There were times while reading Ani Katz’s taut, propulsive new novel, “Haven,” that I thought I was losing my mind.
My mental and emotional state was not as unsettled as that of Caroline, the novel’s protagonist. She is a first-time mother whose baby Gabriel has gone missing from the vacation house on an exclusive island she’s been inhabiting with her husband’s co-workers. The husband, Adam, has previously returned to the mainland, summoned by the mysterious, seemingly all-powerful tech company he works for, Corridor.
Corridor had seemed to be the answer to Caroline and Adam’s problems. Following the failure of Adam’s startup under unsavory conditions, they’ve racked up debt, and Adam seems paralyzed by uncertainty. But then Corridor comes calling. At first, Adam is reluctant to give himself over to the corporate hegemon, but soon enough, he and Caroline are heading to Haven, the exclusive private island with a heavy Corridor presence, mixed with the town’s natives, who both depend on and resent Corridor’s involvement.
“Haven” is set in a quasi-dystopian near future where climate change has made less of the planet habitable and the habitable parts of the planet less pleasant. “Big Tech” is the most powerful entity in the country, and one’s security and well-being means yoking oneself to a company like Corridor.
But even in a semi-collapsed state, people want family and children and vacations, and so Caroline somewhat reluctantly joins Adam and a cohort of others on Haven. Adam is summoned back, leaving Caroline alone with these strangers in this very strange place.
On the island, we’re quickly immersed in a kind of uncanny space of wanton consumption, drink, food and drugs seemingly everywhere. Strange rituals conducted by children unfold on the beach; dance parties at the big club devolve into fever dream bacchanals; cryptic, threatening symbols appear near the rental house. A trio of teenage girls appears obsessed with Gabriel, volunteering to babysit.
Gabriel going missing proves to be deranging to Caroline, and the novel becomes increasingly deranged with her. It’s not clear if she is delusional or being gaslit or some combination of the two. Maybe there is something supernatural going on. Maybe Corridor is behind all of it.
Caroline’s anguish and her ineffectuality at making progress in finding Gabriel make for some frustrating moments as a reader. There’s a dream logic (or illogic) to the events. You’re begging her to get her stuff together, but there appears to be no authorities in charge and Gabriel himself is meaningful beyond the fact that he is Caroline’s child.
This sense of frustration must clearly be intentional, and for sure, it kept me turning the pages as I became as confused and disoriented as Caroline herself. I was possibly expecting a more standard thriller about a missing child, but “Haven” is an exploration of power dynamics, surveillance, colonialism, toxic masculinity, and other big concepts. We seem to be getting clues from the island’s inhabitants, but maybe they just enjoy messing with the outsiders who have invaded their territory.
I was desperate to learn Gabriel’s fate, but could not put together how the things we were being shown were drawing us closer to a conclusion. The novel’s scope seemed to expand just as I was expecting it to narrow.
No spoilers here, but the resolution is not easy or straightforward. Some of what’s been hidden is revealed, but much remains mysterious, at least to me.
To me, it felt both true to the project and, to a degree, unsatisfying, but this seems to be the point. We can’t expect tidy resolutions.
I’d been unsettled, which is what Katz set out to do.
Book recommendations from the Biblioracle
John Warner tells you what to read based on the last five books you’ve read.
1. “Clementine Crane Prefers Not To” by Kristin Bair
2. “Sky Daddy” by Kate Folk
3. “That’s Not How It Happened” by Craig Thomas
4. “The Correspondent” by Virginia Evans
5. “Best Offer Wins” by Marisa Kashino
— Kimberly L., Lombard
Something is telling me that Kent Haruf’s “Plainsong” is the right choice for Kimberly. Truthfully, it’s a book most people will take to.
1. “Only the Beautiful” by Susan Meissner
2. “How to Read a Book” by Monica Wood
3. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed” by Lori Gottlieb
4. “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak
5. “Theo of Golden” by Allen Levi
— Ruth Y., Arlington Heights
Here’s a book that I haven’t recommended in a while, but should bring the right kind of drama and comfort to Ruth, “The Lager Queen of Minnesota” by J. Ryan Stradal.
1. “The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey” by Candice Millard
2. “Lightning Down” by Tom Clavin
3. “The Revenant” by Michael Punke
4. “81 Days Below Zero: The Incredible Survival Story of a World War II Pilot in Alaska’s Frozen Wilderness” by Brian Murphy with Toula Vlahou
5. “Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage” by Daniel Bryce
— Daniel L., Genoa City, Wisconsin
In his email, Daniel said he always goes looking for survival stories, which is apparent from his list, so I’m going to stick with that. I can’t choose between two contenders, so I’m recommending both, and both are from some time back, so maybe they’ll be new to Daniel. First, “Abandon Ship: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, the Navy’s Greatest Sea Disaster” by Richard F. Newcomb. Second, “Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors” by Piers Paul Read.
Get a reading from the Biblioracle
Send a list of the last five books you’ve read and your hometown to biblioracle@gmail.com.
John Warner is the author of books including “More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI.” You can find him at biblioracle.com.
