Disbelief

The problem for me was the water. I couldn’t understand how water worked in this world, a fictional polar island near Antarctica that is rapidly succumbing to sea level rise. In Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy, those rising seas threaten a lonely research outpost, but I couldn’t quite get the picture of how that water interacted with the topography of the land to such a degree that the whole island was being abandoned. The ocean waves threaten not only the research huts and the hospital, but also a seed vault holding precious seeds from around the world. It didn’t make sense that such an important vault would be built so close to the shoreline in the first place. I wondered why the vault and the research base weren’t relocated to higher ground. Instead, they were left to a salty demise.

That wasn’t my only question. At the start of the book, a teenage girl swims in those icy ocean waves with seals and penguins surrounding her. I couldn't imagine that. What would make it possible to survive such frigid exposure? I didn’t find the answer until, in subsequent chapters, it was mentioned that she wore a wetsuit, but that came too late for me. I had already become a wary reader. I questioned the reality of everything that the author was trying to describe—drownings, near drownings, improbable whale rescues. Water was a force in the book that moved the plot forward, but I was always skeptical.

Still, I did keep reading. McConaghy’s frantic, page-turning pace and emotionally gripping writing pulled me through the story. Trained as a screenwriter, McConaghy employs Hollywood-style plot twists to keep the reader on the edge. Plus, it’s a mystery: several of the researchers are dead, and a mysterious woman washes ashore half-drowned. This very commercial thriller tugs on the fears and longings of the reader so hard it helped the story become an instant bestseller, despite its flaws. Obviously, most readers didn’t care whether the water was a convincing part of the story. The multitudes were able to suspend disbelief.

For any novel or film or play to be successful, the reader or the audience must suspend disbelief. That means they willingly overlook anything that doesn’t mesh with reality as they embrace a story and fall into its imaginary world. Usually, some new technology or magic is successfully introduced by the storyteller to defy known limits of reality. However, when no explanation is given for abnormal events—even those that defy human survival limits or the laws of physics, the reader or viewer might be jarred enough to stop reading. And if that reader happens to be a book reviewer, they could give it bad publicity that will doom the book—unless other factors make it a marketing sensation.

A famous author like McConaghy has a huge fan base that will always be less critical of her work. I am sure that plays into the calculations of book reviewers as well. McConaghy’s previous successes make it difficult for the reviewer to be too harsh. Perhaps even her editors didn’t want to argue over issues with the text because they assume whatever she writes will sell anyway. McConaghy is also excellent at creating emotional intensity to capture our attention as any good storyteller should. She is not without Hollywood-worthy talent.

Her screenwriting skills might be her weakness, though. Screenplays rely on visuals to convey a lot of information. In a movie, you would see the wetsuit that the girl swam in at the beginning of the film. Perhaps that’s why McConaghy didn’t think to describe the girl wearing one on page three of the book. McConaghy didn’t realize I would not conjure up a wetsuit in my mind as I imagined the seventeen-year-old swimming with the seals. I never saw the wetsuit as I read those first few pages, though I felt cold enough to shiver. I kept wondering how she could survive those icy temperatures. It pulled me from the story as I contemplated that.

Thinking about the suspension of disbelief makes me wonder how any climate fiction will be received by casual readers. Climate denial is on the rise despite recent disasters across the globe. If a reader is not already worried about climate risks every day, they may be more skeptical of a climate fiction novel. That’s why, unless writers already have a huge fan base, any climate story writer must be very careful about how the fictional world is built, no matter if it's set in today’s reality, a future apocalypse, or a magical world.

Of course, what triggers one reader to not believe a story may not hold true for many others. For instance, I have fought wildland fires. It is very hard for me to become immersed in any climate fiction that uses wildfire disaster as a plot element because of my experience. Authors would have to work very hard to make it seem real to me. Most other people would read those same stories without such critical eyes, and if enough solid research and good editing makes it into those flame-driven stories, they will be authentic enough to suffice for the majority of booklovers.

Because Charlotte McConaghy has two other very successful works, Once There Were Wolves and Migrations, I am glad she is touching on climate change in this book to bring the issue to the attention of her fans. She only uses climate as the backdrop for her plot, though. There is no hint of climate solutions. It is not a story to inspire hope, but it might serve as yet another reminder to the casual reader that climate disaster is on the horizon, and we can’t ignore it forever.

If you are drawn to emotionally intense mystery, check out this book. Just remember to suspend your disbelief about the water. Grab a hot cup of tea and a comforter, because McConaghy did succeed in making me feel deeply chilled as I imagined myself in her frosty, polar world.