Chapter 21 -- Ding-Dong, the Witch Is Dead! (Not Really But I Wish...)

On we go...

At the end of last chapter, Eden's father just dropped the bombshell that Bramford can choose between going back to normal (which might kill him) or continue with the furry-fication process (which might rob him of the last of his humanity), and Bramford chose the latter.  This chapter begins with... a howling noise right outside the lab that Eden first thinks is an FFP siren but turns out to just be a troop of howler monkeys.  Holy abrupt subject shift, Batman!

Bramford's body begins to "pulse," which is entirely the wrong word here.  If your whole body is starting to pulse like a beating heart, you've got some serious health issues going on...  Then he leaps out the door, and Eden gets "weak in the knees" watching him run.  Apparently Bramford's off to hunt monkeys... for some reason.

Also Eden's father says monkeys make "excellent bush meat."  According to Wikipedia, bushmeat is actually a good way to risk getting some nasty diseases, including HIV, Ebola, rabies, yellow fever, etc.  I understand the natives might have no other food source (though did cows and goats not make it in the Heat?), but calling it "excellent" might be pushing it.

This is also about the point we get another lovely line that's been making the rounds on the Internet:

Again, a big cat's growl pierced the air, followed by a painful squeal.  Eden quivered as she pictured Bramford, lusty for the kill, ripping into the howler -- p. 147

Eden, are you suddenly a guro fan?  Because most normal people aren't going to get turned on at the thought of their crush tearing a small furry animal apart with their teeth...  (If you don't know what guro is, look it up yourself, I ain't linking it...)

Eden's father tells Eden she knows better than to go around without her dark coating.  She protests that it wasn't her fault, it came off in the river, and he responds that she should have stayed with the group.  This is probably meant for us to sympathize with Eden over her meanie father, but he's got a point -- both Eden and the readers would have had a much easier time of it if she hadn't run off and forced Bramford to chase her.  But then, we wouldn't have gotten pointless drama and even more pointless romance scenes, right?

Eden has a flashback -- or rather, "her five-year-old self handed over a forgotten memory" (yeesh, that's an awkward description) -- of catching her parents dancing around to a "forbidden" jazz song about a lovely blue-eyed girl... and without their dark coating.  That's the only time she ever saw them uncovered, and they tell her to keep it a secret.  I... wasn't under the impression that it was illegal for Pearls to not wear coating?  If this is supposed to be Foyt's critique of racism, it kind of falls flat.  For all the horrible things done to black people, not once have they been forced by law to paint themselves white.

Possible exception, but then this is Michael Jackson

we're talking about here...

Eden points to that incident as when her shame of her skin color began.  Yay for Freudian Excuse, I guess?

Then Eden starts yelling at her dad for tampering with nature.  Which contradicts earlier chapters where she was actually proud of her dad for his work with genetics.  If this were a better book and Foyt hadn't already proven herself a sloppy writer, I'd say Eden had multiple personalities or something... but no, Foyt just wants to give her something new to whine about and so it has to be her father's life's work, despite the fact that she was so proud of it in the beginning of the book.

"Mother was right.  Fooling with nature is dangerous.  You're not some infallible god.  It was wrong to twist Bramford into this savage creature."  Who's so exciting and yet, so infuriating.

His head jerked up.  "Impossible.  Lily [Eden's mom] believed in my work."

"Mother believed in a ridiculous thing called love and some stupid gentle wind that supposedly brought it into your heart.  She had her head in the clouds just like you.  Dreamers ruining people's lives, her with her crazy ideas and you with your crazy experiments." -- p. 149

Sadly, this doesn't happen... I don't advocate child abuse

but in Eden's case I make an exception

Eden storms out and goes to have a pity party by the watering hole.

How pathetic, she thought, fighting them [tears] back.  For once she'd been truly seen -- by a beast.  No doubt, she had imagined it, just as she'd imagined a connection between them at the lake.  Bramford wasn't capable of such feelings.  Then, as the memory of lying beside his hard body filled her, Eden groaned. -- p. 149

Holy freaking scrap, we're halfway through this freaking book!  We're already sick to death of Eden waffling between liking and hating this guy!  Pick a relationship status (and "it's complicated" doesn't count) and stick with it!

Eden tries to make herself feel better by calling every creature she can see by its Latin name.  What is it with Foyt's obsession with Latin names anyhow...  We also get Eden wondering how a plain little wren can have such a beautiful song, and "how could so much beauty come in such a drab wrapping," because it's all about beauty with Eden.  Foyt, you were a teenage girl once, right?  Surely you remember that your ENTIRE life didn't revolve around trying to be pretty, right?

Up ahead the natives are cooking a dead monkey on a spit over an open fire, because this is how all primitive cultures cook their food, right?  Bramford's there, and we get another loving description of his body.

Eden studied him, intrigued by the startling changes.  The lab pants, ripped short and split at the seams, were nothing more than a loincloth.  Red scratches marked his naked torso, probably from the howler.  His long hair was a knotted, wild mess.  More than Bramford's increasingly savage appearance, she detected a new, smug confidence.  The big kill had increased his arrogance.  As if he needed it.  -- p. 150

Eden walks up to Bramford, mentally begging him to look at her.  He's a little preoccupied at the moment, so she has a hissy fit and tries to slap him, but backs down when he turns to glare at her.  Despite being almost eighteen, our protagonist really is a toddler at heart...

"It's not ready," he said, cocking his head toward the dead monkey.

Eden wrinkled her nose.  "I won't eat that," she said, aiming to hurt him with her words.  "I'm not an animal."

Bramford shrugged.  "Too bad.  If you were, you wouldn't be so much trouble." -- p. 151

Um... no room for the Latin term Homo sapiens in your puffed-up little head, girl?  Last time I checked, humans were still considered animals.  Also I'm still relieved that Bramford can still put you in your place.  Who knew that the jaguar furry would be my favorite character?

Eden stomps off in a huff again, and sees Maria brushing up against Lorenzo in a way that indicates they're a couple.  Which results in the following:

Eden also noticed a peculiar glow that the couple shared.  Could it possibly be evidence of love?  Perhaps, she thought with growing excitement, remnants of it still existed in this untainted corner of the world. -- p. 151

Check another thing off the Great List of Dystopian Cliches!  Seriously, why do so many people think that love can't exist in a dystopia?  People still fall in love with each other even in terrible circumstances -- it's not like people stopped loving each other during the World Wars or the Great Depression or anything.  The only dystopia I can think of that uses the "no love can exist in a dystopia" trope well is the Delirium series by Lauren Oliver

The one good thing about this book is that it's

making me think of other books I'd rather be reading...

The two little girls from earlier, Carmen and Etelvina (??), are throwing nuts up at their pet parrot.  Lorenzo sits by Eden and tells her they're his daughters, and Eden marvels at the fact that people are allowed to have more than one child in this world.  He also introduces Eden to his brother Charlie (???)... and Charlie's got her backpack!  The one she lost earlier and that started the whole mess with falling into the river!

Eden's distracted from the backpack by the two girls, and she tries to approach them, but they run away screaming "Rebecca!" again.  Are we ever gonna learn more about the Rebecca thing?  Bramford glares at the kids, and Charlie takes off the backpack and gives it to the girls as a distraction.  Eden tries to grab it back so she can get the Life-Band out of it, but the girls toss it up to the parrot, who catches it.  Can a parrot even lift a backpack with its beak?  I know birds of prey can carry animals several times their weight, but they do that with their legs, and a parrot isn't a bird of prey and doesn't routinely carry heavy loads of food around.  I guess it depends on how heavy the backpack is...

Eden's gaze drifts to the gated hut, and she guesses that Rebecca must be in there.  So of course, being our "bright" heroine, she goes to investigate.  Bramford yells at her to stop, but she keeps running, yelling "Hello! Rebecca?"

Behind her, she heard Bramford's pounding feet.  His furious growl ripped into her.  She screamed as he grabbed hold of her.  The blood seemed to drain out of her, and she fell limp.

"Eden!"

But why did Bramford sound anguished?  He didn't care.

Then a dark curtain dropped over her world.  -- p. 154

Yay, our protagonist is dead, end of book, we can all go home!

...oh wait, I've got half a book left to get through.  Dangit...