Review: The Book Eaters

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If I hadn't been aware that author Sunyi Dean was autistic, I'd have been very suspicious of her for writing a book where the main character's son, a rare monster among monsters, comes off like a grim allegory of how neurotypical people see autistic people as inherently creepy. That Cai, the mind eater character in question, is only able to adhere to what is typical for his people when dosed with a drug curiously known as "Redemption" doesn't help.

As it was, though, this book had a lot of grimdark moments going on. Especially since, while the marketing kinda downplays it, this book holds up a mirror to the patriarchy of the real world, with its depiction of book eaters allegedly venerating women only to make them essentially brood mares, since they are so few in number and have a much shorter reproductive window than ordinary human women. Not for nothing are there a number of reviews comparing this book to The Handmaid's Tale in that respect, with the extra detail that Devon, our protagonist (who has already been forced to carry two different men's children, and isn't allowed to see her firstborn daughter), starts to realize her sapphic identity pretty early on this book. (That part is vaguely reminiscent, to me, of Natasha Ngan's Girls of Paper and Fire, especially since there's a vague implication that while book eater men can be openly gay, women can't be lesbian - a concept Ngan wove into her debut novel as well.)

There's a lot going on in this vaguely vampiric kind of book, and it's dark and thought-provoking, but also just full of holes and unanswered questions enough to be annoying. Are the mind-eaters a metaphor for neurotypical fear of autistic people, or fear of toxic masculinity? Or fear of ADHD, since he needs a specific drug to keep his more dangerous hunger at bay? (God, the more I think about it, the more it just sounds warped and ableist, reminding me of the time where I read a bad review of V.E. Schwab's This Savage Song claiming that August, the soul-eating Sunai, was an offensive metaphor for autistic people allegedly having no souls or humanity.) Are mind eaters only ever male? Where do the eaters come from, if not England? They're offhandedly said to come from Romania, which makes me think they're representing Romani people in this allegory, although they're also indicated to be pretty racially diverse as well. Are the eaters vampires or aliens?

At least some of the worldbuilding choices, though they don't make sense at first, ultimately do. Like why the book eaters are physically unable to write (although mind eaters do not have this issue), to the point where Devon has to rely on Cai to send even a text message.

This was a rough read, but still, I did read it in one sitting, and I'll credit Dean for that level of excellent craft for sure.

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