Crosshairs

September 7, 2020
Hernandez’s searing if heavy-handed blend of dystopian fiction and social commentary (after Scarborough) conceives of a near future in which environmental disaster leads to a white supremacist regime in Canada. Kay, born Keith Nopuente, describes himself as a “Queer Femme Jamaican Filipino man” and is one of the “Others”—including LGBTQ, POC, and disabled people—who are being marginalized in a campaign to restore Canada to “order” and “tranquility” in the wake of floods and food shortages that caused mass displacement in the country. The Renovation, a government-sanctioned program, deploys special forces called the Boots to strip the Others of their rights in the name of providing food and shelter, rounding them up and forcing them to work in labor camps—or killing them for resisting. Kay hides out first in Toronto with Liv, a white, queer ally of the Resistance, and then at Beck’s, another queer, white ally. As the characters band together, they take steps toward a drastic action to gain the country’s attention. Hernandez takes a scathing look at discrimination and capitalism in her disturbingly familiar look at Western culture, but, unfortunately, this often reads more like a how-to-ally manual than a novel. While the premise is well-imagined, the story suffers from a lack of nuance. Agent: Marilyn Biderman, Transatlantic Agency.

November 1, 2020
In her second novel for adults, Hernandez imagines a repressive near future that feels like a slight exaggeration of the present. The narrator, Kay Nopuente, describes himself as a "Queer Femme Jamaican Filipino man." Evan is the lover from whom he was separated when the Canadian government launched the final phase of Renovation--a program that relocates anyone who deviates from a White, cisgender, straight norm to labor camps. Kay is lucky in that he has been sheltered by the Resistance. Part of the narrative focuses on Kay's training to join an armed rebellion led by Others like him and allies committed to using their privilege on behalf of Others. Part of the narrative is made up of Kay's comrades telling their stories. And much of the narrative is Kay's own account of escaping abuse at the hands of his mother and her church and finding a community where he could live freely as himself. One chapter offers scenes of an army veteran who has joined the Resistance teaching Kay to shoot a gun interwoven with glimpses of Kay receiving instruction in the finer points from a more experienced performer. The juxtaposition is powerfully affecting. Beyond that, the disparate parts of this novel are uneven in quality and don't create an entirely satisfying whole. One issue is that several key characters end up feeling more like allegorical examples than real people. Another is that, while Kay is an engaging protagonist and the details of his life would be sufficiently compelling if this novel were simply the story of his life, this novel is not simply the story of his life. Every time the story shifts back into the past, the plot loses momentum. In creating the Renovation and the Resistance, Hernandez is borrowing science-fiction conventions without fulfilling their promise. Taken altogether, every aspect of the novel feels underdeveloped and unfinished. Earnest but disappointing.

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November 1, 2020
Hernandez's second novel covers themes similar to those in her first book, Scarborough (2017)--social justice, racism, marginalized communities--but this time she takes readers to an even darker place. In a near-future, dystopian Canada, the Flood has caused food and water shortages and a white supremacist prime minister has seized the opportunity to force people of color, LGTBQ+ folks, and those with disabilities into work camps. Kay, who describes himself as a "Queer Femme Jamaican Filipino man," is one of the Others forced into hiding from the Boots, a military force that rounds up the Others and unleashes violence on any that don't comply. Liv, a white ally and part of the Resistance, has helped Kay and others survive. Now they are all preparing to fight back. Flashbacks illuminate Kay's backstory, including his drag queen days and relationship with Evan, and every character has a moment to tell their story. Hernandez delivers beautiful and heartbreaking scenes in a story that is hard especially because of how close it feels to our present.

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Starred review from December 1, 2020

After environmental catastrophe leads to mass displacement, a fascist government rises in Canada and launches the Renovation. Wealthy whites rule, while those who are Other--Black, Brown, LGBQT, and more--are hounded, lynched, and placed in concentration camps that purvey forced labor and genocide, though to the outside world they pass as workhouses furnishing much-needed jobs. Kay, a Queer Femme Jamaican Filipino man who worked as a drag queen before the Renovation drove him underground, hides in the basement of a white woman named Liv, who works for the resistance. Soon, Kay must go on the run again, joined by Iranian Trans Bahadur and assisted by Beck, a gay white soldier rebelling against the regime; eventually, they are persuaded to join the forthcoming uprising, though not before giving Beck an earful about his presumptions. Novelist/playwright Hernandez (Scarborough) deploys the well-developed characters effectively, creating a chilling and persuasive portrait of a scarily recognizable dystopia and building to a satisfying (if a bit overblown) ending. VERDICT A near-future tale of oppression and resistance that is deeply resonant today.

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