Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeerMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I haven’t read any of VanderMeer’s previous books, but I’ve heard of them, being some weird ecological horror type book maybe. This one seemed less horror-like, I guessed from the brief descriptions. Basically didn’t know what I was getting into. Perhaps that didn’t help, but the book itself was keeping you in the dark about what is going on, so I was confused for much of the book, and didn’t really enjoy that.
At the end the book felt like a thriller, or quest type book, where one clue leads to the next, and you have to be ahead of the bad guys that keep trying to kill you or those around you because they think they know something. Somewhat strange book for me. But I kept going trying to figure this thing out.
In the preface the main character says, “you can call me Jane. Jane Smith. If that helps.” She seems to be a typical suburban woman; married, one teenage kid and a job. The job is in a male dominated area, being a manger in the security industry (not fully defined) which helps companies be more secure. This brings along a level of knowledge and paranoia about privacy and tracking that most people likely don’t have. Add in her unusual size being tall, bulky, lots of muscle, an ex-wrestler turned weightlifter, maybe Jane isn’t so average.
Jane follows these clues to the detriment of her job, then her family. Then things get even worse. There were some interesting bits that remained with me, like how she named inanimate, yet important objects, like the huge purse had the name shovel pig and a burner phone named bog. The book seemed to have some statement on the upcoming environmental disaster but was so vague, difficult to get grounded into that.
Not sure if the style of this book is typical of VanderMeer, if it is I’ll likely avoid any future book. Didn't like the being confused nearly the entire time.
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