2084

kw: book reviews, fiction, social experimentation

Suppose, having committed a minor crime, then a few more (not so minor), you are arrested, and you are presented with a choice: either a year or two of jail time, or a social program titled "Transition". You and your spouse (both must participate) will live in the home of a Mentor couple who will retrain your life skills, with full expectation that you and said spouse will emerge as contributing members of society, rather than a drain upon it.

That is the premise of The Transition by Luke Kennard. The protagonist, Karl, has sort of stumbled into a life of credit card fraud to make ends meet. When the personal Ponzi scheme falls apart, he takes the chance to avoid overt jail time by committing himself and his wife Genevieve to The Transition.

I could summarize the plot, but why try? The pendulum-swing of society has produced a generation some call the Millennials. A certain proportion of them are heedless, unambitious, and were "raised" to expect things to work out, even as society has swayed so as to stack the deck against them. Allow me to say that the majority of Millennials are quite a bit more savvy than either Karl or Genevieve (though Genevieve is portrayed as having more street smarts). But I can think of a number of young adults who might actually benefit from The Transition, were it to operate as advertised.

Of course, what is the point of writing a big novel if things work as advertised? There is a subversive element, graduates and non-graduates of Transition, and of course Karl gets involved. It seems he finds a streak of ambition hidden within, and his ambition is to bring the system down. Do you think it can work? Look at the title I chose for this post for your answer!