The dystopian land of the (not) free
Frank Brill has terminal cancer. He has a to-do list before it takes over.
This to-do list isn’t comprised of jumping out of a plane or snapping a selfie in front of the Eiffel Tower. It’s a race against time to put others in their graves before he has to climb into his.
In John Niven’s most recent work, “The F*ck It List”, we are in an America where Trump won the 2020 elections. Now, Ivanka Trump is serving her first term. Immigration controls are tightened, gun laws are relaxed (no background check required upon purchase, thank you very much), and Frank is journeying through the United States, hunting for his targets.
“The Extreme Patriot Act 2022
Clause 14, Subsection 11b:
It is illegal to interfere with government officials performing their duties in any way, including unauthorised filming or sound recording.
Clause 18, Subsection 2
Officers shall have the right to request access to social media accounts of persons suspected of being members of Antifa or other known terror organisations”
The F*ck It List by John Niven.
The theme of irony plays a heavy tune throughout this novel — the policies put in place to safeguard US citizens are the very same ones that enable the seamless destruction of those very same citizens. Niven thus forces his readers to contemplate the disastrous consequences that any society, built solely on the extremist policies of one political party, will arguably face — unrest, disorder, discontentment, and the unequal treatment of peoples.
This novel feels particularly poignant given the discussions surrounding police brutality, freedom of speech via social media and the ever-rivalling views of the right and the left, currently taking place in the US.
Darkly humorous and extremely gripping, The F*ck It List projects a not-so-intangible, terrifying future of one of the world’s leading powers.
