The Strangers

 

The Strangers by Naomi Alderman
9/22/26; 288 pages
Little, Brown and Company 

The Strangers by Naomi Alderman is a highly recommended novel which is part memoir, part speculative novel. This unique novel is autofiction and unlike anything I've read before as it mixes a deeply personal autobiographical account of grief with additional science fiction elements.

Across England more and more people begin seeing a strange new creature they never noticed before. It is about the size of a badger with fur that is brown and cream and black and grey. It has a fanned tail, flat face, and a long proboscis , like an elephant's trunk. It is given the moniker mimmoth, based on "mini-mammoth." They gradually appear to be everywhere and writer Naomi Alderman captures an early photo of one on a wildlife camera in the garden of her parent's home. As the mimmoths spread across the globe, it appears that they are docile, private animals who also spread a beneficial fungus, restoring the land and breaking down waste.

While this phenomena is occurring, Naomi is deeply grieving the loss of her mother as well as a series of miscarriages that has left her devastated. She recounts her relationship with her mother along with the extended health issues her mother experienced. At the same time she is documenting her sometimes fraught relationship with her mother. There is also the overwhelming grief she has for the children she loss before they were born and the family they represented. The grief Naomi is working through, along with her father, who is dealing with his own health concerns, is very real and palpable throughout the novel. 

This is all set after Covid and Brexit, which, along with the mimmoth psychosis it was claimed some people were experiencing, begs some sort of connection that was never directly made, but could be speculated upon as allegorical. The plot point that introduced the bureaucrat/conspiracy theorist Ian Frinton was never fully realized (or I couldn't make the direct connections), but begs some symbolic connection to a changing reality. Perhaps the sudden appearance of mimmoths draw on the sudden appearance of a (manmade) virus... One benign and helpful versus one used for control and destruction. 

The writing is excellent and descriptive. Since this is a short book, the speculative fiction part of the plot works quite well. The mimmoths are there along side the brutal reality of life and death, enhancing the sense of the unknown. This won't be a good choice for everyone, but it turned out to be a very good, unique choice for me that was both thoughtful and introspective. If you have experienced loss in your life, you will sympathize with Naomi. It will also appeal to all those who enjoy watching wildlife and would notice a new visitor in their garden.

The Strangers by Naomi Alderman is a wonderful novel for the right reader who is open to autofiction combining an autobiography with science fiction. Thanks to Little, Brown and Company for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.