I really wanted to like this book because I found the premise interesting, but it just didn't really come together for me. The central thread of the main couple's marriage just felt very far away most of the time. The protagonist recounts stories told by friends, or stories about friends, so often that I almost felt like I was reading a collection of short stories for a large part of the book. I would get super engrossed in one of them and then it would end and I'd remember oh yeah, this is a book about this couple. It was an odd and disjointed experience that kinda left me just not really caring about their marriage. I pushed through because it was an ARC, but had it not been I probably would have DNFed mid book.

The pleasure of reading Chris Knapp’s States of Emergency is more the pleasure of reading a series of essays than that of reading a novel. It reminded me a bit of Sigrid Nuñez’s The Friend in that regard, although the forays into politics, history, philosophy, culture, and science remain mostly at the survey level and often are not developed in a way that engages the emotions or provokes reassessment of opinions. In many ways, the book is a discursive collage. While I love and admire a good collage, this didn’t jell for me into anything greater than the sum of its parts. I saw little shape or pattern or flow to the assemblage, and that left me to admire the beauty (or ugliness) of each little bit rather than the meaning or effect of the whole.

A small example: In the last 20 pages or so of the novel, the narrator becomes a bit fixated on Zadie Smith. We discover that he is a great fan of her work and has read everything she has written. If she is so important to his development as a writer and to his understanding of writing as an art, in a book full of (often extended) musings about movies, books, and culture, why has she not surfaced before this point? It felt like something tacked on the collage at the last minute that doesn’t fit or create any pattern or flow in the whole.

While there’s definitely a narrative through-line—the story of the narrator’s marriage as the couple increasingly become desperate to conceive—I felt I was always outside the story looking in, which feels strange for a first-person novel. Strange is not necessarily bad, and the narrator is trying to stand outside his own story, so this distant perspective may be part of Knapp’s project. However, I didn’t find it engaging. I had a similar reaction to Katie Kitamura’s A Separation, in that I ultimately didn’t gain any emotional payoff for the intellectual exercise. Kitamura’s book had a plot that was less broken by discursive exposition, and this kept me reading. I had to work to keep reading States of Emergency. I often found myself craving a scene or some dialogue.

The point when I actually did start to get involved in the narrative (well into the book—the first section was hard work for me to stay engaged), I found the discursive forays annoying because I wanted to follow the plot. That is not to say it was a bad choice in terms of craft, because the narrator was in a hospital waiting room and trying to distract himself from the suspense. I actually felt closer to him even as I was annoyed. My impatience for the narrative had grown throughout the book, however, so my annoyance was greater than my admiration.

I never felt like I really understood the narrator or his relationship with his wife. They act like they love each other, the narrator says that they love each other, but I don’t experience that love as a reader, either in the giving or the receiving. So I don’t really understand what binds them together when much in the story pulls them apart. I really don’t understand why they want a child so much—there’s no longing to hold the child, or fantasies about future parenthood, or description of an emptiness the child would fill, or any other indication of why having a child would be important—particularly in their precarious economic situation and at this point in their careers. And I don’t like either of them enough to speculate on the why, or construct my own emotional understanding of the relationship from the collage of incidents Knapp gives us.

This book was not to my taste, but the sense of place and time was quite well done, and readers who want to experience Paris, New York, and Charlottesville in 2015-16 will find much to admire.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an advance review copy.

Set in Paris during the 2015 attacks and the 2016 U.S. election, States of Emergency follows a couple dealing with infertility and separation, all while the world crumbles around them. Knapp's prose is introspective, and his narrative at times can be a poignant reflection on contemporary anxieties, but at other times can feel tedious. While some might find the pacing slow, the novel's quiet power lies in its exploration of how personal and societal emergencies shape our identities and relationships. At times, the characters felt distant, and while the novel tackles important themes, the emotional connection wasn't always there.

I feel terrible to say this was a DNF.

I just struggled so much with the lack of anything happening really. It had very little dialogue, at least what I read of it did, and the characters weren’t actually likeable in my opinion. The writing itself was wonderfully descriptive and the concept was intriguing but it just didn’t follow through for me.

I wanted so badly to love this book and feel guilty for DNF’ing but I just couldn’t read it.

States of Emergency takes us to the sweltering summer of 2015 in Paris, where a young couple—an American and his French wife—grapple with fertility treatment. As the heatwave paralyzes the city, tempers flare, leaving cracks in their marriage.

Pros:
Exquisite Prose: Knapp’s writing is a revelation. It’s like sipping fine wine—rich, nuanced, and intoxicating.
Global Context: Against the backdrop of world crises and historical forces, the couple’s struggles gain depth. It’s a microcosm of our chaotic times.
Tender Exploration: The novel delves into intimacy, race, and love. It’s a delicate dance between vulnerability and resilience.

Cons:
Pacing: While the prose is a marvel, the pacing occasionally stumbles. It’s like a symphony with a few off-key notes.

Beyond pacing, it’s the existential weight that holds it back. The world’s collapsing, and so are their lives. But perhaps that’s the point—sometimes, even love can’t mend all fractures.

When I first came across States of Emergency, I was instantly intrigued by the book's attempt to look at the concept of bringing new life into a deteriorating world. Knapp's writing here is very politically charged and at times quite dense - so much so that a lot of the book felt tedious and tiresome to get through. I did not realize that this book would read so much like a dystopian thriller, which is generally a genre I do not get along with well at all. Obviously, this is a personal preference. However, I will say that even for a work of fiction, the events that take place throughout did not feel realistic, nor did I find the characters enjoyable or interesting. Overall, I think this was just not a book for me but for those who enjoy political dystopian type thrillers, I would still strongly recommend giving States of Emergency a try.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and The Unnamed Press for allowing me access to an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

States of Emergency will be published on September 17th, 2024.

States of Emergency by Chris Knapp. Publishing on September 17th, 2024 by The Unnamed Press.

Summary:
“In the summer of 2015, a young couple—an American and his French wife—undergo fertility treatment in Paris. They settle in to wait for the results as a heatwave paralyzes the city.
As the heat rises, a state of emergency is declared and tempers flare, leaving cracks in the foundation of their marriage. In the months that follow, they find themselves navigating a confluence of world crises and historical forces that affect each in ways the other struggles to understand.
Against this backdrop of existential dread, the fissures in their marriage widen as they confront their everyday apocalypse. An ongoing conversation begins: one that moves backward and forward in time, swings between hope and despair, dry laughter and hard fury, all in an effort toward reconciliation. How will their conflicting ideas about how to build a life together—how to love each other—survive in the face of a future that’s collapsing before their eyes?”
This book was a rollercoaster of emotion. A couple trying to have a baby in a heatwave. “An annihilating heat.” A falling economy. A blistered environment. Collapse. Greif. Longing. Love. Loneliness. I felt a lot of despair reading this book, but not in a depressing way. I felt the main characters feelings, as he navigating a changing world, both around and within himself. . I love Knapp’s description of another character as, “…a horizon of acid rain.” Knapp has a skill of lifting the emotions off the page, smacking you in the face. Great debut.

Major Super thanks to NeGally and The Unamed Press for the ARC. And thanks to Chris Knapp for not getting pissed off with the amount of times I tagged him.

Knapp’s debut novel follows a year in the life of a newly married interracial couple living in both France and the United States through 2015-2016. Global events like climate change, police brutality in the US, the rise of Donald Trump, Brexit, the Greek financial crisis, and acts of terrorism both directly and indirectly impact these two characters as they struggle to conceive their first child. While these events from the headlines occur in the margins, the couple also must navigate the complexities of the French healthcare system, United States immigration law, and precarious job markets. Through the long lens of this novel we can see how what many of us thought was a global boiling point in 2016 was just the start. Nearly a decade later, England and the United States still suffers from its 2016 electoral decisions, and we continue to fail to act to combat climate change and widespread acts of domestic terrorism and police brutality. States of Emergency asks how we can continue to pursue the idea of having a family, an act of hope and love, in a world that seems to grow evermore cruel and indifferent.

This ends up being an eerie kind of reliving of the last decade or so of world events seen through expats living in France (and temporarily America) starting at about roughly Obama's presidency as they try to find themselves in their relationship, and try to conceive a child. The man of the relationship ends up being deeply alienating at times and I almost wish we had gotten a bit more of the woman's side of the story. Great vibes though.

i am so sorry to say this, but i dnf'd this book at 40%.

i do not often dnf books. for some reason, i have a deeply ingrained fear of hurting the author's feelings, and i feel guilt if i don't finish a book. but this one just wasn't for me. "states of emergency" by chris knapp is a historical fiction book (and by historical, i mean 2015-16) set mainly in Paris, France. one thing i loved about this book was that it was chock full of beautiful quotes and language. it almost felt like reading a classic, like "emma" or "pride and prejudice."

however, there was largely no dialogue, other than dialogue in a relayed sense. the whole book (or at least the first 40% of it) was written almost like a. stream of consciousness journal entry or a letter to someone. there were a lot of impactful smaller stories within the larger narrative, but there was no overarching plot whatsoever. this book is mostly just vibes, and not what i had expected going into it.

further, while the characters were incredibly deep and smart, they just weren't realistic or likable. i wanted to like ella so badly, but i just... didn't like her. and the unnamed narrator is just whiny and annoying to me. like be a man... lol.

one thing knapp does really well is combining the microscopic and macroscopic plot points in an effortless and beautiful way. however, this unfortunately made the novel feel far too political. this isn't a bad thing, if you enjoy a heavily political book, but it just isn't what i like to read or what i was looking for.

i gave this book 2 stars, not necessarily because it was a bad book or poorly written, but simply based on my own preference and perception of the book.

Who is the editor of this book? I call for their accountability. This book had TANGENTS of intriguing story lines but was so dense and overwrought I could barely persist to finish. If you can think of it, it is in this book: geopolitical conflict, refugee struggles, fertility issues, global warming, family, marriage, writing, friendship, marriage, graduate school, Paris, art, theatre, etc., etc., etc. And, of course, no resolution at the end. PASS, not recommended. (Sorry)

I enjoyed certain aspects of States of Emergency by Chris Knapp - life as an expat, relationship and fertility issues, family dynamics, observations about life. But then there were other sections that were very wordy and dense and took you right out of the story.

States of Emergency is BEAUTIFULLY written. This incredibly intimate portrait of reckoning with creating a life in this world. While it is quite character-driven and some readers might find it too slow for their taste, I found that the writing was so compelling that I was drawn in from start to finish.

A sense of dread pervades this novel which, in less talented hands, might be problematic. But here the writing is elegant, and I enjoyed how Knapp has crafted these very realistic characters in a very real moment in time. The existential questions explored by the novel are handled delicately, and past and present are woven seamlessly. My only minor complaint is that the pacing dragged at times, and I feel like the book could have been tighter and shorter. Overall I really enjoyed this one and recommend it highly to fans of literary fiction.