Vigilance

This was instantly absorbing, and delivers a quick, efficient gutpunch of unvarnished social satire. It's over the top, which can be a strength and a weakness. Much like [b:The Power 29751398 The Power Naomi Alderman https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1462814013s/29751398.jpg 50108451], this sometimes came across as too bluntly political. But then again, the hyperbolic quest to appease The Ideal Person rings quite true as a skewering of MAGA culture. And as in The Power, there are notes that made me say “wow, that is just too exaggerated,” only to realize that it's closer to a description of our reality than is comfortable. We literally already ARE accepting children's routine slaughter as an acceptable price of gun ownership. Old white dudes' xenophobia is literally getting people killed. We regularly trade away our privacy for convenience. It's not that crazy to posit that we don't even need bread with our circuses - just just give us enough vicarious violence to gawk at, and Americans might accept no end of injustices.Yup, I definitely need some jolly children's literature after this one.