Emily St. John Mandel's 'Exit Party' opens in the wake of a second American Civil War

Future Shaped by Environmental and Political Collapse Post-Inflection Points

Emily St. John Mandel draws on climate science and meteorological concepts to craft the fictional scenarios in her novel "Exit Party." She explains that when listening to climate scientists, they present projections of a range of possible futures based on temperature increases—showing what the world might look like at three, four, or five degrees above current levels. All these scenarios are possible trajectories for humanity, and she used them as the framework for envisioning plausible post-societal collapse conditions in her story.

The novel opens in the aftermath of a second American civil war, making clear that while Mandel is not predicting such an event, it serves as the starting backdrop for her fiction. In 2031 Los Angeles, now part of the Republic of California and just emerging from civil conflict, citizens remain on edge; the city is only one terrorist attack away from disaster. The lifting of curfew and the withdrawal of international peacekeeping troops coincide with the bloom of jacaranda trees, infusing the air with a fragile grace and hope despite the persistent sense of danger.

At the heart of this transformed landscape is Ari, the protagonist. Ari emerges from 18 years of imprisonment not for a minor offense but for serious, morally ambiguous reasons. Originally the villain in Mandel’s 2010 novel "The Singer’s Gun," Ari was a character Mandel found compelling and returned to, curious about how Ari would navigate the transformed, uneasy society after serving a long sentence. This journey—of a complex, perhaps irredeemable character confronting a nation remade by collapse—forms a central thread of the book.

Mandel's Approach Needs Distance for Creative Objectivity

Writing about dystopian scenarios and authoritarianism proved unsettling for Mandel, especially as aspects of her fiction began to reflect real-world events. She describes difficulty writing scenes involving an authoritarian state, particularly as news emerged of ICE raids in places like Minneapolis, with police seemingly "dis ...

Novel Uses Sci-fi Trope of Doppelgangers and Parallel Universes to Explore Counterlives and Alternative Selves

In the novel, Emily St. John Mandel imagines a party scene where guests appear to disappear and reappear as different manifestations of themselves. Mandel explains that, just for a second, the party functions as a swing door between parallel universes, allowing another version of oneself to step through. This device uses science fiction tropes to explore the idea of a "counterlife"—the lives people might have led had they made different choices at pivotal moments. The party setting becomes a tangible metaphor for the fluid exchange between parallel universes and alternate lives.

Mandel draws from personal experience as she reflects on her own unlikely journey from rural western British Columbia, with a background involving homeschooling and the absence of a high school diploma, to becoming first a dancer and then a New York City novelist. She notes that her actual life sometimes feels improbable, which makes it easy for her to imagine counterlives stemming from alternative choices or circumstances. By examining possible alternate lives, the novel enables readers to confront the roads not taken and the inflection points that define individual destinies.

Parallel Identities Explore Choice, Chance, and Personal Identity

The concept of a c ...

Mandel Uses Time-Traveling Objects and Varying Perspectives For Coherence In Complex Novels

Emily St. John Mandel explains that, in her structurally complex novels with multiple points of view, characters, and timelines, cohesive narrative threads are essential. She uses time-traveling objects to unify diverse narrative strands and perspectives. The painting "Swan Dive" is one such object that moves from hand to hand and between timelines, binding the narrative together. According to Mandel, these objects serve as through lines—maintaining continuity across multiple perspectives, characters, and eras. They ensure the story remains anchored even as it shifts through decades or centuries.

Mandel is fascinated by the way art endures across time. She describes a kind of immortality attached to art as it moves and is reinterpreted by new individuals through generations. For her, objects like the painting "Swan Dive" are not merely narrative tools; they also embody the emotional relationships characters and readers form with art throughout its journey in the novel, creating resonance and connection across eras.

Mandel Relies On Intuition Over Pre-planning to Manage Intricate Narratives

Mandel Writes Messy First Drafts Without a Predetermined Structural Blueprint

Mandel’s approach to her intricate narratives is to avoid rigid pre-planning or elaborate organizational systems. She recalls attempting a detective-style board with photos and red yarn to track connections for her novel "The Glass Hotel," but found it cumbersome and unhelpful. Instead, she prefers starting with a messy first draft, wri ...

Emily St. John Mandel finds solace in everyday experiences while writing bleak and dystopian fiction. She emphasizes the grounding power of simple acts like getting dinner on the table or picking up her child from school. These "good moments" became more pronounced and precious to her during the pandemic, a period that forced her to recognize and value them amid widespread chaos and uncertainty.

The Pandemic Taught Mandel to Value Simple Beauty and Connection Amid Chaos

The pandemic offered Mandel profound lessons on finding and appreciating happiness in daily life, even when the world outside felt harsh or unpredictable. She learned that moments of joy and connection, like a lovely evening with her child or a magical afternoon with friends, can exist alongside difficult circumstances. Acknowledging and cherishing these moments demonstrates that joy and impermanence can coexist. For Mandel, such moments not only provide happiness but also validate the importance and possibility of human connection, even in darkness and adversity. This mindset helps her stay grounded as she navigates the emotional demands of writing dystopian stories.

Joy Amid Impermanence Central to Exit Party Narrative

The interplay between fleeting joy and impermanence is woven into the core of Mandel's narrative in "Exit Party." She explains that the book's final ...