By Carmen Lebar
Content warning: rape, cancer, alcoholism, drug use, death, racism, violence, sexual harassment, fat shaming.
Reproduction by Ian Williams is a novel that explores the unlikely relationships that occur during our lifetime. The 2019 Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning book focuses on the relationship between Edgar and Felicia after they meet in a hospital room, where both of their mothers are dying. They spend the night talking, unknowingly connecting their lives forever. The novel is split into four parts, each exploring a different era of their lives and the people in it.Reproduction’s cast of characters all come together in the most unexpected and interesting ways. I really enjoyed this book and think its experimentation and thematic focus make it an exceptional novel—well deserving of the Giller Prize.
Williams's form in this novel is creative and experimental. The novel begins with two chapters that eventually enter mitosis—duplicating each other. It keeps reproducing, where one section has two sets of 22 chapters representing the 44 chromosomes. The story continues to reproduce and eventually gets cancer by the end of the novel. This coincides with one of the characters developing cancer, mimicking the form. Stylistically, Williams demonstrates how reproduction not only brings life, but death as well. I found it compelling how form can replicate the story of a novel. This isn’t something I’ve seen often in literature, and I think it works brilliantly in Reproduction.
The form in this novel is also heavily integrated with its content, specifically within the theme of memory. There are many instances where the memory of a character is presented as concrete, yet other times it is feeble and malleable. Memories, and history, are repeating and rewriting themselves—a nod to the form, where things are replicating. The integrity of memory is called into question in this novel. Or, memory is being purposefully concealed. What is factual? What is to be believed? Williams makes an insightful commentary on the way we consciously and unconsciously reinterpret the things that happen to us. I enjoyed not knowing entirely what was true.
Reproduction is a novel that shows how form and content can work together to create a complex story. There are moments in the novel that really showcase how relationships can be created by the most unlikely circumstances. Being connected to, or caring about someone, does not mean that you have to be related in any way. It’s a book that is going to make me think years from now about how unreliable my memory is, but also about the memory of those around me. Even though the subject matter can be grim at times, Williams scatters moments of comedic relief in moments of darkness. Reproduction is a momentous novel that will take literary fiction lovers on a whirlwind of a journey.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review. Please note that Carmen has recently acquired a new position with Penguin Random House Canada. Her thoughts and opinions are her own, but for transparency we'd like to share this detail.