GOLIATH by Tochi Onyebuchi

4 stars

A decimated earth from irreversible macro-climate change, where privileged wealthy whites have fled to space colonies and black and brown people have been left behind to barely get by, frames this provocative and disturbing dystopian novel. It’s a sweeping indictment of our current country through the microcosm of a future New Haven in the 2050’s– from the haves to the have-nots, institutionalized racism, white flight, gentrification, and irreversible climate change. Throughout the novel, Tochi points out to instances of current environmental collapse that particular impacted the poor, such as Cancer Alley in Louisiana in the shadow of rubber plant waste.

On desolate radioactive earth, local black workers assisted by drones take down disintegrating uninhabited houses while scavenging bricks for sale, violent gangs rule the streets, drug use abounds, and government drones and robots try to maintain order but mostly in protection of the wealthier private neighborhoods. Children find solace and a shred of hope in some wild horses discovered in what remains of a forest. With so much energy put into surviving, the people left behind never can summon themselves to all out revolt.

Tochi drives home mockery of white liberalism where the original white colonists while aware of and sympathetic about racism ultimately seek to protect their own power and wealth. The more privileged whites who stayed planet-side have augmented themselves with bio-technology, including detoxing their systems. They wear face masks, try to erect protective filtered air domes, or get mechanically augmented lungs to lessen the effects of toxified polluted air.

Meanwhile, bored by the confinements of space, great grandchildren of the colonists come back to resettle the abandoned Earth, now reverse pioneers where they face local hostility. Earth for them is the new going West to seek their fortune and try to escape personal problems plaguing them in their space lives.

All this culminates in slim hope for humanity, with our current inaction on protecting the environment and racial divides setting the stage for near future apocalypse.

Thanks to Tor Forge, Macmillan and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy of this book. 

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.