The Transition

Starred review from October 23, 2017
Poet Kennard’s sharp, witty debut novel is about a generation who can’t seem to launch themselves into adulthood. In the near future, Karl, a debt-ridden 30-something, keeps afloat by using his useless English degree in morally dubious ways, writing fake five-star consumer reviews and “bespoke” essays for college students. When one of his writing gigs lands him in legal trouble, he is faced with a choice: serve a prison sentence or enroll, along with his blameless wife, Genevieve, into “The Transition,” a rehabilitation program aimed at rescuing “a generation suffering from an unholy trinity of cynicism, ignorance and apathy.” Opting for the latter, Karl and Genevieve must move in with Transition mentors, Stu and Janna, who counsel the younger couple on everything from financial responsibility and new career paths to personal hygiene and reading habits: “We want you both to read a newspaper.... A part of you still feels that newspapers are for grown-ups and that you’re not grown-ups.” While Genevieve excels under Stu and Janna’s guidance, the hapless Karl chafes against the cultlike aspects of the Transition and, after a series of often amusing transgressions, humiliations, and punishments, seeks to expose it as a less-than-benevolent self-help program. Enlivened by crisp dialogue and Wildean epigrams (“That’s the problem with self-respect...you start to feel offended when someone insults you”), the novel splendidly hums along. Kennard calibrates satire and sentiment, puncturing glib diagnoses of a generation’s shortcomings while producing a nuanced portrait of a marriage as precarious as Karl’s finances.

March 15, 2018

In this bleak portrait of where modern societal structures might be steering us, Karl has been offered a chance at redemption after one of his gig-economy jobs tangled him up with a criminal enterprise. He can stay out of prison if he and his wife choose to be mentored by a couple working for the Transition, an organization with government funding and an armor-plated contract. For six months, they'll be coached by their mentors in the areas of employment, nutrition, responsibility, relationships, finances, and self-respect. What transpires is a life suddenly laden with paranoia and fear digging into the worst aspects of the digital age, mental illness, gaslighting, gentrification, wealth divisions, and uncaring corporate "help." Karl finds himself vacillating between trying to complete his time with the system and chasing the hints that all is not right with it. All the while he is watching as his wife is encouraged to go without the medication for her bipolar disorder and heads toward a breakdown that no one else is willing to see coming. Kennard does well at evoking a new, decentralized Big Brother The ever-present anxiety Karl feels is well conveyed by reader Joe Gaminara's understated performance. VERDICT Highly recommended for fans of suspense, classic dystopias, futurists, and sf. ["The writing is deft, and there is humor but always under a cloud of ominous possibilities. It's a cautionary tale, to be sure, supportive of the idea 'if it's too good to be true, it probably isn't' ": LJ 12/17 review of the Farrar hc.]--Tristan Boyd, Austin, TX

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.