Theory of Bastards

Starred review from February 19, 2018
Schulman’s wonderful, intricate novel (following Three Weeks in December) is set in the palpably near future. When the superstar of the biological research world, 33-year-old Frankie Burke, joins the team at an ape foundation in the Midwest, she thinks things are finally falling into place. She has just undergone major surgery to eliminate the chronic pain from endometriosis she’s suffered from since childhood, she is fresh off a MacArthur “genius grant,” and she now has a fascinating group of bonobos to help test her wild new theory about evolution—that women cheat on men because children born of extramarital affairs have evolutionary advantages. What she doesn’t plan on is the arrival of a dust storm, which causes a power outage, rendering useless the technology that keeps the foundation functioning—from the screens and cameras in the researchers’ eyes to the 3-D printer that feeds the apes. She also doesn’t plan on the closeness she develops with Stotts, her ex-military fellow researcher, or the relationships she will build with the creatures she cares for, or the harrowing journey they’ll all have to take together out of the research station. Schulman’s vision of the future is powerful and strange, but it is less a commentary on society’s dependence on technology than a propulsive story rooted in a future that feels possible. The incorporation of research into the narrative is seamless, and the result is an astute, impeccable page-turner readers will savor.

Starred review from February 15, 2018
In the midst of a powerful climate-change event, a brilliant young scientist pursues her radical study of evolutionary biology in this intriguing mix of speculative and ecological fiction.Francine Burk understands pain as intimately as she understands desire. Diagnosed with endometriosis in her 20s, Frankie uses a unique awareness of her body to inspire her unusual scientific research methods. She tracks seemingly whimsical mating habits, first in finches, then in humans, uncovering a theory of evolutionary diversity that will make her famous enough to inspire an online dating company called The Love Bank and field questions from NPR's Ari Shapiro. The research garners her a prestigious fellowship to the Foundation, where she partners with David Stotts, a no-nonsense biologist who served in the Army Reserves, to study the Foundation's capricious population of bonobos. While there's plenty to digest in these details alone, Schulman (Three Weeks in December, 2012, etc.) also weaves futuristic elements into this well-researched novel. Humans are wired into the Quark, driverless cars have replaced Uber, and large-scale climate events threaten to wrinkle the smooth efficiency of networked life. When a large dust storm disrupts Frankie's research at the Foundation, she must adapt to the changed landscape quickly in order to help her partner--and the apes--stay safe. These seemingly disparate elements make for a deeply unusual, psychologically astute novel about technology and survival, sex and love. If the late Philip K. Dick and Ann Patchett had managed to team up and write a collaborative novel, it might look something like this.Beguiling, irreverent, and full of heart.

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.