The New Naturals

Starred review from August 14, 2023
Bump (Everywhere You Don’t Belong) delivers a wry and astonishing sophomore novel centered on a pair of Black academics who flee their posts at a Boston liberal arts college to establish a utopia of sorts in western Massachusetts. Rio and Gibraltar both teach “Black people to white children,” until Rio, pregnant and weary of campus racism, starts obsessively marking a global map with X’s where such grim events as police killings, violent protests, and immigration crackdowns have occurred. “Tell me what you need,” Gibraltar asks her; “Get me the fuck out of Boston,” Rio replies. The pair secure an unnamed, wealthy benefactor searching for something “world-changing,” and in a year’s time, the subterranean utopia dubbed the New Naturals is carved into a mountain, with state-of-the-art classrooms, laboratories, a garden, and filtered air. Those drawn to the facility, including a young journalist in existential crisis and a former college soccer player, now broken and angry, are all searching for clean, safe living in a world on fire. Meanwhile, the utopia’s growing pains spark tensions with the surrounding community that threaten its survival. Brisk dialogue and flashes of mordant humor pay off, and Bump cannily grapples with such issues as gentrification, microaggressions, and environmental racism. This is a scalding study in human nature.

September 15, 2023
A Black couple launches an ambitious plan to reinvent society in this potent allegory. Bump's second novel--following Everywhere You Don't Belong (2020)--centers on a pair of young academics, Rio and Gibraltar, whose plans as writers, thinkers, and influencers are suddenly disrupted when their infant daughter dies. Taking a cue from her grandfather's stories of his upbringing in an idyllic, remote Florida town, Rio imagines creating a similar utopia in an unlikely locale: under a restaurant near their western Massachusetts home. In short order she finds a wealthy benefactor to fund what they've dubbed the New Naturals. As she and Gibraltar get to work, the narrative alternates among various characters who find themselves headed toward the commune, including Sojourner, a journalist; Bounce, a one-time star college soccer player who's hit the skids; and Buchanan and Elting, two homeless men. "All she wanted was a place for people to live and love and hide," Rio thinks. "Was that too much? Was that impossible?" Maybe so, Bump suggests. Bump's study of race and marginalization is built more on brief character sketches than deep-grain realism, which makes for some gorgeous and lyrical writing, especially around grief; dialogue-heavy scenes with Buchanan and Elting have a darkly comic tinge that recalls Waiting for Godot. (There are echoes throughout of Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God and Paul Beatty's The Sellout as well.) Inevitably, the best-laid plans of the New Naturals come under attack, which opens up questions of what structures make for an equitable society, and whether our divisions are hard-wired. But Bump doesn't speak over his characters, letting their own struggles and ambiguous destinies speak to the depth of the challenge. An effecting, experimental tale of race and reinvention.

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October 1, 2023
The road to eutopia is littered with historical and fictional disasters as starry-eyed idealists are brought up short by the reality of human selfishness and stupidity. In his innovative second novel, following the award-winning Everywhere You Don't Belong (2020), Bump focuses less on the inevitable decline of a human-engineered paradise and more on the lost souls seeking it. Rio and Gibraltar, Black intellectuals at an exclusive New England college, become untethered after a personal tragedy. Burning with rage and a need for purpose, Rio conceives of an underground paradise, inspired by tales of her slave ancestors who created secret communities in the woods. Meanwhile, lovers Sojourner and Bounce and the schizophrenic Bachmann and his companion, Elting, are drawn to Rio's idealized enclave. Some will find it, some will arrive too late, while happiness may remain elusive for Rio and Gibraltar. Bump slyly evokes the messiness of building community. Board members with impressive titles sob over their abandoned homes and families while the community's children ask the practical questions, Why couldn't they call their friends? Why couldn't they eat pizza and watch comedies? While Bump pokes fun at their excesses, he never loses sight of his characters' humanity, maintaining his and our empathy for even the most foolish seekers among us.

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May 31, 2024

Bump's sophomore effort (following Everywhere You Don't Belong) starts with an intriguing premise. Rio and her husband Gibraltar suffer a devastating loss, prompting Rio to conceive of an experimental utopian society where individuals can find safety and acceptance. A generous benefactor emerges, and Rio's vision gains momentum. The story then jumps around to a series of other characters, exploring their struggles and why they might be good candidates for this new society. Inevitably, funding dries up for Rio's utopian dream. Unfortunately, the novel's frequent shifts in point of view result in a disjointed listening experience. Despite these hiccups, Robin Miles's narration shines, particularly in her portrayal of Bump's strong women characters. Her ability to navigate the intricacies of relationships and interactions also extends to secondary characters; she manages multiple storylines, where some characters intersect with each other while others do not. She has a knack for capturing each character's inner turmoil and external struggles. VERDICT Bump's novel might falter in its narrative cohesion, but Miles's exceptional narration lends coherence and depth to this imaginative tale, which delves into issues of class, race, idealism, and community. For fans of Paul Beatty's The Sellout.--Christa Van Herreweghe

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