Things We Didn’t See Coming Terms

In the novel, the term “assay” refers to an exhaustive, predictive summary of all a person’s impending illnesses (i.e., cancers that have yet to grow or ulcers that have yet to announce themselves). Since assays… read analysis of Assay

The Barricades, which in the timeline of the novel originate in the mid-2000s, silo urban areas away from rural ones. The Barricades, and the guarded checkpoints that maintain them, make travel and trade between the… read analysis of Barricades

Central is the government that takes charge over both urban and rural areas, erecting the Barricades between the two landscapes. Despite the massive ecological and political changes that impact the narrator’s life, the same government… read analysis of Central

With climate catastrophe and pandemic making prolonged intimacy more difficult, flesh clubs appear to facilitate sexual congress and experimentation. There are flesh clubs all over both urban and rural areas, and people of all different… read analysis of Flesh Club

Though the term “Y2K scare” never actually appears in the novel, the narrator and his Dad are terrified of the potential collapse associated with this scare (also known as “the 2000 problem”). Early computer programmers… read analysis of Y2K Scare