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language: English
country: USA
year: 2021
form: novel
genre(s): science fiction
dates read: 20.2.24-22.2.24
what if your body were changing in ways that you didn’t understand and couldn’t control? what if these changes destroyed your family? what if everyone you met were afraid of what you were becoming? what if people were taking advantage of the changes in your body, using your body to accomplish their own goals and then casting you aside?
that’s the plot of Nnedi Okorafor’s Remote Control, which is about a seven-year-old girl — Sankofa — who finds herself transformed by her contact with a mysterious seed given to her by the shea tree in her family’s garden. her touch permanently disables electronic devices; when she is threatened, her skin luminesces bright green, and people around her die; she is only beginning to be able to control this. after destroying her hometown, she wanders a near-future Ghana in search of the seed, which was stolen from her, trying to decide who she should become now.
it’s very good. Okorafor strikes a good balance of providing information for an adult reader and not moving beyond the perspective of Sankofa (who by the time the book begins is thirteen), who reads pretty convincingly as a child who’s been thrust into this childhood-ending position. Adjoa Andoh, who performs the audiobook, also does a great job with the movement back and forth between accents (though her American accent is a bit less convincing) and languages.
moods: dark, mysterious, reflective