Ink

The ink of the title refers to tattoos that are mandatory for all immigrants in Vourvoulias’s near-future version of America. "Ink" is also a general term used to describe any person who has such a tattoo. The story follows a set of characters, some "inks" and some not, as they experience the societal and personal upheaval of the country’s descent into xenophobic bigotry. The action moves back and forth between several characters’ points of view, allowing us to experience the unrest through different eyes. Woven in with the more prosaic story about a society in upheaval, there are fantastical elements to the story, involving spirit animals and magic, closely tied to the mythology of South America. I’m guessing that some might show more find this part of the story distracting or derailing, but I liked it. I felt that it adds depth to the characterizations, and in illuminating the richness of the cultures, serves to remind us that "ink" or "illegal" does not define a person, a group of people, or an ethnicity.

Ink is not an easy book to read, precisely because it is so plausible. The setting is near-future-ish enough that one could easily envision many of these events taking place tomorrow — and one is forced to recognize that the xenophobia necessary to make it happen most definitely does exist in modern America. I recommend Ink as an interesting and challenging read for sf and non-sf fans alike.

The above is an excerpt from my full review, which is posted on my blog at http://www.englishchick.com/blog/?p=55 show less

I said while I was reading this book that there were many times I had to close the book (turn off the Kindle) and walk away because it was too possible. I can see the path that leads from the now I live in to the events of this book. I can see it clearly in the proposed laws about identification and education. I can see people and officials desiring a way to mark people permanently, so they and we can never mistake or forget who they are.

The inks in this book--those marked with tattoos denoting their immigration status--are, as they are in this world, Latinos. All Latinos. Even those who are citizens are tattooed, likely so that even they can some day be rounded up. (Notice, every Latino is tattooed. Not every immigrant, every Latino. show more No matter how many generations back their family came to the US, no matter their legal immigration status. Because it isn't immigration that's the true issue, it's race.)

Something that struck me in particular was a scene where a white man and a Latina woman were discussing proposed ink regulations. She was upset by it, because even though she was a citizen she could see how this harmed her. He commented something along the lines of it is what it is, easily accepting these laws because they didn't directly harm him. This is now. This is institutionalized racism.

I also said once during reading that a certain couple was making me grin like a fool while I was reading about their courtship. The characters in this book feel so real in themselves and in their various relationships. Some are lovers, some friends, some only acquaintances, but all are brought together by this process and all live their lives with it constantly in the background. And that's part of the message: that they keep living their lives, and the fight goes on. show less

Here is an important cautionary tale about what could happen when we fear the other and let that irrational fear dictate our laws. In Ink's America, an identity law is passed where anyone entering the country gets a scannable tattoo that can tell the reader what status the ink has: citizen, permanent resident, temporary, fake. If one of your parents is an ink, you are an ink too, regardless if the parent was a full citizen before the law passed. As the book progresses through a decade in time, so does the fear of the other: safehouses are raided; inks are harassed at checkpoints; if an ink shows any sign of illness, they are sent to inkatoriums, purportedly to protect the public (thus keeping the other out of our sight).

This is a book show more about controlling the other to a violent, horrifying extreme. But it's also a book about love, faith, magic, myth, family, heritage, culture. It's a book that embraces social media (especially Twitter) to inform at its most noble and subvert at its most revolutionary.

I loved the magic/myth in the book. Some have criticized the paranormal aspects of the story, but I think that's based on a lack of knowledge of the culture: many cultures have a deep belief in the supernatural or humanity's link/companionship with other non-human inhabitants. For me, the paranormal aspects made this book even more about humanity, especially considering the less-magically inclined people in charge could be so cruel and dehumanizing to anyone other than them. Who are we to say their experience, their traditions, are less real than ours?

I found this book personally important in my quest to become a better person, and I am glad I received it as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. As I grow older, I challenge my knee-jerk judgments of others-not-like-me or things I don't understand. A small example would be how I approach street art. Before, I saw it is defacing and intrusive, but I challenged myself to see it from a different perspective and I was able to see the art, creativity, expression, and beauty in it. What I mean by telling that story is that to understand the other--that being so alien and different and strange--you have to sit down and really listen to what they have to say: where they have been, what they believe, who they are, where they come from, where they want to go. It's inhuman to not give others the right and the time to join in the discussion. show less

This novel is set in an alternative contemporary US where life is made extremely difficult for immigrants. They are tattooed (“inked”) according to their standing and their rights are curtailed, forcing them into an underground or semi-underground lifestyle. It’s a very American novel, as far as the social and ethnic make-up of the characters is concerned (the majority of inks are Latino, and half of the non-inks have some Native American ancestry).

There is a mix of action and social commentary, with a dash of magic and angst that seems to typify YA lit. The novel is a good, fast-paced, adventure story first and foremost, and the reader is never hit over the head with ideology, but it is obvious the author also has things to say show more about political manipulation, ableism, racism, sexism, classism, and the effect privilege has on people, whether they’re privileged or subaltern. The author’s leniency towards gangs, however, makes me slightly uneasy. I’d probably recommend the book to older teens and adults, due to the sex, violence and gang-related activities described, and because its structure is fairly sophisticated, giving voice to a number of characters/points of view. I found Vourvoulias’s writing pleasant, with a good balance of description and dialogue, and I really liked her polyphonic approach to the story. show less

Vourvoulias masterfully weaves an increasingly complex parallel universe at once fantastical and eerily familiar: a not-so-farfetched future world where myth and legend cohabit with population control schemes, media cover-ups, and subcutaneous GPS trackers. She takes us on a whirlwind, goose-bump-inducing exploration of the dualities of life and death, the light and darkness of the human spirit, the indelibility of ink as both marker and recorder of our lives and the shape-shifting, vile nature of colonialism and bigotry. By the time you reach the novel’s bittersweet ending, you will know: this story is as immortal as the souls of the nahuales of our ancestors’ lore, and perhaps just as powerful.”

- Elianne Ramos, vice-chair of show more Latinos in Social Media (LATISM) show less

From Early Reviewers, e-book version. I had to stop reading after 2 chapters; not that it's not well-written - it is - but it's incredibly depressing and at the same time, increasingly plausible. Story concerns a near-future America where all non-white, non-US-born residents, whether citizens by birth, immigrants (legal or otherwise) or temporary workers, are marked with an indelible tattoo that indicates their status; "Inks," as they are popularly called, don't have the same rights as white US-born citizens, English is the only language permitted in the entire country, and - from 2 chapters only - things seem to be going from bad to worse. Others might like it or find it a call to arms; me, as I said, I just feel too depressed and show more demoralized to continue reading it.... show less

There were things I liked about this book and then at other times I was distracted by the disjointed writing style of the book. Actually, it appeared that the author had good ideas for two different books but ended up combining them into one. In particular, I liked the subject of the attitudes and responses that are developing in our country about immigration from Mexico, Latin America, and South America in particular. The intertwining of the myths were unnecessary. The message of the book would have been much stronger without the mythical/fantasy aspect.