Exile from Eden

Contains spoilers for Grasshopper Jungle.

Andrew Smith’s 2014 novel Grasshopper Jungle is one of my favorite books of all time, and I had no idea until recently that he, five years later, released this sequel, although I believe you could read this one without reading the first. Exile From Eden takes place approximately sixteen years after the first book, wherein the son of the first protagonist is dealing with the fallout of the new world. For those of us who either didn’t read Grasshopper Jungle or forgot about it, humanity has essentially been driven either underground or into hiding by a horde of gigantic, unkillable, man-eating praying mantises that were released from a lab. Grasshopper Jungle was witty, irreverent, and captured a totally unique look into the mindset of a young teenage boy growing up in rural America, and while Exile From Eden tries to capture the same magic, it falls a little flat.

Arek has spent his entire life in the hole. Underground, safe and away from the monsters on the surface, he sits in a bunker with little to do but hang around with his best and only friend Mel, the only other kid in the bunker. His two fathers, Austin and Robby, move between the bunker and outside of the hole, collecting supplies and attempting to find and connect with other people who may have survived the apocalypse. But when they don’t come back one day, and Arek is left to spend his days with his psychotic grandmother, his catatonically depressed mother, and the other few unusual characters in the bunker, he can’t deal with it. Stealing away to enter the outside world on his own for the first time, Mel tagging along, he sets off on a journey to find his fathers and bring them back safely, all the while realizing that the world outside of the hole is still worth saving.

What I loved about Grasshopper Jungle and what I love about Exile From Eden is the way that Andrew Smith describes the inner thoughts of a sixteen year old. When I read YA, one of the things I notice is how mature and wise the protagonists sound. I know teenagers can be smart, but I definitely was not putting together military strategy or doing other complex things at that age. None of Smith’s protagonists, Arek included, are stupid, but they act so realistically and react exactly how I might imagine a teen to act. Arek is a loyal, compassionate boy with immense love for his fathers and even a lot of sympathy for his mother. He’s wildly interested in history, particularly art history, and kind to his best friend Mel. He’s also scared bugfuck shitless of the world outside of the hole, has no illusions that he can destroy monsters, is everlastingly bitter about being socked in the balls once, and spends a not insignificant amount of the novel wondering why he’s sweating so much around Mel. I love him. The dynamic Smith sets up within the minds of his protagonists, where they are intelligent and complex but also totally childish and realistic. This is representation for actual teenagers, particularly teenage boys, who I feel like we see disappointingly less of in YA SFF these days.

However, part of the original appeal of Grasshopper Jungle was that there was a lot going on and our original protagonist, Austin, was dealing with some serious personal issues in a small town. The book was only moderately about the release of killer grasshoppers from underground labs and mostly about Austin coming to terms with his sexuality while still being in a relationship with a girl, and how to handle that. The balance between science fiction and emotional turmoil was perfect. Yet, Arek doesn’t find that balance. A lot of this book is spent wandering around without much emotional turmoil or sci-fi action. Arek’s main problem with his emotions is that he’s unsure if what he feels towards Mel is romantic or platonic, which is a pretty commonplace issue, and his encounters with the mantises are few and far between. This book is far slower and just overall has a lot less going on. There were definitely amusing points among this road trip, such as Arek not understanding that horror movies are fake, but most of it was just him and Mel in the van, meandering through the wildnerness. I know we should judge books based on their individual features, but compared to the brilliance of Grasshopper Jungle this one fades in comparison. Nothing wrong, exactly, but nothing exciting either.

Lastly, I just didn’t feel like the representation was really there. I loved Arek’s mother, Shannon, in the last book. She was strong but compassionate, played an equal part in the story, and felt really integrated into the narrative. Here, Mel doesn’t really do a whole lot, serving to play a kind but functionally useless character throughout the book. This might be a symptom of the fact that nothing really happens throughout the book and she’s just part of that, but it was still disappointing. There was also a subplot involving a Black character roaming the world that felt… off, at best. He was a great and intelligent character that showed a lot how the world outside had changed, but to cast his first Black character in a wild child role was not a choice I would’ve made.

Ultimately, Exile From Eden is a sequel that does too little, too late. I’ll still love Grasshopper Jungle for all its superb moments, zany and heartbreaking in equal measure, but this book is too mediocre to stand up against its predecessor.

TW/CW: brief instance of domestic abuse, homophobic language, religious zealotry, cannibalism (mentioned).

FOR FANS OF: emotion-centered narratives, realistic depictions of teenagers, road trips, crude humor.