Bird Box – An Atmospheric and Concise Post-Apocalypse Horror Fiction

Post-apocalypse literature helps to conquer or at least express humankind’s fear of annihilation. While asteroid collisions, climate change, and nuclear holocaust taps into our dread of very real threats, the zombie apocalypse (and its variants) takes on a more metaphorical dimension. From Romero’s Dead franchise to Max Brooks’ globe-spanning horror novel World War Z, this outlandish imagination of end times has consistently flourished. Of course, there have been plenty of tweaks done to core zombie tale: Mike Carey’s novels referred to a bizarre fungus as the cause of zombie outbreak; in the overly stretched-out Walking Dead TV series, the viewers are left to fear the surviving humans as much as the monsters. Josh Malerman’s debut novel Bird Box (Published March 2014) does take the core of zombie apocalypse stories, where household of survivors exist amidst extreme hopelessness and paranoia. But the catch is the way the ‘threat’ is kept unknown or inscrutable. The novel might be set in a world plagued by an epidemic of insanity, suicides, and murders, although the force causing it is cleverly hidden.

In Josh Malerman’s dark and moving tale, the afflicted doesn’t chew human brains or spread the ‘virus’ through the bites. Nevertheless, they are driven insane, becoming a threat to themselves and others. The fascinating twist on this post-apocalyptic setting is that the mere sight of some ‘creature’ is instantly turning people insane. Furthermore, two aspects provide a singularly chilling experience: the characters have to operate blind (wear a blindfold) while venturing outside; the madness-causing ‘creatures’ are vaguely defined so as to make the dread omnipresent. Even the sound of rustling leaves causes panic. The novel opens with a young mother named Malorie living in a decrepit house with her two 4-year old children, who are simple addressed as ‘Boy’ and ‘Girl’. She has lived in the blanketed house for four years without venturing outside, except for the routine task of drawing water from a nearby well (after securing her by a blindfold). That’s about to change. She has planned to take her two children, put them in a rowboat, and make an excruciating journey on the river (situated few yards from the house).Naturally, Malorie and her children have to navigate the river blindfolded. 

Malorie fully understands that the trip can easily go wrong, but the destination presents her the only hope in this pernicious world. Naturally, we wonder how Malorie survived all these years and protected her children from the unknown menacing forces outside. With an exception of few chapters, Malorie’s present and recent past life is presented in alternating chapters. In the present, Malorie is a stern mother who has trained her children to solely rely on their hearing and to not ever remove their blindfold outside. The children have never experienced the rush of colors saturating the natural world, yet they devotedly yield to their mother’s rules, keeping the blindfold fastened and classify each sound in an ingenious manner. In the recent past, Malorie lived with her sister Shannon, while recovering from a fleeting love affair that left her pregnant. And soon, the civilization went to hell.

Sandra Bullock playing the lead role 'Malorie' in the movie adaptation (releasing Dec. 21, 2018)

People saw ‘something’ that made them go mad and commit shockingly brutal murders and suicides. The only better means to survive is to amass canned goods, hole-up by covering all the windows, and always wear blindfold while taking a step outside. When Shannon also becomes victim to the unknown force, Malorie finds a group of survivors in a house, situated near a river. As the two different timelines swiftly progress, we understand how Malorie ended up alone and why she’s making this trip. It’s the familiar narrative of betrayal, human frailty, and doubt. Yet Malerman’s eerie build-ups of blindfolded characters fumbling through the world full of incomprehensible horrors instill an edgy feeling throughout.

Josh Malerman (lead singer/songwriter for the rock band The High Strung) excels in placing the readers behind the blindfold, keeping our minds well-aligned with the paranoid fears of Malorie and others. The author delineates the survivors' characteristics in a blunt manner, although they are livelier than being a cannon fodder for horror set-pieces. The grimly fascinating human drama occurs later in the narrative with the arrival of a soft-spoken outsider (Gary), whose crazy thoughts seems much more hazardous than the unknown things lurking outside. It’s a little frustrating that Malerman provides no answers regarding what caused the bizarre pandemic. However, the obscure description of the alleged otherworldly ‘creatures’ passes off psychological terror even into the simplest of situations. For example, take the scenario where a falling leaf brushing the shoulder triggers high anxiety. Malerman’s ability to make us visualize the threats in an unseen world makes the evilness of their foes stronger and far-reaching. Moreover, this allows the tale’s scary dimensions to remain like an inkblot. You can make an allegory out of the monstrous creature (political, social or existential) or simply just opt to get swept away by the unsettling unfamiliarity of the creature. Overall, Bird Box is the suspenseful, not-to-missed page-turner for the post-apocalyptic horror fiction lovers.