The Record Keeper by Agnes Gomillion

 

Welcome Back Booklovers!

I'm back with a sci-fi read. And no it's not YA even though the characters are young. Just figured I'd point that out since people love to incorrectly label sci-fi and fantasy stories by women authors are YA when they don't do that to men. But that's a whole other discussion we can get into on Book Twitter. I know some of you aren't reading any type of dystopian fiction right now but I still encourage you if those types of books are normally your wave to add it to your TBR. 

I really enjoyed this book. And I fully back Wayne Brady's campaign to make this into a movie because it would truly be epic. I actually decided to get both the audiobook and a physical copy of this book and it was a good decision. The narrator was solid and made it very easy to jump between mediums.

The Record Keeper follows Arika Cobane who lives in an area in the post World War III Earth called Kongo. She's been training for 10 years to become a record keeper and keep the history records of her people. She's nearing the end of her schooling and hoping to become a Senator of the Assembly. This post-apocalyptic world consists of the remains of what is  formerly America split into three distinct territories with The English in the north; The Clayskin in the central area; and The Kongo in the south. Each faction has an Assembly of elected Senators to guide them following the rules laid out in the agreement called the Niagara Compromise. 

I enjoyed how the author parallels the house negro vs the field negro with the first and second brother. You have the people who are chosen from birth to be record keepers and taught in fancy schools run by white people. And then you also have the laborers who do the backbreaking agriculture work. But this also isn't as simplified as the mixed light-skinned people got to go to school and become record keepers either which I was glad for.  Though featurism is at play and there are some more fair skinned record keepers. Looks aren't often described in this story in clear detail but our protagonist Arika is not mixed and she is described as medium brown in complexion. In the Kongo Classification section of the Niagara Compromise two brothers  are described each as dark as the other. However one is described as having a narrow nose and more intellect while the other is described as having a a heavy nostril and being more brutish in mind. The first brother rules the second brother. The record keeper's role is to keep the workers in their place in the fields. 

Arika experiences heavy trauma as a child upon entering the school that breaks her rebellious spirit. To counteract said trauma she becomes the model student inciting the doctrines to the point where she actually starts convincing herself that the doctrines are valid. Through this story we see her awakening as she finally looks beyond her privilege  and realizes the suffering her people are facing. She gains an understanding of how the Niagara Compromise freely lists all of the darker skinned Kongo's supposed weaknesses but lists very few for the white skinned English. She also knew the school textbooks censored history but she did not truly understand to the extent.

The Record Keeper is a solid dystopian tale full of twists and strong but not overly complex world building that will have you craving for more. And since a second book is releasing next year I'm curious to see how things continue.