The Activists – A Novel by Rainer Link: book review

The Activists (2020) is set in New York and Washington D.C. in America.

There are four teenage activists at the heart of this story: Izzy, Zoom, Roxy, and Fritz – three females and a male. The first narrator tells about a costume ball in the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C. where about twenty elite benefactors have been invited to meet aristocracy from the government. The four activists are at the ball, in disguise.

This is a political fairytale.

Fritz is the youngest ‘but he can see the furthest.’ He has three sisters. His twin sister Roxy is confident and clever at manipulating politicians. Their sister Izzy is the oldest and ‘eats’ books, because they give her energy. She writes resistance poetry. Zoom, the middle sister has pizazz and knows exactly what she wants.

They transpose themselves into the past, but are more interested in the present and the future, to shake up, to agitate, politicians. Their aim, during their summer holidays, is to defend democracy. Protect the environment, challenge the status quo. Like Greta Thunberg clones. They are young acitivists. What are they planning?

What happens when a Pied Piper figure, instead of leading rats out of a city, is enticing people to march into the Potomac River? What happens when they take a mini-van to explore the American heartland? What happens when they meet like-minded activists, and how will it end?

Not many people like political satire. This is about political turmoil and the imagination of the author to create likely scenarios to address the ‘current political malaise’ involving the engagement of the new generation of youth. The tone is passionate, but also comical in parts.

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MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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