The Vivisectors by Missouri Williams

Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026--San Antonio

I really don't quite know how to describe The Vivisectors by Missouri Williams, a novel that has been longlisted for this year's Booker Prize.  It seems to be filled with metaphors and is set in a declining university city located in a lush climate with buildings decaying and the plants rapidly taking over the city and suffering from population loss.  It is contrasted with a modern dynamic city built in a dessert and filled with shiny skyscrapers where some of the characters are from and where many locals would rather live.  Agathe, the main character is a university drop-out who was likely the most intelligent student at the university.  Her family has been decaying much as the city where she lives.  Her mother attempted suicide when she was a child; her father, a former member of the faculty, is disgusted with her and has built his academic success on writing lots of novels in which he, she, and her mother are the central characters; and she has lived most of her life with her uncle remaining estranged from her father and her mother.  She works for a professor in which she has secretly taken over most of the professor's university duties--planning the syllabi and the lessons, marking and grading the papers the students submit, etc., and is happy living a quiet, isolated life where she is paid well for her work without needing any recognition for it.  An event has taken place at the university where a graduate student named Adam has come in conflict during a lecture period with a professor from a minority background named Jacob--each having offended the other with name-calling at the end of the conflict, so the university community is in an uproar regarding who was in the wrong and what to do about it.  The professor who employs Agathe is on the side of Adam since they both are outsiders from the modern city in the desert (and also because she seems to have a crush on him).  Most of the university administration seem to be on the side of Jacob.  The professor asks Agathe to establish a relationship with Adam to try to learn more about the event, how he feels about the situation, and what is currently happening.  In the meantime, the decaying of the city is increasing rapidly, especially since the gardeners have gone on strike for not being appreciated or paid enough.  They march in protest in rows and columns much like a military brigade.  So what is the book really about since almost everything seems to be a metaphor for something else?  I can't tell you for sure.  What I can say, is that it is set in modern times (maybe even slightly in the future).  There has always been a power conflict between the city and the university.  Climate change is definitely happending.  The university seems to have adopted a progressive posture--admitting more minorities and international students and trying to uphold standards designed to protect feelings--but it has also failed to maintain the qualities that have made it one of the top universities in the world, since there seems to be grade inflation, faculty being lax in maintaining teaching standards, students hiring others to do their required assignments for themselves, etc.  So the city is falling apart, the university is falling apart, and society is falling apart.  Is it a prediction for the near future?  I gave the book 3 stars out of 5.