Title:
Beta
Author:
Rachel Cohn
Publisher:
Simon and Schuster
Rating:
WARTY!
Beta is by the same writer who wrote the novel behind the movie Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, the movie of which I reviewed not long ago, vowing to find the book and read it! My hope when starting this was that it would turn out to be as entertaining as that was. This novel is probably what gave some impetus to Karen Sandler's Tankborn because they both share the same kind of premise, but Beta was published four years before the latter.
And what is the premise? The premise is that at some point in the future, and perhaps not even on Earth (yes, it's that vague!), there's an island named Desmesne (Deh-MEZ-nay, believe it or not) where the very rich reside. It's a hedonistic island where the rotten rich are spoiled rotten. One way in which they're spoiled is that they can buy (yes buy) what are referred to as clones to do all kinds of things for them - from housework to massage, to companions. These 'clones' are the creations of Doctor Lusardi, who can make adult 'clones' without any trouble at all, but for some unexplained reason creating children is problematical. The so-called clones (more on this confusion anon) are marked with a fleur-de-lys tattoo on their right temple, and their purpose is defined by some other botanical tattoo on their left. Elysia (El-EE-zee-ya) is a prototype teen 'clone' referred to as a Beta because this technique is not perfected, although it looks like Elysia is perfected since she's fully functional and described as pretty-darned-near perfect in every way.
When a 'clone' is created, the "First" (the person upon whom the clone is based), 'has to die'. This was very poorly explained to begin with and led me to some confusion about exactly what was going on, and what, exactly, 'has to die' meant. At first I thought the "Firsts" were deliberately killed, but then it seemed like the clone was taken from someone who had died from some natural or accidental cause, but there are cases of people voluntarily giving up their life to become a "clone" so their family can be paid a handsome sum in return. None of this made much sense! I had a real problem with terming this cloning, though because of the confused descriptions Cohn hands out so miserly. If it's a true cloning process, then this makes no sense: since something can be cloned from any cell (in theory - Dolly the sheep, for example, was cloned from a mammary cell, hence her name), there is no need for the clone cell donor to die.
Elysia is quite literally standing around in a store awaiting sale when the island governor's wife, Maria Bratton, wanders in to look at clothes. She takes a real shine to Elysia, who becomes an impulse buy. Elysia is thrilled at being bought because it means she's serving her function. This early excitement is completely at odds with her later behavior. As she rides home with her "Mother" she reveals in a flashback some details of her creation. She was cloned as a full sized teen, not grown from a zygote as was the sheep and other clones we have created irl. When Elysia was done "cooking" she had a chip implanted in her head which provided her with a functionality specially tuned to her designated purpose in life, which in Elysia's case is 'companion'. She also has a tracking chip in her arm.
How this 'full grown clone' operation works is conveniently skipped over. although there is a revelation at the end of the novel which is interesting. The human body is quite simple when looked at as something grown from a single cell: we're basically little more than a bony worm after all. The genome is a recipe for a living thing and there's nothing miraculous about how it develops sequentially; however, to create a full-sized human body from scratch without it growing according to its genetic recipe is a task of huge complexity. This isn't what they do in this novel, but it takes an annoyingly long time for Cohn to clarify this, and even then she's so vague about it as to be annoying, still!
Since nothing is explained, I was forced to cast around a lot to try and figure out what was going on, which really detracted from my reading experience. Eventually I came to the understanding that this isn't cloning in any way, shape or form, so why Cohn misleadingly used that terms is a mystery - and an irritating one at that. What seemed to be going on at that point was a variety of Frankensteinian reanimation, with Elysia occupying the original body of her 'First' which has had nothing more than a brain make-over. There is talk of souls, which not a scientific topic (there's no evidence that anyone has an immortal soul) even though Cohn treats it as such. I find that a bit strange and Cohn herself seems to be sadly confused about what she means by 'soul'. Cohn is a Jewish name meaning priest. Now I have no idea what religion, if any, Cohn practices, but I assume with her name that she might know something of her Judaic heritage, and this concept of eternal life is not really an overriding part of Judaism as it is in Christianity.
There really isn't any talk of souls in the Biblical Old Testament, which is essentially all about land-grabbing and massive slaughter. The out-and-out obsession with an afterlife is only developed in the New Testament, but in Beta the soul is a scientific part of life, and exists only in real humans, not in their 'clones' we're told. This means that the body Elysia now inhabits is actually the very same body her 'First' occupied, but her first cannot be brought back to life because her soul has "gone on" apparently. At the end of the novel I learned that I'd been misled even over this! The technology of the novel is up to the task of reanimation, however, which is how Elysia came to be. But there are problems even with this!
Elysia is an interesting character, and her observations are amusing to begin with. Her placid acceptance of her role in life combined with her compulsion to meet her owner's expectations fully is as endearing as it is disturbing. What's also disturbing is that when she joins her siblings (a teen boy and a younger girl) in the governor's swimming pool, Elysia discovers that she's a natural born athlete, but when she immerses herself in the water, she has visions of a guy talking to her and swimming with her: a guy who she thinks she recalls from memories leaking over from her 'First'. She is (or was) in love with this guy, yet she has no problem ditching that supposedly loving and passionate god-like guy for someone else with whom she thinks she's in love, and then in ditching that someone else, too! That's how shallow she is.
This memory leakage is problematical for me. If Elysia had been a true clone, then it could not have been possible to retain memories, because your genome doesn't perform this function. Yes, DNA can be thought of as being a species' memory, but that's not the same as an individual's personal memories, which is merely a conjugation of chemical states in the brain; once that brain ceases to function, those states decay and your memories - you - are gone. This loss includes your soul, since that's nothing more than a chemical state in your mind. So a true clone cannot possibly have memories from the organism which donated the 'starter' genome.
But if Elysia is a reanimated corpse, memory leakage is still not possible, for if the memories had been intact, then the body wouldn't be dead and it would still be the 'First'. If the body had truly been dead, then those memories would be gone and not available to Cohn's plot for leakage purposes! This, of course, revolves around exactly how the corpse is reanimated, and if technology is so good that it can do so, then why did the original mind (soul if you like) become lost? Since Cohn is so vague, she does leave herself some wiggle room: whilst most of the 'First' was gone - that is the chemical states in her brain which made her who she was - it is possible, dependent upon how the heck this process works, that there could conceivably have been some chemical states which were retained, although IMO, these would be so disjointed that any coherent memory would be nonviable, which again defeats Cohn's purpose! Well, I've rambled enough. Back to the tale!
Elysia's household duties are soon quite sharply defined. She exercises with her 'brother' in the mornings. Ivan, for reasons unexplained, is heading for military college. Now I say reasons unexplained, because I don’t consider 'because dad was in the military' to be a reason in the context of this novel. If Desmesne is perfect, then why is there a need for a military? If the military is employed away from the island, then why would anyone on the island care about it or volunteer for it? What exactly is the threat for which the military exists? And if it’s needed, why is it not populated with 'clones'? This is one of many things which go unexplained in Beta.
We're given to understand that the governor is not a legitimate resident of Desmesne, and is only there by reason of his duty as governor, so this is a possible explanation, but it doesn’t seem to me to be a very good one, and we’re pretty much left in the dark on this topic as we are on so many others. Having said that, there is a bomb-blast on Desmesne, which weirdly doesn't freak anyone out anywhere near as much as it ought. No one was killed and it's all soon forgotten! Elysia's acquaintance from the store - the other beta teen, named Becky, who was on sale with her, but who apparently was never bought - is charged with the incident and sent to be dismantled and analyzed. This chills Elysia, because she has seen the "infirmary" with its clone body parts lying around inside, and clones being experimented upon.
When he's not prepping for military college, Ivan is focused completely on video games or on doing drugs. Ataraxia ('raxia) is the drug of choice (technically, ataraxia is merely a state of bliss, and the drug is named after it because it supposedly delivers such bliss). It’s made from an extract from the seeds of a local plant, and Ivan is starting to experiment with producing his own. The indulgence of a large portion of Desmesne's population in 'raxia is interesting given that they're all supposedly already living in the lap of luxury. But all is not well, as the maid Xanthe, at the governor's house reveals. She and Elysia start trading confidences, and Elysia learns about the discontentment amongst the clones, and about "Insurrection" - apparently some fomenting rebellion. She's also hit upon by the governor himself, and rescued by Ivan the not-so-terrible, which makes his behavior later completely out of character - another problem with this novel. When Xanthe is discovered to be a "Defect", she's unceremoniously tossed over the cliff by security personnel at the governor's home. This is a warning to Elysia to clam up about her condition, but she doesn't heed it too well.
When she's not occupied with Ivan, Elysia is required to spend time with Liesel, the young daughter of the governor and his wife, playing games with her, and comforting her if she wakes from one of her nightmares. Elysia is also required to spend the afternoons with her Mother acting as a companion and personal assistant, but she gets free time during which she hangs with Ivan's teen friends. She's sent on drug runs for these people and plays sports with them - sometimes dangerous sports. It's during this time that she meets Tahir, a dark-skinned teen son of the richest family on Desmesne, who has just returned from convalescence occasioned by a serious surfing accident. Tahir is a whole episode to his self.
It turns out (and here's a huge spoiler) that Tahir actually died in the surfing accident, but was resurrected by Doctor Lusardi's 'cloning' technology. He is an illegal clone replacement for their son, sanctioned and created by Lusardi herself. I actually saw this coming, but not until shortly before it was overtly revealed. The signs are there, however, in retrospect. Elysia is falling for Tahir, although there’s no earthly reason given for why she should. When she's sent on loan to his family for a week, they get to know each other very well. She confesses to him and to his enlightened parents that she is a "Defect" - and therefore ought to be given the same treatment as Becky by the laws of Desmesne - but the family accepts her as she is. Her affection for Tahir is cemented one evening with a kiss, but Tahir cannot feel affection for her in return, being a 'clone'. Elysia resolves to teach him how. Good luck with that!
So once again we're back to what, exactly, these clones are. Until Tahir, I had understood that they were not clones, but reanimated corpses; however, Tahir's story seems to make it clear that this isn't the case at all: they are indeed clones, but the process is maddeningly not explained, not even vaguely. This revelation (or clarification, if you like!) brings me right back to a question of believability - as to how Elysia supposedly has retained memories. Tahir has none and is far more of a beta than is Elysia even though he has his own memories in his chip! He did not retain anything like Elysia did and cannot feel emotion as she does. For some reason during this week with him Elysia undergoes a transformation from placid clone to antagonized rebel, and none of this works for me, because we’re given no valid reason why she should suddenly start thoroughly detesting all humans. She discovers nothing, is exposed to nothing, and is given to feel nothing which she had not already discovered and felt beforehand, so why now and why so extreme? Such a magnitude of change is simply not credible given what we’ve been told.
It’s also entirely inexplicable how almost instantaneously devoted she is to Tahir, but as soon as he's forcibly removed from her picture, she gloms on to Alex without so much as a by-your-leave and with equal passion! Tahir is forgotten and she's placidly subjugated herself to Alex! Honestly? So she hated being subjugated as a clone, but being a love slave is fine? And the number of times Alex is described as "muscled" and "chiseled" is truly, honestly, and irritatingly pathetic. You have to wonder what Cohn is doing with her life for her to write this repetitively and obsessively. Reading this, I found it hard to believe that this is the same Cohn who wrote Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. Although now I think about it, she didn't write it - not the movie. She co-wrote the novel and Lorene Scafaria wrote the screenplay (yeah, I had to look that up!). So now I'm wondering if I even want to read that novel!
I have to confess that I had some really mixed feelings about this story. Sometimes it was entertaining and amusing, yet other times it was a bit tedious, but what really tossed it into the trasher for me was how much of an airhead Elysia turned out to be! Rather than make her own mind up about things, which is what I mistakenly assumed was the point of this tale, she proves herself to be completely reactive, not proactive, subject completely to whim, tossed around in the tide of whatever is currently going on around her! She's so capricious. She goes from being this placid, easy-going person who fits in and strives to please, and who is treated rather well (for a Clone), to the complete opposite in zero seconds flat with no apparent acceleration or deceleration curve.
It’s like she's one thing one minute and inexplicably the diametric opposite the next without any good motivation offered for this voltafaccia. Yes, she spent time with Tahir and this gave her a wish list which she didn't have before, but it doesn't explain her out-of-control behavior. It doesn’t help that Ivan rapes her, of course, but it helps even less that after that coercion, she's pressured by two people she only just met, to keep the child and she placidly goes along with their demands instead of making up her own mind.
If it were not for one thing which happened at the very end of the novel, which really did put an interesting spin on things for me, I would have been happily ditching the entire series, but now I want to read volume two. This doesn't mean. however, that I'm prepared to rate volume one as a worthy read. I am not! It's warty.
