REVIEW: ‘The Effort’ by Claire Holroyde, now available
Image courtesy of Grand Central Publishing / Provided by official site.
Claire Holroyde’s debut novel, The Effort, would be an engaging read at any time in recent history, but especially during the upside-down world of a global pandemic. In fact, some of the stories in her sweeping narrative seem eerily prescient for what the world has endured during 2020 and 2021.
In the novel, the world is sent into a tailspin when a comet has been spotted in the skies, and its trajectory is headed for planet Earth. It’s up to the best of the best in the scientific world to develop a plan to blow up the ice rock before the world has an extinction-level event on its hands. Their ordeal, which is tracked methodically throughout the book, is nicknamed the Effort and takes place in a secure facility in French Guiana.
As the scientists toil away in South America, the communities of the world turn on one another. With potentially limited time left to live, people stop turning up at their jobs and start fleeing with their families and seeking safe haven. That means there’s no one available for sanitation, protection, food distribution or governance. Cities around the globe, in particular New York City, break down with rampant violence, no food, no electricity and corpses piling up. (This is a bleak book, but the cast of characters tries to find the humor in the difficult situation.)
There’s also a subplot involving an Arctic expedition, and although the ship is filled with scientists and Coast Guard personnel, the focus is on a magazine photographer and his bunkmate, a Nobel laureate poet from an Indigenous community in Brazil.
Taken together, there are numerous characters to keep track of, but kudos to Holroyde for keeping the narrative running along smoothly, with each role receiving its due spotlight. Dr. Ben Schwartz, perhaps the closest character to a protagonist, is the man with the plan. He has been modeling extinction-level comet crashes for some time, and now his theories are being tested in the real world. He’s not the most likable of characters, and when he starts working on the “Effort,” his physical and mental abilities are pushed to a dangerous limit.
Ben’s girlfriend, Amy, accompanies him to South America and quickly earns the respect of the teams of scientists working in the facility. She becomes a leader in this stronghold, keeping Ben focused on the prize and making sure the organization of the “Effort” stays on task. Other characters they interact with: Zhen (one of the best in the book), a fellow scientist with a secret to behold, and Love, an interpreter who helps with language translation.
On the Arctic-bound ship, called the Healy, there’s Maya and Jack, who find each other during this time of tumult and start to make a connection. Gustavo, who remains silent for the first part of the book, is a mysterious figure who shares a room with Jack. The crew members know he is an award-winning poet, but his background and reasoning for being on the ship are unknown.
Somehow each of these characters — and other supporting characters connected to them — is tied together by Holroyde’s deft hand. There is an obvious connection in that they are all facing a common future of uncertainty and potential death. However, there’s more to their commonality: They need one another to survive. They need to come together, respect science and find a way to build a future for humanity.
Along the way, Holroyde offers not-so-subtle commentaries on the real world, including the ravages of climate change, the drastic consequences when leaders ignore science and how collaboration should win out over isolationism (these thoughts will remind the reader of the recently released book Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy). She also treats this movie-like story with a realistic touch, always considering how the world would actually deal with the news of a comet barreling toward Earth. There are no Independence Day-style speeches from presidents or Bruce Willis heroes ready to kick ass and take names. Instead, she depicts mass starvation, systemic fear and mistrust in fellow humanity — and unfortunately that’s probably closer to the target.
For example, one of the challenges for the scientists working in French Guiana is finding anytime to sleep. They are on a tight clock, with the world’s fate in their hands, so they cannot go to bed for hours on end. Instead, they need to stay up and work midnight shift after midnight shift. This causes some of them to endure a catatonic state that takes them out of commission.
Another subplot finds two supporting characters heading from their apartment complex in the Bronx and traveling across the East River to the fortified island of Manhattan. They take to the river at night, holding tight to a garbage bag filled with plastic bottles as a flotation device. This feels real and authentic, two people making their way and surviving. This is not reality television doomsday prepping; it’s just reality.
The Effort is a sprawling apocalyptic thriller with a huge cast of characters and biting social commentary on the world’s current-day issues. The debut novel is an effective drama with stirring visuals that will be all too familiar for a pandemic-plagued population. As much as the narrative lays out the dire consequences of a comet hurtling toward Earth — and the reality of the situation gets quite dire — Holroyde simultaneously offers a pathway toward survival, codependence and redemption. Take notes.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Effort by Claire Holroyde. Grand Central Publishing. 368 pages. Click here for more information.
