Annie LeBlanc is Not Dead Yet

I’m a fickle science fiction reader. I have a horrible time with complicated names (which is why I read almost zero high fantasy), and hard sci-fi usually just leaves me bored. 
But I really dig a good concept, a delightful twist on the norm, and that can carry a book a long way for me. All the better when (like the first and third Andy Weir books) it’s well-written, to boot. 

Annie LeBlanc caught my attention because of the hook - every 10 years, someone in the town of Lennon, CA, gets to come back from the dead. For 30 days.

That’s a solid idea! Everyone’s always looking for new takes on zombies (aren’t they?). While much can go wrong in the translation from notion to novel (especially those that would have been better staying as short stories), thankfully, that’s not the case here. And it’s queer, to boot??

I want to center this review on the main character, Wilson, because (to her) it seems so little else does. I loved Wilson, even though she’s a tragically flawed narrator, because her misperceptions are deeply rooted in her reality. 

She travels through life with self-esteem and self-worth issues all but literally running her down in monster trucks. Wilson has difficulty reframing any narrative in such a light where she is not bathed in an accusatory, self-recriminating glow. 

As we learn more about her world and the people in it, I think it’s not a spoiler to say she lives a wish-fulfilled life any in her unworthy-feeling shoes would dream of. It’s wonderful to see someone brought back up from such depths. 

This is not a romance novel; it’s honestly not even really sci-fi, though it takes elements from both. At heart, it’s a tale of friendship and love, of connections lost and found again. 
Its genre-ness leads me to shy away from classing it a must-read, but I do think it’d be a lovely pickup for anyone looking for something just a touch outside the norm. Even though the primary conceit may be a little out there, the central tenets touch at universal fears and needs we all share an understanding – and longing – for.