The Last One

I always get a little tingle when I realize after the first few pages of a new book that I'm not going to be able to put it down. That's exactly what happened with Alexandra Oliva's debut novel The Last One. I started it early on a Sunday morning and read straight through to the end (somewhat delaying our afternoon plans....)

Admit it, you've watched at least one episode of a reality television show. (There's lots to choose from!) In The Last One, Oliva has twelve contestants participating in a remote wilderness challenge, seeing how far they can push themselves.

"That's the whole idea behind the show, after all - to break the contestants. Though the twelve who entered the ring were told that it's about survival. That it's a race. All show more true, but. Even the title they were told was a deception. Subject to change, as the fine print read."

Oliva nicely skewers reality tv, with the producer and editor's comments, the cheesy host, the dehumanizing of the participants by giving them descriptors as names - Waitress, Tracker, Black Doctor, Zoo, Biology and others. It's only the contestants themselves who use their real names. The manipulation of what has been filmed, presenting the storyline they want viewers to see. "All they care about is that the viewers watch to the end." Chat room responses to the show reinforce this.

But while they're removed from society, something happens. Some sort of deadly pathogen strikes the country. While some participants realize this, others don't - they still believe they're on the show - and that the cameras are still rolling. Zoo is one of those who has no idea. The reader walks along with Zoo, who is determined not to quit - she is going to be the last one standing.

We know something has happened and see Zoo's thoughts and choices through that knowledge and question her logic. But seen through her eyes, her choices make sense. She is in survival mode - both physically and mentally.

"I had no idea it would be like this. They didn't say anything about a fake pandemic or props shaped like dead people. About animatronics or feral cats. Empty towns and abandoned children. They didn't say anything about being so alone for so long."

Dystopian/apocalyptic novels are a favourite of mine and Oliva has put a delicious spin on hers. I really liked Zoo as a character (her real name is only mentioned once). Her determination, resilience and stamina to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Oliva's imagining of her journey totally captured me - who knows what's around the next bend, what she will face, if she'll survive. There was no way to predict where the story was going to go and I was on the edge of my seat for most of the book.

Oliva ends the book on a great turn. I had wondered how she could finish off such a great read, but she surprised me. The ending was just right. The Last One is absolutely one of my favourite reads this year. I can't wait to see what Oliva writes next. show less

I stayed up to 2am to finish this. Enthralling book. I loved the contrast between the chapters - how the media editors dehumanize the people in the TV show to create narrative versus how the character wandering alone blocks reality and dehumanizes the victims by believing that it is created by the media. I almost wish the book had ended at chapter 22 or 23 because that would be maximum messed-up-ness, but it does tie up (most of) the loose ends so I can respect that too. Our main character is going to be supremely messed up after all this anyway.

The Last One is a simple story. There is a survival-based reality show that touts itself as pushing its contestants to the very edge of their limitations and perhaps even beyond. There are twelve contestants who are completed isolated from society with no means of communication and no outside contact other than that provided by the camera crews. The story follows Zoo as she pushes herself to the finale. She is utterly alone since her cameraman failed to show up one day, but her determination never wavers even though she has lost enthusiasm for the game given the extreme nature of the challenges she faces. All she wants to do is reach her home and her husband and claim her prize. Little does she understand that those challenges are not show more fake, and the chaos she sees on the “sets” are real.

The Last One is not just about media manipulation of reality; it is also about the combined frailty and strength of the human psyche. It is about the skewed perception of reality as we project what we want to see on what is actually there. It is as much an action story as it is a psychological one. As Zoo continues to ignore the clues presented to her, one wonders if she will ever realize the truth. The ease with which she is able to recognize the producers’ “tricks” is disconcerting and makes you question her sanity. At the same time, you cannot help but admire her resilience when her perceived reality is the only thing that allows her to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

There are few answers within The Last One, and that is okay. The story is not about what happened to the world but how one person continues in spite of what happened. Neither is the story all doom-and-gloom. This is not a post-apocalyptic world with few survivors like other end-of-world stories. There are survivors and the world is not completely over. There is unwavering hope and an ability to find beauty in every situation. It is the human story in its most basic form.

The Last One is a chilling novel about our collective obsession with reality TV and the psychological games such shows employ. Switching back and forth between Zoo’s experiences and what the behind-the-scenes of the show itself, readers get a clear picture of how little attention they pay to a contestant’s state of mind in these extreme, survival-type shows. At the same time, it is very much a survival story that whittles what it means to live and to love down to its very essence. The pacing of the story as well as the compelling nature of Zoo’s plight makes this a fast read and a great summer page-turner. show less

Twelve reality show contestants head into the woods to face challenges in a game designed to test the limits of their endurance. But, while they are in the woods, a devastating event occurs. Uncertain as to whether the destruction is a natural occurrence or a manmade catastrophe, there are few choices for those who remain.

However, the contestants, off in the woods by themselves, have no idea that anything untoward has occurred, and continue following the rules of the game. Thus, when Zoo stumbles across evidence of the catastrophe, she believes it is a make-believe terror provided by the show to manipulate her into one action or another. As the story unfolds, Zoo tests the limits of her survival skills and ultimately seeks to separate show more the game from the reality of her life.

With well-drawn characters and a strong sense of place, this tale of struggle for survival pitted against the machinations of the script for the reality show reveals the way people make choices. Part dystopian, the tale focuses less on the emerging new order than on the impact of relationships and our own understanding of exactly who we are.

Highly recommended. show less

It took me a little bit to get into this novel despite the rather streamlined and quick pacing and uncomplicated plot, but that was mainly due to the whole Reality Tv setup.

I got over that pretty quick because I got into the characters and especially Zoo's shifting viewpoint forward and backward through the timeline and the easy telegraph of the utter tragedy that was to befall everyone taking part in this media extravaganza. And further, of course. :)

Well as soon as I got established? Well, hell, this was a blast and a half. I really enjoyed seeing an end-of-the-world novel do a sophisticated treatment on the issue of perception of reality.

Isn't that a big thing in Reality Tv, too? People turn life into a game and it distorts show more everything they know. Mix it with something truly horrific and watch the mind work as it tries to sort or refuses to sort through the horrors, even denying reality for the sake of pure survival.

I can't blame Zoo. Not at all. I rooted for her even as I had to interpret all she saw and get horrified even more FOR her.

This has got to be one of the most complicated uncomplicated dystopian novels I've read in a very long time, having a razor-sharp focus on perception and coping mechanisms.

It may also be about the idiocy of modern media, a condemnation, but that part took a back seat for me. :)

This was a really fun tale. :) show less

The Apocalypse Will Be Televised

(Full disclosure: I received a free electronic ARC for review through NetGalley. Trigger warning for rape.)

Even the best among us can break, thinks the editor. That’s the whole idea behind the show, after all—to break the contestants. Though the twelve who entered the ring were told that it’s about survival. That it’s a race. All true, but. Even the title they were told was a deception. Subject to change, as the fine print read. The title in its textbox does not read The Woods, but In the Dark.

###

I pick it up, thinking it might be a Clue. I unfold the paper and read:

INDIVIDUALS EXPERIENCING SYMPTOMS—LETHARGY, SORE THROAT, NAUSEA, VOMITING, LIGHTHEADEDNESS, COUGHING—REPORT IMMEDIATELY TO THE show more OLD MILL COMMUNITY CENTER FOR MANDATORY QUARANTINE.

I stare at it for a moment, uncomprehending. And then, like dominoes falling, I understand. I understand everything. Taking my cameraman away, the cabin, the careful clearing of all human life from my path—they’re changing the narrative. I remember Google-mapping the area they told us we’d be filming in before I left home. I remember noticing a patch of green not far away: Worlds End State Park. I remember because I loved the name but cringed at the lack of an apostrophe. But perhaps the name isn’t a title, but a statement. Perhaps the park’s proximity to our starting location wasn’t coincidence. For all I know, it was our starting location.

Those clever assholes.

###

I remember watching a show with a similar premise on the Discovery Channel, years ago. It was billed as an experiment; people who “survived” a simulated flu outbreak had to build a little community before finding a way to safety. They got to do cool stuff like wire up solar panels and build cars. All I get to do is walk endlessly and listen to a rambling kid tell a bullshit story.

###

Have you all seen the legal releases that leaked yesterday? 98 pages!

###

Pushing thirty and married to a wonderful guy, "Zoo" is finally thinking about settling down and starting a family. And the idea terrifies her. So much so that she'd do anything to delay the (seemingly) inevitable: including audition for a survivalist-type reality tv show in which twelve contestants brave the wilderness - and each other - for a shot at winning a million bucks.

A week into filming, Zoo and her now-eight cast mates are out on a Solo Challenge when the plague hits. In all the chaos and confusion, the production team is unable to pull Zoo out (they had contingency plans, but not for this!). Guided by what she thinks is a Clue - a doormat reading "Home Sweet Home" - Zoo treks east, ignoring the corpses and ransacked stores that line her path. It's all just part of the game - and they will not get a rise out of her a second time.

If the premise seems a little hard to swallow, I can't argue. However, Oliva coats the plot with clever details that make it go down just a wee bit easier. By the time the shit hits the fan, Zoo's already shaken and disillusioned with the experience; after all, she and her team just witnessed a lost and injured "hiker" take a nosedive off a cliff. (The special effects were cheesy, but still.) Then there are the Clues, highlighted in Zoo's color, blue; when you're primed to see signs, you'll soon spot them everywhere. Further blurring Zoo's reality is the loss of her glasses in an animal attack. (As someone who needs corrective lenses, this twist hit me especially hard. Losing my glasses would make me easy pickings, if I wasn't already.)

Despite Zoo's uncertainty, the audience knows pretty early on that the apocalypse is real. Instead of detracting from the suspense, this merely shifts it: when will Zoo stop filtering sensory input through the lens of reality television and finally accept what her eyes and ears and nose are telling her? How long will it take Zoo to recognize the so-called props, Clues, and Challenges for what they really are: death, destruction, and actual, honest-to-goodness marauders? And can she come to her senses before it's too late?

Equal parts apocalyptic tale and an interrogation of reality television, The Last One works well on both levels. As a scifi story, it's entertaining, compelling, and a little different from anything I've read. While it's true that Zoo spends an inordinate amount of time simply walking, Oliva imbues even this mundane activity with tension and suspense, since you're not quite sure what Zoo will find; how she'll explain it; or whether she'll even spot it without her glasses.

The impending motherhood subplot made me a little nervous; it's pretty clear, even early on, that Zoo doesn't want to have a kid and doesn't know how to tell her husband. Later on, when she finally accepts what's happened - that her husband is likely dead - she blames herself, as if this is some cosmic punishment for her failed femininity. (Yuck!) Yet the ending (a little happier than you'd expect, but not enough that it ruined things for me) disavows this (rather normal fear), in a way. In another way, not. It's not the worst resolution of the conflict, anyway.

The reality tv angle is especially clever and well-done. Anyone who's watched just a handful of such tv shows knows that there's little "real" about them. From casting to editing, the show is constructed and scripted to reflect a certain (often preordained) version of reality. Participants are cast to fill specific roles (often shaped by stereotypes and reduced to caricatures); camera angles are carefully chosen to show only that which the creators wish the audience to see; footage is edited to reflect a certain narrative. While I was aware of all this on a certain level, The Last One really brought it into stark relief.

By story's end, Zoo's willful ignorance seems almost reasonable: When the unreal outweighs the real, which is true?

I especially love the story's construction: the first week of filming is presented in third-person past-tense, and these chapters alternate with Zoo's present-day narration of (what she thinks is) her current Solo Challenge. Whereas the television show is, on its face, an unreliable representation of reality, these chapters - which provide a behind-the-scenes look at In the Dark - are actually more trustworthy than Zoo's perception of events, skewed as they are by her expectations. Yet the anonymous, third person narrator (who comes to represent the show for me) refers to everyone by their nicknames, the part they were cast to play; e.g., "Black Doctor," "Air Force," "Tracker," "Asian/Carpenter Chick," etc. - whereas Zoo gives them their first names back. It's an interesting juxtaposition of real and scripted, with different narrators filling in various pieces of the puzzle.

Read it if: you like an edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller or creepy apocalyptic tale; you're a reality tv junkie.

http://www.easyvegan.info/2016/07/11/the-last-one-by-alexandra-oliva/ show less

Well, that was a big ol' nothing.

Seriously, nothing happens. Our heroine, Zoo (it's a nickname, and a stupid one at that), is a contestant on a weird reality show where contestants have to survive in the wild. What she doesn't know is that a plague has just wiped out a huge chunk of the world population, and that she is on her own.

This is a really interesting premise. The book is not. Zoo is an idiot not to realize that the apocalypse she's witnessing isn't reality tv fiction. No show could possibly have that kind of budget, and her delusions stretch credulity. Also, nothing happens. The book alternates chapters between Zoo's perspective on her 'Solo challenge' and her experience on the show when it was still actually running. The show show more itself is stupid and fairly tame, nothing to warrant Zoo's fervent belief that yes, the show would totally fake an abandoned suburban wasteland just to freak her out. But in either set of chapters, nothing happens. It's boring.

There are plenty of red herrings, storylines that don't pan out. Those are annoying, because they promised plot and then delivered nothing (oh hai, Exorcist). The characters are flat, dull, and fail to make any impression. No one is explained, or sketched beyond a caricature. This includes Zoo, with whom we spend 100% of the book. Zoo's motivations are a mystery. Why would anyone subject themselves to the things she does, believing the entire time she can leave the show whenever she wants and then completely refusing to? It's ridiculous. This whole book is a ridiculous, boring mess.

This book has been compared to The Passage and Station Eleven. I only got about a third of the way through The Passage, but that comparison made me think the apocalypse in this book was going to involve werewolves. Stupid, maybe, but there were a lot of wolves. Having finished the book, I am able to confirm a distinct lack of werewolves. I am disappointed.

Which leaves me with Station Eleven, and I can kind of see the connection. Both books are about the apocalypse via deadly disease. Both books are light on plot. Both books feature female protagonists. But Station Eleven and The Last One couldn't be more different. Station Eleven is filled with compelling, believable characters. It is an elegy, an astonishingly lovely piece of work that made me cry unabashedly. The Last One is not an elegy or paean. It is a nothing of a book. It is the epitome of blah. show less