dom's spotlight: 09/20/23
“Holy shit, this book wrecked me.”
“Ripe is exactly the kind of book I want to read: astoundingly bold, terrifically haunting, and deeply human. Etter refuses to pull any punches here, asking us to look directly at the nightmares we sometimes agree to live with in exchange for comfort and security. Reading this book felt like pressing repeatedly on a bruise; the most pleasurable kind of pain. Ripe is a dazzlingly gorgeous novel and Sarah Rose Etter is truly one hell of a writer.
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Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter
“Maybe there must always be two of us—our real selves and the ones we create to survive in the world as it is. ”
Much like the pomegranate that drips across it’s cover, Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter is succulent, rich, and messy. It has the potential of getting stuck in your throat, and despite the danger, you continue on, diving deeper and deeper, until you get your fill.
And you won’t get your fill.
Set against the backdrop of our near future, a capitalistic hellscape where the houseless set themselves on fire and everything seems to be sinking into the ocean, our protagonist, Cassie, has her ‘dream job’ in Silicon Valley. But, it is cutthroat, with it’s barbaric bosses and illegal dealings, and Cassie’s stress only begins to grow as her world starts to crumble.
But she is not alone. For as long as she can remember, a miniature black hole has followed her. Ever her companion, it feeds and reflects her anxiousness and depression, a constant reminder of what she is, and what she isn’t.
Using post-modern techniques like dictionary entries and scientific queries of the inner workings of a black hole, this is a novel that pushes what a coming of age tale can look like. Darkly funny, always intensely interesting, Sarah Rose Etter’s novel evokes the ennui so many of us are feeling. Let the catharsis begin, black hole notwithstanding.