What We Harvest by Ann Fraistat

Abstract

Reviewed by: What We Harvest by Ann Fraistat Kate Quealy-Gainer, Editor Fraistat, Ann What We Harvest. Delacorte, 2022 [336p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780593382165 $18.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780593382172 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 9-12 The miracle crops of Hollow's End, including the shimmering rainbow wheat that grows on Wren's family's farm, attracted flocks of tourist for years, until the quicksilver blight hit five months ago. Bubbling from the ground, it sucked the life out of the crops and turned anyone it infected into mindless, zombie-like monsters. Sixteen-year-old Wren and her family have survived so far, but now her parents have gone missing, and before she can go and look for them, she's infected. She enlists her ex-boyfriend to help find her parents before she turns, but what they uncover instead has serious, terrible implications about the history of the town, the origins of the crops, and their families' role in an inhumane act. Fraistat proves a deft hand at both slow-burn suspense and body horror, using elements of each to create an engrossing read that questions what and who suffer for prosperity and at what point growth tips into greed. The dissolution of Wren's faith in her farm and particularly her father is portrayed with sympathy and tenderness, and the book wisely avoids one-note, selfish characterization of the town's founding families, presenting them as complicated people looking to ensure a future for their kids. Still, it can't be a zombie book without taking a few clear jabs at capitalism, and Fraistat loops in a commentary on environmentalism too, placing the exploiters of the land against the exploited land itself. Fans of Yates' How We Became Wicked (BCCB 6/19) will eat this up. Copyright © 2022 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois