saw my library had a copy of this I jumped at the chance to read it.

Dead Astronauts is not follow up to Vandermeer's last book exactly but it takes in the same post-apocalyptic world. I didn't know this until I finished the book. The fact that it is not being marketed that way makes me think maybe it wasn't that important to know. That said reading this book is a little like floating in space without anything solid to hold on too. So the very first question you have to ask yourself is that a reading experience you like? Vandermeer is a talented and smart wordsmith and there is no doubt when I was reading this that there was a very smart human writing this.

I think many reading will have the sense when diving into this book that it is beyond them. I certainly felt dumb and lost at moments during Dead Astronauts. The thing is I don't mind that feeling from time to time. I like it in short stories or novellas more because I am a plot and narrative reader/writer. It is personally challenging for me to read a novel with a vague or unformed plot. Add to it surreal characters whose reality and humanity is constantly challenged - yeah Dead Astronauts was not totally my cup of tea. The reality is I gave it three stars when it is probably a five-book. It just is not for everyone.

I recognize there are smart themes and ideas but Dead Astronauts is a weird weird book in ways I find both frustrating and exciting. There are some really excellent parts and my mind when to crazy places but I also felt I didn't need three hundred pages of it.

Dead Astronauts has Solaris feel to it, a cosmic horror feels that tests the wibbbly wobbly ness of reality. In a world after humanity has been almost lost "The Company" is trying to extend life by creating biotech lifeforms more able to survive the harsh conditions. That is where reality and what is human comes into play. The POV characters don't know what or if things are real, and Vandermeer plays with all kinds of neats tricks to test them and the reader. The characters are used in experiments and so is the readers.

Does that sound like fun? At times I loved it and felt like I was being beautifully manipulated and then at other times I was just confused. This book is not for everyone but it is really cool for such a bizarro experimental book to get a mainstream release. That is something I love Vandermeer for.