The Resisters: A Novel by Gish Jen (review)

Gish Jen’s dystopian fifth novel, The Resisters, is set in a country known as AutoAmerica, where the citizenry has passively accepted an intrusive authoritarian government known as “Aunt Nettie” that uses advanced forms of artificial intelligence and the internet to control the lives of individuals. Jen imagines this nation segregated into two main groups: the “Netted” who have “angelfair” skin and the “Surplus” who are mostly “coppertoned.”

Due to climate change much of AutoAmerica is now under water. The Netted live in houses on high ground, while the Surplus live in swampland or on houseboats. If they abuse the rules of society or threaten the power structure, the Surplus can be “Cast Off ” and allowed to drift out to an uncertain fate on a dangerous sea. A policy known as “Send’EmBack” deports immigrants. Drones provide surveillance. “Enforce Bots” act as a police force.

The novel focuses on a Surplus family of three: Grant, a former professor; his wife, Eleanor, a combative and highly skilled lawyer; and their teenage daughter, Gwen. Told from the point of view of Grant, the story of their life unfolds. They live in an Autohouse that monitors their behavior, but they have a quiet and relatively comfortable existence compared to other members of the Surplus class. The family has a vegetable garden. Grant tinkers in his workshop. Eleanor and Gwen enjoy knitting. Gwen reads the novels of Charles Dickens and is especially fond of Herman Melville’s short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener.” When Gwen doesn’t want to do something, she says, “I would prefer not to.”

If this seems an odd setup for what becomes a baseball novel, it is. But we discover early in the book that Gwen has a special talent. She is a girl with a golden arm. Her parents notice this skill when she is a toddler throwing stuffed animals out of her crib. When she is older she sleeps with a baseball glove under her pillow and learns how to pitch, first playing catch and doing drills with her father, then throwing to her friend, Ondi, who is an aspiring catcher. We learn that Gwen has pinpoint control, a changeup, a curve, and a four-seam fastball that her father clocks at seventy-three miles per hour.

Recognizing the talent and interests of their daughter, Grant and Eleanor conspire to organize an unauthorized underground baseball league. They recruit other parents and players, form teams, play games, and try to avoid detection by the surveillance drones that might report them. Gwen’s success as a pitcher eventually leads to an unexpected opportunity. She is invited to cross over, live among the Netted, and join the baseball team of Netted U.

At this point the novel becomes less an examination of an ominous and controlling central government and more clearly a story about the joys and freedom offered by the world of baseball. We learn the names of Gwen’s teammates, which are often allusions to either literary figures or former Major League Baseball players: Joe March, Beetle Samsa, Hector Quesadilla, Ichiro Mariner, Fudge Fisk, Righty Grove, Pietro Martinez, and Rube Foster. On the wall of her bedroom Gwen displays posters of her idols: Ila Borders, Jackie Mitchell, and Mo’ne Davis. Gwen’s coach likens her to Satchel Paige and encourages her to develop a hesitation pitch. She also improves her fastball so that it clocks a speed in the mideighties.

There are dark moments in the book and not-so-subtle commentary on contemporary social issues. Gwen’s friend, Ondi, participates in the assisted suicide of her grandfather. A star pitcher rapes a teammate and escapes punishment when his crime is concealed by coaches. Players accept genetic alteration to improve their physical abilities. Gwen is one of the few who resist enhancement. When offered treatment she simply says, “I would prefer not to.”

The climax of the book comes when Gwen is recruited by AutoAmerica to play on their Olympic team against a geopolitical rival called...