Book review: The Things That Keep Us Here by Carla Buckley

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Book review: 'The Things That Keep Us Here' by Carla Buckley

February 28, 2010 By JOY TIPPING / The Dallas Morning News

If you're still a little freaked out by the swine flu, The Things That Keep Us

Here might not be the best choice for your reading list. I've already had the

swine flu, but this chilling, engrossing debut novel by Carla Buckley, about a

flu pandemic that takes out 50 percent of those it infects, gave me the serious

willies.

If you can handle the " too close to home " aspects, I'd heartily recommend this

one to anyone who enjoys suspense and exceptional writing. Just make sure you've

got a large bottle of disinfectant nearby.

The book tells the tale of , an Ohio university researcher, and his

extended family as they deal with the onset of a flu pandemic. The book opens

with scenes of horror as discovers huge die-offs of local bird

populations. " On the clear water, surrounded by golden reeds, bobbed a legion of

blue-winged teal, hundreds of them, mottled brown and cream, every one of them

silent and turned the wrong way up, " Buckley writes.

Buckley gives the best explanation I've yet read of how avian and human flu

strains can combine if they mix in the right host: " The pig is ideally suited

for this role, because it's susceptible to both avian and human influenza

viruses, " explains to a group of students. " So let's say these two viruses

meet and mingle within a pig. Out pops a new virus, one that carries avian code

but has human protein receptors. Now we have humans getting infected with an

avian virus. "

Worse than that, he continues, humans have no community or individual immunity

to this new virus, and no quick way of attaining immunity.

When the book's flu reaches pandemic level, and his research assistant,

Shazia, end up staying with his ex-wife, Anne, and kids for convenience's sake;

Shazia is an international student with no place to go, and his bachelor pad is

ill-equipped for survival.

and Anne's attempts to protect their children are thwarted by any number

of factors, including neighbor kids who innocently wander over to play on the

trampoline, people fighting over necessities at the grocery store, and the

inevitable power outage amid frigid conditions.

Buckley, or her editors, get at least one number glaringly wrong, when

tells his students that 30,000 to 40,000 people in the U.S. die each year of the

flu, and that that equals slightly more than 1 percent of the U.S. population.

The number of flu deaths is accurate, but 1 percent of the population would be

more like 3.6 million people.

Otherwise, Buckley's science seems strong, and her writing style – clear,

straightforward, with a refreshing lack of distracting frou-frou – is perfect

for this type of book. She renders the book's relationships with special care,

avoiding what might have been easy characterizations as " hero, " " villain, "

" sympathetic " or " unsympathetic. "

Anne, for instance, makes what might be considered a horribly unfeeling decision

late in the book, but because of the author's masterful use of back story and

buildup, while we may not agree with Anne, we understand her.

I read The Things That Keep Us Here in two sittings. Would have been one, but I

had to run to the store for more Purell.

The Things That Keep Us Here by Carla Buckley (Delacorte Press, $25).

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