Annihilation

I was interested to see if Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer was as much nonsense as its film adaptation. I've occasionally seen people mentioning they liked the movie even though it was a box office bomb. I suppose it was easier to start watching on Netflix than go to a theater to specifically see it. I found the movie pointless -- much like the novel now. They got that right.

In the novel, there is a mysterious coastal region labeled Area X. It wasn't always there (somewhere in the US) and what created it is unknown. What is known is that reality isn't quite right in the Area. Many expeditions have been sent there and the few individuals who have managed to return, haven't done so as their old selves.

Annihilation follows the 12th expedition -- though if it's even the 12th one is questionable; so much in the story comes from unreliable sources and narrator. Annihilation is told in epistolary form, supposedly from the notes of the protagonist who is a biologist. The other three team members are a psychologist, an anthropologist, and a surveyor. All are women and none are given names.

From the very start there seems to be a lack of team spirit. The women don't know each other and don't want to either. The distrust soon spirals into hostility as the weirdness of the place takes hold of them.

The novel didn't go quite like I recall the film going; there were many differences in details. The general vibe was largely the same though. The movie's script was also written before VanderMeer had written continuation to the novel. I'm quite surprised it's a whole trilogy. Like, what is the point of it? It's like H.P. Lovecraft's stories: there's nothing gained from going through it.

I was amused by one review mentioned on the novel's Wikipedia article. The story was allegedly so suspenseful that:"about three hours later, I looked up again with half the book behind me and wondered how I'd gotten from there to here." It took 3 hours for the person to read 100 pages? That seems extremely slow to me; I was done with the whole thing in 2.

I read the novel as a Finnish translation (by Niko Aula) and I feel it didn't always follow Finnish comma rules. I guess it was to imitate the original English prose but it looked wrong to me.

I suppose I will check out the rest of this Southern Reach trilogy too, just to see if it actually has a point in the end. I predict that won't be the case.