FORMAT: PAPERBACK (REVIEWED) + DIGITAL | RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 8TH
Much like the X-Men comics have done since the 1960s, Bob Proehl’s The Nobody People uses the sci-fi / superhero genre as a lens to examine socio-political inequalities in contemporary society. The first of a two-part series, The Nobody People opens with the brutal murder of a family in Powder Basin, Wyoming. The family was targeted because they displayed special abilities – powers which others did not understand and therefore made them the enemy. So begins a grim, sprawling tale about “Resonants” and their fight to survive in a society whose response to otherness is violence.
Until now, Resonants had existed in secret. Everything changes when Kevin Bishop, a telepath and headmaster of a school for young Resonants, comes to reporter Avi Hirsch with the story of a lifetime: the opportunity to reveal these peoples’ existence to the world. The world proves unwelcoming, and The Nobody People tracks a host of diverse characters as they face alienation and bigotry from ordinary humans.
What is particularly praise-worthy is the novel’s awareness of how factors such as race, religion, sexual orientation and gender would intersect with one’s identity as a Resonant and compound the discrimination faced by individuals. This is done as chapters change from one character’s point of view to the next, introducing the reader to a handful of lead characters and a myriad of secondary players. Though the primary characters are fleshed out over the course of the story and work to both illustrate and challenge real-life prejudices, the overarching structure does at times suffer from an over-abundance of subplots.
Proehl’s attempt to showcase every facet of a diverse Resonant community comes at a cost: the narrative at times becomes unwieldy, the action or exposition stagnant. There are instances where some of the heftier themes, such as state-sanctioned violence and internment or intergenerational conflicts of ideology are denied the depth they need in favour of yet another character’s backstory. Despite this, The Nobody People succeeds in creating a cynical, harshly realistic world that draws uncomfortable parallels with our current socio-political climate. It also resists giving the reader easy answers, casting morally complex characters whose desperation to survive pushes them to impossible choices.
The Nobody People is a haunting story of empowerment, persecution, and otherness that resonates with contemporary relevance.
