The New Naturals
A Novel
-
-
3.8 • 4 Ratings
-
-
- $13.99
-
- $13.99
Publisher Description
**A 2023 NEW YORK TIMES and WASHINGTON POST Notable Book and a BOSTON GLOBE Best Book of the Year**
From the Ernest J. Gaines Award-winning author of Everywhere You Don't Belong, a touching, timely novel—called "smart, witty" by the New York Times Book Review, "fascinating" by the Boston Globe, and "wryly funny" by People—about an attempt to found an underground utopia and the interwoven stories of those drawn to it.
**Included in Fall Preview & Most-Anticipated Lists: New York Times, Washington Post, TIME, The Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Vulture.com, Esquire.com, ELLE.com, The Millions, and Lit Hub**
An abandoned restaurant on a hill off the highway in Western Massachusetts doesn't look like much. But to Rio, a young Black woman bereft after the loss of her newborn child, this hill becomes more than a safe haven—it becomes a place to start over. She convinces her husband to help her construct a society underground, somewhere safe, somewhere everyone can feel loved, wanted, and accepted, where the children learn actual history, where everyone has an equal shot.
She locates a Benefactor and soon their utopia begins to take shape. Two unhoused men hear about it and immediately begin their journey by bus from Chicago to get there. A young and disillusioned journalist stumbles upon it and wants in. And a former soccer player, having lost his footing in society, is persuaded to check it out too. But no matter how much these people all yearn for meaning and a sanctuary from the existential dread of life above the surface, what happens if this new society can't actually work? What then?
From one of the most exciting new literary voices out there, The New Naturals is fresh and deeply perceptive, capturing the absurdity of life in the 21st century, for readers of Paul Beatty’s The Sellout and Jennifer Egan’s The Candy House. In this remarkable feat of imagination, Bump shows us that, ultimately, it is our love for and connection to each other that will save us.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bump (Everywhere You Don't Belong) delivers a wry and astonishing sophomore novel centered on a pair of Black academics who flee their posts at a Boston liberal arts college to establish a utopia of sorts in western Massachusetts. Rio and Gibraltar both teach "Black people to white children," until Rio, pregnant and weary of campus racism, starts obsessively marking a global map with X's where such grim events as police killings, violent protests, and immigration crackdowns have occurred. "Tell me what you need," Gibraltar asks her; "Get me the fuck out of Boston," Rio replies. The pair secure an unnamed, wealthy benefactor searching for something "world-changing," and in a year's time, the subterranean utopia dubbed the New Naturals is carved into a mountain, with state-of-the-art classrooms, laboratories, a garden, and filtered air. Those drawn to the facility, including a young journalist in existential crisis and a former college soccer player, now broken and angry, are all searching for clean, safe living in a world on fire. Meanwhile, the utopia's growing pains spark tensions with the surrounding community that threaten its survival. Brisk dialogue and flashes of mordant humor pay off, and Bump cannily grapples with such issues as gentrification, microaggressions, and environmental racism. This is a scalding study in human nature.
Customer Reviews
Goes Deep
Interesting book. Explores the workings of mentalities most of us ignore, take for granted or frighten us. Though some of the dialogue felt like Waiting for New Naturals. Thought provoking for sure.