JH Lillevik

This summer I read a book I need to recommend. The book is called Life on the Preservation by Jack Skillingstead.

The book revolves around a Preservation Dome that surrounds Seattle. Inside the Dome, lives Ian Palmer, a reformed graffiti artist. His best friend Zach believes that he is reliving the same day, 5th of October 2012, over and over. Ian on the other hand is unaware of the day repeating itself and he is more concerned about breaking up with his current girlfriend.

Outside the Dome, life is hard. People are sick and impotent. Kylie lives with her sort-of boyfriend in a town where the local pastor has taken over. The cult he has started, is convinced that Judgement Day has come and gone. Kylie and the pastor also have their rather creepy past.

I love this book. Skillingstead drags you in with his easy language and interesting characters. The paranoia of Ian and Zach gives you a feeling of the 50s version of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The way they pursue the Curator, the alien who supervises the Dome, is your classic man-against-the-system story, and the fact that Ian doesn’t really believe Zach in the beginning gives him a realistic aspect.

Kylie’s story is one of a harder nature. She is a survivor and the perfect match for Ian’s self pitying nature. The pastor is the classic evil religious figure. He gives of a vibe of what might happen to the extremely religious after a disaster and he also has the typical double standards of that archetype. He rapes Kylie and then he wants her to become as infertile as the rest of the people in town.

The start of the book might seem a little confusing, but it is all worth it as Skillingstead’s world opens up in front of you. Jack Skillingstead is definitely someone I will read a lot more of and I recommend Life on the Preservation.