(em português → sol2070.in/2024/03/livro-girl-in-the-road/ )

As the title of Monica Byrne's "The Girl In The Road" (2015) suggests, it's a road journey -- one of my favourite genres. But it's something unforgettably different.

In the year 2068, a young Indian girl crosses an ocean, walking thousands of kilometres across a bridge that captures energy from the ocean waves, from India to Africa. In a parallel story, a child escapes her home by crossing Africa to Ethiopia.

In this future, devastated by climate change, India has become a dominant power and the African continent is cooking revolutionaries. It's a relief to be immersed in a story totally outside the current dominant cultural axis (even though the author is from USA).

The first-person narrative throws you inside the characters.

The main themes are: multiculturalism, transgenerational disorder, post-collapse societies, female power, mythological and spiritual dimensions of existence.

I came across this book because I loved her most recent work: "The Actual Star" (2022). It has some similarities, such as its decolonialism, religious myths, charged sexuality and impressive twist at the end.

At the time of its release, "The Girl in Road" was a sensation in the speculative fiction universe. It does live up to the warm praise it received.