Andrew Smith may be the most unassuming name for a superb writer, but, alas, brilliance thy name is Andrew Smith. A prolific writer with an unmatched ability to blend the absolutely typical with the completely out of this world, Smith will, if we are lucky, continue to put his words out into the world.
I first learned about Andrew Smith from a brief review of Grasshopper Jungle. Intrigued by the book's concept, I checked it out from the library and devoured it over the course of two evenings. As is my pattern, I then proceeded to read everything else Smith published. Winger and 100 Miles Sideways were standouts. Some of his other books are a little trippy for my taste, but a well-written book is readable even if the subject matter is not as engaging as one hopes. In last year’s Rabbit and Robot, one of characters is Maurice, a bisexual talking giraffe with a French accent. Thus it was with both excitement and a small amount of trepidation that I approached Exile From Eden, the continuation of the Grasshopper Jungle story.
Where Grasshopper Jungle is the story of Austin and Robby, who unwittingly unleash a plague of giant, deadly praying mantises in Iowa, Exile From Eden follows Arec, Austin’s teenage son, who does not remember a world before the plague of the unstoppable army. Eden is the underground safe haven in which he has grown up both uninhibited and sheltered at the same time. Arec may live with a certain freedom that a lack of societal norms allows, but his grandmother, who runs Eden with an iron fist, remembers the “rules”. And her rules cause Arec to question everything he has come to know.
When Austin and Robby do not return from an aboveground excursion, Arec decides he must find them. Not only that, but he needs to leave Eden; the pull of possibility is too strong to resist. Unbeknownst to Arec, a fellow child of Eden, Mel, hides out in his van in order to join his search team. Mel and Arec grew up together, absent the societal constraints pressed upon pre-unstoppable army kids, but always with Arec’s grandmother there to remind them. Mel and Arec are coming of age and their hormones begin to rage in ways that they both struggle to comprehend but also understand in the purest way.
Alongside the story of Arec and Mel’s mission is the story of a younger kid named Breakfast and his companion Olive. Breakfast and Olive are surviving in the post-unstoppable army world without the protection and comforts of a place like Eden. Breakfast is wild and wily in a way only a child growing up with the complete absence of structure can be. As the plot propels Arec and Mel and Breakfast and Olive forward, each pair is similarly on the move, to the next safe place, to the next source of gasoline or fresh clothes. The story continues, each pair encounters some fellow survivors and unstoppable soldiers, but to reveal too much about the plot here would be to rob you of the enjoyment of seeing the story unfold as Smith intended.
The setting of Exile From Eden may be fictional but the humanity in the characters is undeniably real. It's impossible not to respect Smith’s ability to articulate the myriad of emotions required for human existence - pre or post-unstoppable army. Exile From Eden does not lack resolution, but I am certainly hopeful that there is more to this story, that Arec and Mel and Breakfast and Olive continue to adapt and evolve, learning and relearning how to recreate a world forever changed.
