On Such a Full Sea

Recently I finished On Such a Full Sea by Chang-Rae Lee.  The novel is not one that I would have stumbled upon on my own; rather, I was inspired to check it out from my local library after hearing a story on NPR's Weekend Edition.

Set in a dystopian America sometime in the not-so-distant future, the book follows the journey of Fan, a young woman searching for her missing boyfriend, Reg.  The America in which they live is divided into three distinct societies:  the upper class Charter villages, the self-contained working class cities, and the lawless counties that lie outside the walls of the other two.  Striving for perfection in health and lifestyle, the Charter villages rely on the high quality food produced in cities like B-Mor, where Fan and Reg are from.  Peoples living the counties are left to fend for themselves, growing their own food, providing their own services, and finding their own ways to survive in the midst of an ungoverned territory.  Little movement occurs between the three sections of society, but nevertheless, the reader follows Fan as she leaves B-Mor and journeys into the counties, encountering physical injury, an outcast veterinarian, and a dangerous family of performers along the way.  Her journey continues inside the walls of a Charter city, where she finds herself unwillingly serving a childless couple, keeping a doctor company, and uniting with a brother she has never met.  Slowly, over the course of the novel, the details of Fan's life inside B-Mor, and the affects her departure has on the city she left behind, are revealed as the residents of B-Mor itself tell her story.

One of the underlying themes of the book is the phrase "where you are." Fan lives in the moment.  She doesn't plan for anything.  Instead, she improvises as she goes, remaining in a situation until she sees fit to move on, and then letting whatever happens next happen without complaint. This really struck a chord with me because it reminds me of the struggles I've had since my college graduation, trying to live where I am even though it is not where I envisioned I would be.  I've been living as if this time in my life is a lost era.  It's as if my goal has been to get to the end of this period of time instead of learning from it and growing through it.  So while I thoroughly enjoyed On Such a Full Sea from start to finish, it has caused me to look at myself and where I am.