The Arrest, Jonathan Lethem, author; Robert Fass, narrator
In an unknown time, somewhere in America, society as we know it no longer exists. We are not told why, but all technology has failed, and there is a new era called The Arrest. There are no machines, no computers, planes, automobiles, telephones etc. There is one surviving machine however, called The Blue Streak. It is run with atomic power, and it is under the control of Peter Todbaum, a man whose mind has deserted him. He lives within the machine, largely in a lead lined space. One never learns how he sustains himself with the necessities of life, but he seems to have an unending supply of coffee which he brews inside his vehicle and distributes to visitors..
Peter Todbaum, Alexander Duplessis (known also as Journeyman and Sandy), and Madeline Duplessis, Journeyman’s sister, go back a long way to the days when they were in school, before The Arrest.. Something happened between Maddie and Peter that left deep scars. Maddie’s brother Journeyman, was a writer. He had written one successful screenplay using her ideas. Peter Todbaum was his associate in the production. Todbaum was a loud, aggressive man known as a storyteller. He was a rule breaker who pushed the envelope. In his mentally disturbed state, decades later, he has blamed the catastrophe of The Arrest on the play. He travels in his atomic vehicle across the country searching for Journeyman. Journeyman is at a farm started by his sister Maddie after The Arrest.
The farm is like a commune. Everyone works. Those that break the norms of their society are exiled but are treated compassionately, although they are prisoners, and they are fed. One of Journeyman’s jobs is to deliver their food. Even prisoners are required to do some form of work to contribute. However, in this society, there are also those known as cordons. They are a kind of “police” and they are feared. Currently, however, the community exists peacefully, with each person participating to make it function like a well oiled machine, ironically, since machines no longer exist. On the positive side, the environment is not being abused, until the Blue Streak and Todbaum arrive. The machine is radioactive and is melting down. It can destroy them all. Todbaum envisions taking the community with him when it explodes.
The residents devise a way to remove the vehicle from the immediate vicinity using a series of winches they create. They push it atop a “mountain”, where in its glowing state, it is like a lighthouse. Todbaum refuses to leave it. He will not work or be a prisoner in the community. He remains on board and accuses them of wanting to murder him. Journeyman, in his job, is required to bring him food. Journeyman reads to him from notes written by another “prisoner” who had been exiled, Jerome Kormentz. He discards each page after it is read. When, done, perhaps he will read to him from the book he is writing about “The Arrest”. After all, he is still a writer. In a sense he has become the storyteller in place of Todbaum. Will he discard his written word, as well?
Society has destroyed itself and small groups are rebuilding their lives, but they do not have any way to know about each other because there is no communication and transportation is very limited. With society in this infant stage, and with the constant reminder that deranged people still exist, as in the minds of Todbaum and Gorse and Kormantz, will it survive and prosper, or will it bring about another disaster as greed and the need for power grows. One would hope that they will coexist peacefully, each contributing to the society as they are able and each helping to create a more promising future.
I have to admit that I did not fully understand the book. It was a hard read as it jumped from scene to scene erratically, by the author’s design. Because the disorganization is intentional, it doesn’t make it easier to comprehend. It is so creative, that although it was so confusing, I could not stop reading it. In the end, though, perhaps my interpretation of it will be rational, and perhaps I did understand more than I thought. The book made me think about society, its purpose, its abuse, and its ultimate end. Are we on a course to disaster? The book absolutely required me to suspend disbelief as I read and to hope that such an end, as it describes, can be avoided as cooler minds alter the trajectory of society toward disaster.