45 pages • 1 hour read
Rumaan AlamA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Early in the book, Rose sees a herd of deer moving through the yard that she knows is abnormal, and the novel periodically returns to that herd, which is growing alongside the scope of the crisis. The narrative eventually reveals that the next generation of deer will be born white. The deer represent the way that the world is rapidly changing in ways humans can’t predict or control. This same motif happens with the arrival of flamingos in the pool toward the end of the novel, which symbolizes the end of the rational, explicable world that the characters have lived in. What would have been a cause for wonder at some sublime coincidence is now a cause for anxiety and terror. The color of the flamingos arises in both Archie and Amanda’s vomit the next morning, and further hints at the uncanny position the characters are in: They can no longer tell hangover from mortal illness. The characters’ encounters with nature embody this lack of clarity: The presence of deer and flamingos are bits of information stripped of their referent in an apocalyptic world.
A Black Lives Matter Reading List
View Collection
American Literature
View Collection
Fear
View Collection
Goodreads Reading Challenge
View Collection
Horror, Thrillers, & Suspense
View Collection
Mystery & Crime
View Collection
National Book Awards Winners & Finalists
View Collection
New York Times Best Sellers
View Collection
Order & Chaos
View Collection
Popular Book Club Picks
View Collection
Science Fiction & Dystopian Fiction
View Collection
SuperSummary New Releases
View Collection