The Race is eloquent, engrossing, and a deeply personal exploration of character and one vast, almost ethereal idea.Talking about this book is difficult; it's structure is layered, and the connections between each of its pieces is left up to some interpretation. The book is divided into four sections. In the first we follow Jenna Hoolman as she reflects on her life in the fictional British town of Sapphire, and it is from her part that The Race gets its name. Sapphire is somewhat of a tourist town, and it's main attraction is the 'smartdog' racetrack. The sport is very much like normal dog racing, but with genetically enhanced greyhounds linked telepathically to their jockeys/runners with the help of an implanted micro-chip. Jenna has a brother who works as a manager and breeder of smartdogs, while she makes a living sewing personalized racing gloves for the dog runners, which is the popular fashion.
The writing through this section, and the book as a whole, is grounded, almost anecdotal. We learn more about Jenna's brother and the town of Sapphire as she drifts from tangent to tangent, filling up the town with detailed characters and history. Yet the story never feels as if it has lost its thread. Each new detail or detour serves a purpose. It informs us of character, or shines new light on the world Jenna inhabits. It makes every location feel real, and each person feel all too human.
The plot, as advertised, kicks off when Jenna's niece is kidnapped and held for ransom. It is revealed that she was taken for her ability to form an empathetic link with smartdogs without the use of a chip--she is a natural empath. Jenna and her brother concoct a plan, fail to get the niece back, and then the section ends with Jenna adjusting to the loss and returning to her normal life in Sapphire.
The second section follows Christy Peller, a woman recounting her life growing up in Hastings, and it is here that we begin to see the layers of reality in our author's story. Christy's story has no smartdogs, or implants, or empaths, yet her life is eerily similar to Jenna's. Both women have mothers who left them at a young age, fathers who died of illness, and brothers who took over the family business. Though one can make the connection earlier, it is revealed at the end of Christy's section that she is in fact the author of Jenna's story. Sapphire is her imagined world, an escape from Hastings, and a reflection of the desires and tumult within Christy's mind. The next two sections bring similar perspective shifts, but we do not go beyond these two layers. I could go on recounting the plot, but any summary or explanation would be a disservice to the quality of writing on display.
It might seem at first that The Race is best understood as a work of meta-fiction. We are meant to understand Christy through her writings and the parallels and symbolism that she has put into her work. And we are meant to see it this way, but there is more going on. The two worlds seem to bleed into each other. People go missing, alien messages are received, legends of portals between worlds date back to antiquity. We get the sense that Christy may only be a conduit; that the juxtaposition of her story with Jenna's world implies some causal link.
This may sound abstract or lofty, but even without these connections the book would still be incredible. The prose alone is enough to pull one in and keep them listening, even if they never were to grasp the larger universe Nina Allan has presented. Each section could be published as a stand-alone short and still work, even the 'Appendix,' which makes their connections more explicit and was apparently not part of the book's first printing in 2014.
The 'meaning' of The Race is open to interpretation, yet few interpretations are contradictory. It is an exercise in world building, an exploration of magical ideas, a near-future alternate universe, a real-world story of human monsters, and episodic look at an ensemble cast; all while being a deep study of a single character, her ideas, her flaws, and her works.
If this all sounds vague it is because I am unable to talk much about the substance of the book without ruining the experience. It's structure is as much a plot point as the details within, and I am not sure if I have already said too much. Suffice it to say that, real or not, I felt a deep connection to each of these characters, and I was absorbed by their stories. Read this book.
The Race is available for purchase from Titan Books. Nina Allan blogs at http://www.ninaallan.co.uk/
