The Sun Collective

September 7, 2020
Baxter’s first novel in over a decade (after The Soul Thief) juggles satirical social critique and family drama, resulting in a messy yet engrossing tale of activism and aging. Retired Minneapolis engineer Harry Brettigan spends his days searching for his adult son, Tim, who fell out of touch months earlier, and sweetly bickering with his wife, Alma. After Alma faints one day, she starts talking with their pets and is drawn to the Sun Collective, a community group that offers resources to homeless people. There, she befriends a younger couple, Ludlow and Christina, and Harry balks when Ludlow details his homicidal vision for “effective microviolence” against suburbanites to achieve the Sun Collective’s full potential. As Harry reckons with his relationships to Alma and Tim, he also travels down the rabbit hole of the Sun Collective to parse its true intentions; along the way, Tim reappears as a saved Collective member; the Sandmen, an extremist group that allegedly murders vagrants, emerge; and there’s a series of mysterious deaths. Throughout, Baxter smartly lampoons America’s political state and adds enough odd details to offset the occasionally murky plot threads. Readers willing to wade through the diversions will find a thoughtful study of anger, grief, and hope.

Narrator Bronson Pinchot adds a comic tone and an arched eyebrow to celebrated novelist Charles Baxter's latest fictional critique of contemporary society and politics. Retired Minneapolis engineer Harry Brettigan is searching for his lost son, Tim, who may be homeless. At the same time, Harry worries about America and President Thorkelson's erratic and disturbing behavior. When Harry's wife, Alma, falls and starts talking to the pets, Pinchot draws on his ability to inhabit secondary characters. Pinchot leads the listener into the shady rabbit hole of the Sun Collective as Harry unravels the real motives of the community group's support for the homeless. Pinchot's knowing tone adds an entertaining comic slant to Baxter's satire of America's political conflict. R.O. � AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine