By Larissa Page
Trigger warning: suicidal ideation, involuntary termination of pregnancy
It’s no secret that I am a fan of Bianca Marais’s writing. Her novels Hum If You Don’t Know the Words and If You Want to Make God Laugh were two of my top reads of 2021. When she announced that she had written a short story that was produced into an Audible Original audio production, I knew I had to listen—both because I so enjoy her writing and because I love a good, well put together audiobook production.
“The Prynne Viper” is a step outside Marais’s typical genre of writing. Set in a future utopian society, free of religion and focused almost solely on data and algorithms to produce a happier and more productive society, this two-hour audiobook takes place in a courtroom. Each time a mother becomes pregnant, the DNA of the parents and the embryo are tested and run by an advanced computer analysis that not only gives full information on their physical and character traits, but also on the choices they’ll make and the people they’ll impact within their lifetime. If the impacts are seen to be more negative than positive (therefore taking away from the happiness and productiveness of society), the pregnancy will be terminated. This is decided by a jury of 13 people who will be positively and negatively impacted by the person should the pregnancy be allowed to come to term.
We are given four points of view throughout this story: three jurors and the defendant (the pregnant mother). Somehow, within each point of view, Marais was able to give us a very whole look at the futuristic society she created with societal norms, technological advancements, hints at what has happened to our natural world, and things we would right now find normal—and she did it all within a short space of writing. Because each of the four points of view are unique, each have different opinions and views on the state of their world and society, we are able to form our own opinions on it.
The theme and plot of the story are also thought-provoking in another manner; the idea of nature versus nurture, how much of our lives can be mapped and how much is free will, and can we break out of the expectations and actions put on us by our very DNA? I truly didn’t know how the courtroom decision would play out until the very end, even though we are led to believe that the vote should be predictable.
I really enjoyed listening to this story, learning about this futuristic society so different (and yet not so different) from our own, considering how much of our lives is predetermined simply because of who we are and how much is fully free will. So much is packed into a short listening experience (complete with courtroom sound effects, which absolutely add it) that you can listen and enjoy without committing to a substantial amount of time. I absolutely recommend this short story.