LoveReading Says
Incredibly tense and intense this dystopian novel fills senses and batters at thoughts while stunning with its beauty. A jungle holiday home is rigorously protected by its staff and a security fence, yet the outer world begins to penetrate. Thoughtfully provocative and eloquently written, author Julianne Pachico explores the relationship between humans and machines. Clever and challenging, an awareness settles that this potential future might not be that far away. The sense of place is so very powerful, the jungle almost cuts and carves its place into your minds eye. The dwelling is in itself, a character, one that is restricted and contained. The ongoing fight against nature taking over the buildings within the fence creates echoes that reverberate through different elements of the story. While Lena remains at the centre, I began to link to, and explore my affinity with the other characters. The relationship between Lena and the other occupants haunts, as different viewpoints are revealed and tested. I left this tale feeling as though I’d discovered entirely new thoughts and feelings. I’ve chosen this speculative novel as a LoveReading Star Book and Liz Pick of the Month. Jungle House is unique and powerful as it spears and twists ideas and thoughts around the exchange between humanity and artificial intelligence.
Liz Robinson
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Jungle House Synopsis
Lena has always lived in the jungle with Mother. There they look after a holiday home in surroundings that burst with colour and crawl with danger. Lena's only other friend is Isabella, who once visited regularly with her wealthy parents and security drone, Anton. But Isabella and her family haven't been seen in years.
Mother is not like other mothers. She gets angry when Lena draws her with a face. When Lena challenges her to portray herself, she paints a tiny yellow dot surrounded by swirling black. She is a bastion of light, she says, against an army of darkness.
Outside, rebels are fighting to take over the country. Mother is determined nothing will change inside the security fence, nothing to threaten her bond with Lena, or endanger the family. But there are secrets that need to emerge. How did Lena end up here? And what has happened to the family who no longer visit? What has Mother been planning, and what is gathering around them to change their lives forever?
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781800817616 |
| Publication date: |
2nd November 2023 |
| Author: |
Julianne Pachico |
| Publisher: |
Serpent's Tail an imprint of Profile Books Ltd |
| Format: |
Hardback |
| Pagination: |
208 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Dystopian Fiction
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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Julianne Pachico Press Reviews
'Dazling and horrifying - this is Louise Bourgeois' Maman in a novel for the age of AI. Spectacular punchy prose and big thinking on the emotions of machines. We need writers like Pachico to help us think into the future -- Anna Metcalfe, author of Chrysalis
Compelling, atmospheric and sultry -- Olivia Sudjic, author of Asylum Road
Jungle House is extraordinary, a charming and ominous and utterly riveting story that reads partly like a fable, and partly like a premonition of our future -- Phil Klay, author of Redeployment
Stylish, beautiful and strange, Jungle House looks with clear eyes at the complicated nature of embodiment, at our relationships both to ourselves and to others, and the delicate balance of love -- Jessie Greengrass, author of The High House
As enchanting as a fairy tale, and equally sinister, Jungle House takes us to the primordial forest and a future where AI manages the every need of a wealthy elite. Pachico's captivating novel is both a provocative conjuring of a future that's almost upon us, and a moving exploration of the mother-daughter bond -- Victoria Gosling, author of Bliss and Blunder
Praise for Julianne Pachico - :
A millennial's view of the complexities of Colombia, full of existential angst and funny details ... Go to Pachico's Colombia - The New York Times
Superb - Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble
Pachico is a gripping writer - The Times
Thrilling ... remarkably inventive - Atlantic
Pachico lays bare the trauma of life in post-peace Columbia - Ingrid Persaud, author of Love after Love
