Foe
2018 • 261 pages

Ratings88

Average rating3.6

15

"A taut, psychological mind-bender from the bestselling author of I'm Thinking of Ending Things. We don't get visitors. Not out here. We never have. In Iain Reid's second haunting, philosophical puzzle of a novel, set in the near-future, Junior and Henrietta live a comfortable, solitary life on their farm, far from the city lights, but in close quarters with each other. One day, a stranger from the city arrives with alarming news: Junior has been randomly selected to travel far away from the farm ... very far away. The most unusual part? Arrangements have already been made so that when he leaves, Henrietta won't have a chance to miss him, because she won't be left alone--not even for a moment. Henrietta will have company. Familiar company. Told in Reid's sharp and evocative style, Foe examines the nature of domestic relationships, self-determination, and what it means to be (or not to be) a person. An eerily entrancing page-turner, it churns with unease and suspense from the first words to its shocking finale"--

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Reviews with the most likes.

of all the ways i thought this book would obviously end, i'm very happy that it subverted my expectations with something very unpredictable and awesome. does that make up for the mundanity that is the bulk of the middle of the novel? not really, but i also don't think it hits as hard without it.

July 27, 2022

The marriage seems strained
but beetles are cool as hell
high tech head-in-sand.

August 14, 2021

Strange and unsettling is definitely Iain Reid's jam, but where I'm Thinking of Ending Things was deft and unpredictable, Foe was a bit too heavy-handed, and the ending could be seen from just a bit too far off. Still enjoyed this though. Reminiscent of Asimov and Bradbury's short stories.

September 13, 2021

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