girlfriend on mars

by Deborah Willis

On the surface, Girlfriend on Mars, longlisted for the Giller Prize, is a breakup story, only instead of one person moving to a different city or sleeping with a coworker, they’re trying to move to a different planet. As well as funny, this novel is thought provoking and a wonderful commentary on our world. Amber decides she’s done with her aimless life in a Vancouver basement and enters a reality TV show. The prize? A one-way ticket to colonize Mars.

 The book is told from two sides, and if you’ve ever been the person left behind while your partner discovers a "new self," you’ll recognize the vibe immediately. On one side, you have Amber, who is dealing with the absurdity of a tech-billionaire-funded competition. On the other, you have Kevin, who stays home growing weed and watching his girlfriend become a global celebrity on a screen. Kevin is the kind of guy who thinks things are "fine" right up until the moment his house is literally empty.

 What Willis gets exactly right is that specific brand of modern desperation. She skewers the "save the world by leaving it" mentality of the super-rich, but keeps the focus on the actual human cost. Amber isn’t just leaving Kevin; she’s leaving Earth because it’s a mess, and Kevin is just a part of the mess she’s tidying up.