Jon Huer’s name will be familiar to readers of this newspaper from his frequent commentary here. A retired college professor, he has written several non-fiction books as well as a trilogy of stories centering around an American named Michael Brown.
Last year, I reviewed his “Green Palmers Chronicle,” a story of capitalism run amok in a small town. In that novel, Michael Brown was 12 years old. Since then, the author has published “Darwin’s Progress” and “Tales from Vespucci.” The hero was 35 in the second novel and over 60 in the third.
Huer let me choose between the two later books to review. I picked “Vespucci” because the author described it as relatively light. I had just finished a serious book and was ready for a lighter read.
“Tales from Vespucci” (Austin Macauley Publishers, 190 pages) is indeed light … although like the other two books in the trilogy (and like Huer’s op-ed pieces) it contains some darkness. The story is far from optimistic about the United States and our systems of government and economics.
Michael Brown and his friend Isaiah visit the fictional island of Vespucci as tourists but also to some extent as social scientists. Vespucci lies off the coast of Canada. It is divided into 20-odd provinces. Each province has idiosyncrasies … and each reveals something about our country’s (and humanity’s) foibles.
Despite its overall critique of many facets of American life, the book is fun, and Jon Huer obviously had fun writing it. His description of each province in Vespucci is highly imaginative, leading the reader to wonder what on earth is coming next.
The residents of one province are so disinclined to labor that they must hire others to chew their food. Another keeps men in a constant state of sexual arousal in order to prevent them from thinking about anything that might endanger the regime.
Another is inhabited only by robots, who unfortunately are prone to suicide. As they become more sentient, they begin to realize how isolated and loveless their lives are.
Another province punishes people who cannot pay their debts by removing parts of their bodies. Michael’s friend Isaiah wonders whether this is any crueler than locking them up in prison.
Michael Brown ends his tour of this strange land with a visit to a history museum that immerses visitors in holographic images of the past (and in one case the present and future) of three powerful world civilizations: the Roman Empire, the Third Reich, and the United States of America.
The exhibit about our own country is profoundly dystopian. The book proposes that although American history had golden moments in which the individual was both empowered and civic minded, our nation’s future is bleak, a hellscape of individual enslavement to social media.
I’m not sure I entirely agree with the author’s view of American history. Nevertheless, Jon Huer does warn us about possible consequences of our nation’s economics and culture. Moreover, he manages to do so in an entertaining way. “Tales from Vespucci” is an engrossing read.
“Tales from Vaspucci” is available online from its publisher, Austin Macauley, and from other bookstores.
Tinky Weisblat is an award-winning cookbook author and singer known as the Diva of Deliciousness. Visit her website, TinkyCooks.com.