Book Review — "Survivor Song" by Paul Tremblay
I am happy and somewhat embarrassed to report that Survivor Song is my first Paul Tremblay book! I have a number of friends who rave about him—particularly his A Head Full of Ghosts. And The Cabin at the End of the World was hugely popular back when I worked in book sales. So I was well aware of his success leading up to my reading of this one. And in a way I’m glad that I get to assess Survivor Song removed from any sort of personal fandom.
I’m sure Paul Tremblay did not exactly want his latest novel to be quite so, ahem, timely. And, unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible to not address the COVID of it all when discussing Survivor Song. Thankfully, the virus in Tremblay’s novel does not resemble all that much what we’re all going through right now. The outbreak that these characters are fighting is a rabies-like viral disease that quickly turns the central nervous system into mush and makes folks mindless killing machines, basically. So, in a morbid sense, it seems way more exciting than what we’re going through at present.
As a writer, Tremblay seems much more character-focused than he his plot-centric, which I honestly don’t mind. I wish more genre writers would focus on the people occupying their made-up worlds. That does come with some drawbacks, though. This novel lacks a certain vigor that it could have used at times. For a story about a virus that causes the infected to become insanely brutal maniacs, Survivor Song is weirdly not super thrilling.
It does a have certain racing-against-the-clock factor working in its favor, however. For the most part, this novel is told in real time—by and large over the course of only a handful of hours. One of the two protagonists is infected in the beginning and her best friend, who happens to be a doctor, must get her the medical attention she needs STAT, or else she’ll devolve into a raging monster.
Ramola, the doctor, frequently reminds Natalie, the infected, that the virus does not turn people into zombies; the infected are not undead—they are merely experiencing a mutation in brain functionality. But that doesn’t stop Natalie from repeatedly using the term zombie anyway, as I’m sure most people in such a scenario would. Natalie is the upbeat wise-cracker of the pair. She’s fluent in pop culture and doesn’t let the situation get her down. Which is a feat considering she’s incredibly pregnant. Like ready-to-pop pregnant. Some of the novel’s most heartrending moments are the mini-chapters sprinkled throughout wherein Natalie speaks directly to her unborn child, in case she doesn’t ever get the chance to do so face to face. These scenes are very touching and add layers of warmth to the narrative.
Unfortunately, Ramola does not feel quite as dimensional. Her character works as the grounded foil to Natalie’s charms, and she serves as a knowledgable, credible guide for the reader. But, as a character, she doesn’t stand out apart from how she’s meant to function within the story. She plays the “straight man” part, I suppose, but not in a memorable way.
Come to think of it, there aren’t even side characters in this novel that stand out. It’s all very confined. Few characters. Over the course of a few hours. The limited window of time and the emphasis on character would lend itself very well to a film adaptation, actually. It would be reviewed a “slow burn,” given the subdued action. The two actresses playing the leads would get to be subtle and sincere, delivering a couple of super low-key yet compelling as hell performances. Ya know what, I think I might like this story better as a film…
But Hollywood might wanna wait a few years before adapting this one. For obvious reasons.
Survivor Song is not exactly original in its conceit, but it’s told well. And confidently. It takes guts to tell a genre story so… mundanely. And I don’t necessarily mean that in a negative way. Tremblay makes it pretty clear pretty early on that Natalie and Ramola are the stars of this story—not him. Even the plot is secondary to the leading ladies; the outbreak almost becomes background noise occasionally. Some authors are practically characters unto themselves in the telling of their own stories, but Tremblay is perfectly fine letting the lives of his protagonists play out. And to do so in real time, more or less, is a testament to his skills as a craftsman.
Viral outbreak/zombie stories offer a fairly large canvas for their creators. Paul Tremblay could’ve opened up the scope and written something on a more epic scale. But he went in the opposite direction, and I rather respect that.
