Foe

If I’m going to read one book by an author who has published two books, I might as well read them both, right? When I got I’m Thinking of Ending Things from my library, I also got Foe, because I had heard such good things about Ending Things. I read these two books back-to-back and was really surprised at how great they both were, just in different ways.

Foe is clever where Ending Things is just crazy. Foe is about a married couple who live in the middle of nowhere, but the husband, Junior, has been selected for this special program to go into space. A “replacement” who looks and acts exactly like him will take his place so his wife doesn’t miss him as much. Things aren’t great between Junior and his wife, Henrietta, through this process. They just aren’t clicking much since this big space announcement. It takes Henrietta quite some time to get used to the upcoming separation. And all along you are wondering what this replacement will be like.

This story would make an excellent episode of Black Mirror. I had the book figured out pretty quickly, but only because of a tiny clue the author put in there. I have to say I was really proud of myself for catching said clue. And even though I knew what was happening, it didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the book at all. Where Ending Things is just flat out awesome and insane, Foe is clever and creative. Both are great reads.