Eradication

Reviews

“Excellent.”
—The New York Times

“An instant classic . . . A brilliant melding of environmental mourning and personal grief . . . The moment I finished, I was reminded of Emily Dickinson’s description of true poetry: ‘I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off.’ . . . Miles has an uncanny ability to create a terrifying kind of momentum, a swelling of alarm that propels the story from bumbling comedy to moral terror. . . . [Eradication is] basically, Hamlet but with goats.”
—Ron Charles, The Washington Post

“In Eradication, Jonathan Miles tackles the brutal paradoxes of ecological conservation with both unflinching clarity and comedic flair. When saving an imperilled Eden means eliminating [sacrificing?] one species — whose only crime is to 'refuse to stop living' — to protect dozens more, there are no easy answers. A deft, unsettling exploration of what it means to play God.”
—Maria Reva, author of Endling

“Beautifully weird, eerie, unexpected — a story for our times, and all powered by the writer’s tremendous narrative imagination.”
—Kevin Barry, author of The Heart in Winter and Night Boat to Tangier

“A work of genius. From the beginning Adi is an endearing castaway of sorts, marooned from his former life, well-employed but hopelessly ill-suited to the grim job at hand. But strangely the best possible witness to his own (our own) role in the natural and unnatural order, whatever that may be. What struck me is the way Miles can pivot seamlessly, symphonically, from a fist-gnawing comedy of errors to a heartbreaking requiem for a habitat, a world, a near-extinct Reed Warbler, a son, resolving into a shocking and defiant denouement. Eradication is a beautiful and devastating novel.”
—Luke Kennard, author of The Transition

“[Eradication] blew me out of my socks. . . . Short and powerful . . . The second I finished it, I immediately reread it.”
—Susan Casey, author of Voices in the Ocean

“Miles’ observational skills are on fine display—the offbeat premise is fully convincing. . . . An allegory about contempt for immigrants, our propensity for violence, our relationship to the environment (and the harm we bring upon it), our need for connection, and more . . . A stark, propulsive, and timely man-versus-nature tale.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Incisive . . . An excellent storyteller, Miles leavens the grim material with moments of dark comedy and shepherds the plot to a series of poignant revelations. . . . This one sneaks up on the reader.”
–Publishers Weekly

“Provocative . . . Miles’ captivating and entertaining novel poses awkward and thought-provoking questions about how to address the climate crisis.”
—Booklist

“[A] clever, innovative tale . . . Miles contrasts lush descriptions of the island setting with snippets of bleakly casual dialogue, channeling both realism and absurdity. . . . [Eradication] can be savored in just one or two sittings.”
—BookPage

“Miles's taut, powerful fable pits an everyman against seemingly insurmountable environmental and personal problems.”
—Shelf Awareness Expand reviews