The Strangling Fruit
Book Review: Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer
“There shall be a fire that knows your name, and in the presence of the strangling fruit, its dark flame shall acquire every part of you.”
― Jeff VanderMeer, Acceptance
Genre: Science Fiction, Horror
My Rating: Four out of five stars
Acceptance is the third installment of the Southern Reach trilogy, which is about to become a tetralogy? Is that the right term? If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to go camping in a sentient, reality-warping wilderness while slowly losing your grip on reality, Jeff VanderMeer’s Acceptance is exactly what you need.
First, hats off to VanderMeer for continuing to make Area X feel like the least likely place you’d ever want to visit, while simultaneously luring you in with the promise of answers that you’ve craved since the first book, Annihilation. Not that those answers get you any closer to the truth. It’s the not-knowing that makes this book so much fun. If you enjoy stories where the final revelation is a deep, philosophical shrug accompanied by unsettling biological phenomena, then congratulations—you’ve found your new favorite series!
In Acceptance, we get multiple perspectives that span different timelines, peeling back the layers of Area X’s strange history. Each character adds a new piece to the puzzle, but don’t expect to complete that puzzle. Even if you did, you still wouldn’t know what you were looking at.
One of the best parts of Acceptance is how it keeps you in a state of awe and confusion. There’s an odd satisfaction in not knowing what the hell is going on. VanderMeer’s lush, eerie prose feels like an alien landscape in itself, where plants and animals may or may not be watching you back. It’s beautiful, it’s creepy, and at times, you’ll feel like you might be quietly transforming into a hybrid mushroom-human while reading.
Acceptance blends environmental horror with a deep meditation on identity, memory, and the strange ways we make peace with the unknown. It’s like exploring a strange new forest—if the forest were sentient, carnivorous, and possibly trying to absorb you into its weirdly beautiful and terrifying ecosystem.
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I wonder why I'm not getting these by email? I thoroughly enjoyed Annhilation (LOVED the movie) but gave up half way through Administration (oops, I mean Authority 😂) - I just didn't quite get the office complex setting, maybe I gave up too soon, it' been awhile. Anyway, I'm tempted to read the third - do I need the second to understand it, I'm wondering? The prequel sounds interesting too. Now I want to go watch the movie again. ;)