2 A.M. in Little America

March 21, 2022
Kalfus (Equilateral) returns with a subtly provocative dystopian story. Ron Patterson, an adventurous young man living in a vaguely autocratic unnamed country, works a menial job inspecting rooftop security systems. While atop a skyscraper, he observes a nude woman through a window and hatches a plan to meet her. Part of the thrill of Kalfus’s engrossing story is in how he pieces together the details of his near-future world: America has “fallen,” and it’s not clear how; Ron pretends to be Canadian when meeting new people; and the streets are overrun by gangs. After a brief affair with Marlise, the woman Ron saw from the roof, he moves from one country to another, eventually settling in with fellow expats in a region he thinks of as “Little America,” which, like the old America, is chronically polarized and sometimes dangerous yet still feels like home. The slide into totalitarianism accelerates, as evidenced by a student protest that’s violently quashed by the military; citizens are so used to turmoil that it barely registers. Ron’s immersion in this changing country becomes an obsessive search for answers about the past, with everyone he meets reminding him of better days and triggering an aching nostalgia, which Kalfus makes emotionally charged. This low-key effort gradually takes hold on the reader. Agent: Christy Fletcher, Fletcher & Co.

September 1, 2022

This novel by PEN/Faulkner and National Book Award finalist Kalfus (A Disorder Peculiar to the Country) is set in a future where warring factions in the United States have sent people abroad to seek refugee status. One of thousands of immigrants, Ron Patterson is a computer-equipment repairman in an unnamed country. His job gives him access to many spaces that would not be open to other immigrants, and he strives to be invisible and to refrain from taking sides in any dispute. He meets a woman he thinks he has seen before, and they forge a fledgling relationship before the immigration laws of the country force them both to go elsewhere. In his new country, Ron encounters his lover again. She and her husband, both Americans, are shipping guns and other contraband, hoping to arm another insurrection. Ron accidentally becomes a hero in the eyes of the insurrectionists. Kalfus presents here the confusing life of a not-quite-legal immigrant. His characters change names, occupations, and affiliations on a regular basis. Their uncertain status and precarious living conditions make them both invisible and vulnerable. B. J. Harrison's narration creates a dreamlike atmostphere. VERDICT Listeners interested in immigration and its consequences will enjoy this audiobook.--Joanna M. Burkhardt

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