Review: The Returned by Jason Mott
Jacob Hargrave, aged 8, is brought to his parents’ door. But his mother and father know the truth: Jacob died more than 30 years ago. So who is this child who knows their house, his bedroom, the jokes that they once shared?
The reappearance of Harold and Lucille’s son is just the latest in a growing number of such occurrences. In each situation the deceased appears somewhere in the world, fully formed at the age they were when they died. They retain the memories and knowledge they had at that time. As the world reels from the ongoing shock of the reappearances, the shadowy Bureau takes charge of tracking the numbers and location of each of The Returned.
The Returned
Mira, 2013
It’s hard to quantify The Returned. It’s fantastical but not fantasy. It has sci-fi elements but the mechanism of how people return is barely examined. It is certainly fiction (depending on which conspiracy theorists you listen to). Instead the roll and pitch of the novel is in how people treat one another in extremis, and how society draws the lines around the insiders in order to create outsiders. My advice is not to bring expectations to the book – let Mott take you on the intellectual and emotional journey he leads his characters through.
“the media was the last place one should look for truth. A person was lucky to find the facts, let alone the truth”
We live through the emotions of Harold and Lucille, who have had decades to get used to the absence of their only son – and who now need to re-adjust to his presence in the house. Meanwhile, we experience the rising tensions in Arcadia, the town where they live. While many people are delighted at the return of their lost loved ones, others are horrified, and do not believe that it really is ‘them’. These protesters call themselves “The True Living” and advocate for the removal of the Returned from society. Newspapers and other media are spreading conflicting information, increasing confusion and panic.
There is much to explore in the way that The Returned are managed and corralled away from the rest of society, and although the book is 6 years old, parallels are not hard to find with current policies in the US. Mott carefully builds the tension and shows the perceived unfairness of already limited resources being stretched to accommodate ‘others’. He also cleverly demonstrates the increasing polarisation of the town, as people find a bandwagon to hitch to that suits their pre-existing views. Again, the world he describes does not seem improbable.
“Jacob was time out of sync, time more perfect than it had been”
I was also fascinated by the relationship between Harold and Lucille, and how they manage their conflicting feelings about the return of their son. No parent will want to imagine (or in the worst of cases revisit) the pain of losing a child, and it’s not uncommon for such an experience to destroy a parental relationship. To have made it through this, only to re-open their home and hearts to their lost child years later – it’s understandable that they desire to protect themselves and each other from further pain. Lucille’s desire to mother and to protect leads to her spreading her wings widely, and she seems to welcome the suffering that this brings her. She redirects her pain, distracting herself from a trauma she can’t control by exposing ourselves to pain she can.
For me, the lingering sense as I finished The Returned was “what if”. What if people we lost came back years later? How would we treat them? What would I say? Many of the characters in the book wanted to tell their Returned relatives that they were proud of them; how much they loved them. Perhaps it’s a good reminder that we never know what’s ahead of us, and that we should always Say The Thing when we have the chance.
Why Should You Read The Returned?
thought experiment, America, bereavement, grief, love and loss, power and control. reunions, society, othering
The Returned was the basis for a TV series called Resurrection which was cancelled in 2015 after the second season. As usual, I would recommend reading the book first before seeking out the TV show!
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