A pair of girls, Lethe and Lois, navigates the perimeters of a segregated city, armed with canisters of killing gas. Another child, Lessen, is at the centre of a bizarre cultural ritual that could be the subject of a Goya painting.
Centring on the garish festivals of an allegorical nation, The Divers' Game moves through worlds in which kindness is no longer meaningful. A scathing indictment of the inequalities of Western society, it makes visible the violence that has threaded its way into every aspect of our lives, and the radical empathy we need to combat it.
I understand the concept and the use of metaphoric storytelling as a cautionary tale of how our society, communities and environment are on the verge of extinction but I don't find pretentious storytelling engaging or enjoyable. Too ostentatious for my reading tastes.
