"Ink" review

Overview

Title: Ink

Author: Sabrina Vourvoulias

Subgenre: Dystopian, Science fiction, Magical realism

2021 Bingo squares: Latinx author (hm), First person (hm), Genre mashup

Recommend: Yes

Stars: 4/5

Review

Ink follows four lives: a journalist, his source, his brother-in-law, and the daughter of a government worker, through a dystopian America in which immigrants have their status tattooed on their wrists and are treated as less than human by the majority of the population. At the start of the novel, the government is opening “inkatoriums,” centralized holding facilities for immigrants (“inks”), and the plot glides between following this development and following our characters as they go about their individual lives, through joy and heartbreak.

It’s crucial to realize that this novel was not published recently; it was originally released in 2012. That’s post-September 11th, but pre-Muslim ban, pre-border wall, pre-Trump campaign altogether. Yet there was already enough isolationist, anti-immigrant sentiment in America’s history and present-day culture - and Sabrina Vourvoulias was observant and talented enough - that she was able to publish something that feels like it was originally released in 2018, not re-released.

The result is a powerful novel that’s definitely worth reading. It’s very dark - content warnings include rape, on-screen assault, racism, kidnapping, deportation, incarceration, forced sterilization, miscarriage, and deaths of significant others. If you don’t want to read a novel with these content warnings, that’s ok - this novel is not for you, don’t force yourself through it. But if you can, it tells a relevant, contemporary story.