I went into Exit Party without even having read the summary. When I finished it, I had to lie on my bed and stare at the ceiling for a little while. Sometimes, you just need to digest a story—give it a few minutes to roll through you, to decompress. Exit Party is one of those stories, and you should let it hit you, too.
I decided to read Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel because I enjoyed one of her previous works, Station Eleven. That was another book that gave me the same feeling Exit Party did, one of both fullness and emptiness. Exit Party was released in September of this year, so when I saw the announcement and recognized the author, I placed a hold right away without even looking at what it was about. Exit Party is a nonlinear literary fiction novel that tells the stories of Ari Waker after the collapse of the United States. She goes to a party with her roommate—a strange party that will affect the trajectory of her life. Throughout the book we learn about Ari: who she is and the different lives she lives.
After the collapse of the United States, the world becomes a lot more dangerous. There is a new freedom in a world without laws or a solid government that allows those with power to take advantage of the vulnerable. Mandel uses this world to explore the extremes of the characters, including Ari. How do the decisions you make in the face of uncertainty change the trajectory of your life? How do you change during life-threatening experiences? How do you stay the same? Later in the novel, a dichotomy is established that explores this even deeper: How similar are you to the ‘you’ that lived another life? Would your friends recognize more than just your face? Mandel explores these ideas throughout the entire novel. As a speculative literary fiction novel, she puts her characters into situations to explore something about the human condition. But she also leaves space for the readers’ conclusions.
While in one instance, the United States collapsed into warring states, in another, it transformed into an authoritarian surveillance state. In these strange yet believably written versions of what was the United States, Mandel explores freedom versus control. With freedom comes risk and uncertainty, and with control comes safety. She pulls both sides to their extremes to ask you: which would you choose? Is one better than the other? What I found most interesting is that she also breaks this question apart. True freedom is impossible; humans will always make some sort of hierarchy. Total control leads to safety only when everyone looks away from the most obvious flaws. Neither can be held on their own. It is where we balance between the two that matters. The setting is beautifully dark, but Mandel balances it with a sense of hopefulness, the possibility for a better future. Maybe we will find that balance. Maybe things will get better.
I greatly enjoyed Exit Party. Mandel’s settings are evocative, drawing you into a different world effortlessly. Her cast of characters are always compelling, pulling me along to discover more about them. She places her characters in a world not quite like our own but not too far away either, allowing her to explore who humans are. It is a haunting vision of the future, but not one without hope. If you enjoy speculative lit fic works that make you think about the world and who we are, I would recommend Exit Party.