Jack Womack

The trouble with reading dystopian fiction all the time is that bad dystopias are annoying, good dystopias are depressing, and excellent dystopias are devastating. This is the third kind. ‘Random Acts of Senseless Violence’ tells the story of America’s implosion in the brilliantly immediate format of a tweenager’s diary. The writer is plunged straight into the life of Lola, a twelve year old girl living with her parents and younger sister in New York. The way that total social breakdown plays out in the background of her daily doings is nothing short of brilliant. The world-building through teenage slang is cleverly done and has aged well. The language unerringly walks the line between otherness and comprehensibility; the pacing is relentless and absolutely compelling.

Even though I wanted to read something more cheering, I could not put this novel down. A major part of this was emotional investment in Lola, who is a heart-breaking and unforgettable character. It's genuinely distressing to be periodically reminded that she and her friends are only twelve. She is old before her time, clear-eyed and pragmatic. When her parents try to reassure her that everything is going to be fine, she knows immediately that they’re lying and it isn’t. Indeed, she feels a strong sense of responsibility and protectiveness towards her parents and sister. Yet she is also preoccupied with school work and friendships.

I won’t spoil the events of the book, merely comment that they are told in an unusually vivid fashion. First person narration is challenging to get right, but when done well it can be uniquely involving. (Examples from my favourite novels shelf include [b:The Kindly Ones|3755250|The Kindly Ones|Jonathan Littell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347999215s/3755250.jpg|2916549] and [b:The Goldfinch|17333223|The Goldfinch|Donna Tartt|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1451554970s/17333223.jpg|24065147].) Political instability, economic collapse, and the escalation of violence are recounted subtly, woven into the fabric of Lola’s daily life. The narrative has a level of emotional conviction that lends it disturbing plausibility. That said, a few years ago I wouldn’t have considered this scenario of total social implosion in the US at all likely to occur. Yet here we are.

The significance of the title is that the book shows why senseless violence is not random. Violence is systemic and its apparent senselessness conceals personal and social causes. I am incredibly impressed with the nuanced analysis of social breakdown that is concealed in the format of a twelve year old’s diary, somehow without Lola becoming a precocious caricature. I won’t soon forget this novel or its narrator. Pity about the lurid cover design, though.… (more)

Womack was recommended to me as being a good writer, and this is the first book of his I've attempted, so I can only imagine that it must not be one of his better books. An alternate-universe, alternate-history, cyberpunk-themed book in which the protagonists often talk in a dreary newspeak and in which, despite reaching near the top in a corporate hell, they are too stupid to realize that they are being taken advantage of in ways that the reader notices immediately. I can see that Womack has talent, but this book, despite occasional moments in which he shows what he can do, is a failure.… (more)