Who ever our next Prime Minister is, they might benefit from reading one of those novels that throws totalitarianism under the spotlight. A novel like The Choice.
My waistline gives away my own enjoyment of sugary things. And, though you will not often find me in the kitchen, apron adorned and flour on my nose, I have dabbled in baking.
I think it would be a slightly less joyful world without sugary treats and baked goods.
And, that is the central theme of this novel.
Originally, Claire Wade intended to write a fairly light story about friends who secretly baked cakes in a world where sugar and baking is illegal. However, as she began to consider the implications of a government that monitors what its public consumes and makes certain behaviours mandatory, she ended up writing something darker.
The author, has said, "The story might have started out about baking, but it rapidly evolved into something darker. It forced me to think about choices, mine and everyone else's, around what we eat, how we live and the role the government has in those decisions."
In recent years, discussions about what we eat have come to the fore. How sugars and fats impact our health are but one part of that. We desire more transparency too about how our food is sourced. We want to know how our dietary choices impact upon the environment and climate change. There is also more discussion about the dietary needs of those who are intolerant of certain ingredients, additives, proteins, and whatnot. Then, there are those fad diets that make their dubious presences felt now and then.
Wade does not address these themes in her novel, instead focusing on the question of how much governments should concern themselves with what we eat and how much we exercise for our health. Is it a loss that the author doesn't acknowledge these other issues? Who knows. Perhaps. But then, maybe the novel would have been a thing too convoluted to enjoy. Perhaps too though, it would have made for a more interesting novel, to add these themes to a discussion on our modern eating habits.
We could speculate all day on what could have been, though . . .
The totalitarian nanny state of the novel is a frightful place indeed, though we are reminded throughout the story that Mother Mason, the leader, was voted in by the public. Perhaps the choice to which the novel's title alludes. At one time, it seems, Mother's policies on health and wellbeing seemed benevolent to the characters of the novel. Which makes the reader wonder; what happened between Mother Mason's victory for leadership and where we meet the characters in the novel? Did the harshness of her policies only become truly apparent after she was in office? Or, did a desperate and fearful electorate elect a leader they didn't really understand? Was the election a near thing or a landslide victory?
Unfortunately, we might look to the real world for the answers to some of the above questions. Even more unfortunately, in looking to the the real world, we might not necessarily find some of those answers. Sometimes, as fantastic as fiction can be, the books we read make much more sense than real life.
I'll tell you this, I would collapse into a sweaty and panting heap in one of the mandatory exercise classes Wade describes in the novel. And I am not sure I would get back up again!
I'm also not sure that I would be one of the rebels of the novel. I would like to think that I might be, at least sharing subversive content across social media. Perhaps I would act, like Olivia in the novel, once I saw that I was not alone. But it takes strength to go up against corrupt authority and the indoctrinated masses.
Who knows. In the UK, we're not quite living in a totalitarian state (at the time of writing anyway – check with me again next week!), so, fortunately, I haven't been tested in this way. And, for now, sugar, cakes, and alcohol are still available to the public (though rising prices and a cost of living crisis might put paid to that – again, check with me next week).
Here's hoping, for the foreseeable, these terrors remain the stuff of fiction.
As dystopian novels go, I don't think this novel is going to knock 1984 or Brave New World from their pedestals, but it might inspire readers to discuss the government's role in what we consume and how much it polices our behaviour. It might inspire the reader to question what is considered healthy.
We live in a time where the majority bounce from one screen to another, not just as viewers, but as performers ourselves. A time that makes many feel that they are not valid unless their life looks good in an Instagram reel. And, of course, slimness and attractiveness goes hand-in-hand with that. It's a shallow old world. And any novel that asks readers to consider that, just maybe, healthiness and wellbeing doesn't just look one way is a good novel. I think this book might have gone further with that idea, explored its themes further, but it is still worth a read.
In a world of cost of living crises, energy crises, corrupt and corrupting world leaders, and more than enough shame and hatred being thrown around on social media to last a lifetime, yeah, I think our incoming Prime Minister might benefit from reading such a novel. But then, that's assuming they wouldn't be using it as a how-to-guide on running a totalitarian state.
You can purchase a copy of The Choice by Claire Wade here.
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