Scratching the surface

A virus has infected the entire human race. Otherwise symptomless, it has one devastating effect: all women die in childbirth. People blame terrorists, nature or God. Society reels at the thought of its imminent demise while scientists race against the clock to find a solution.

This is the premise of The testament of Jessie Lamb, by Jane Rogers, and an excellent one at that. When I heard about this book I imagined a novel in the style of some of Margaret Atwood's works. And there are shades of this, especially when Jessie's father (a scientist) is describing the ever more desperate and ethically dubious techniques that are being employed. But one of the book's strengths turns out to be its greatest weakness: the author's ability to capture the personality of its 16 year old narrator. Jessie's viewpoint and her actions are coloured by her teenage self-absorption and sense of invulnerability and entitlement.

As such, we never hear about the wider impact that the virus is having on the world, on governments and services and society as a whole - Jessie's view is limited to her small world and the people she knows. There's no real mention of how the virus managed to infect the entire world so quickly, nor how it was created. Even the activist groups that Jessie and her peers get involved in seem more interested in young people's rights and animal testing than the current situation. Worrying about carbon dioxide emissions and trying to recreate a rural commune seem a bit pointless when the human race looks to be extinct in a generation.  Jessie's decision to put herself forward for a risky medical experiment initially seems baffling. It's only when trying to imagine a teenage mindset that it becomes clear. Jessie's grand gesture is the hollow posturing of someone who wants to 'make a difference' without thinking of the real consequences. She's happy to sacrifice her life because she has no concept of what it is to live.

None of this makes the book a bad read; on the contrary, it's gripping and well written. But I can't help wondering what it would have been like if it had been written through the eyes of someone a little older, wiser and more aware of the world. Then, I think, it would have joined the ranks of the great near-future stories such as The Handmaid's Tale and Fahrenheit 451. As it is, the book merely scratches at the surface of a fabulous concept, leaving me with a sense of what might have been.