Bright and Dangerous Objects
Anneliese Mackintosh
Reviewed by Sidney Thomas
In Anneliese Mackintosh’s Bright and Dangerous Objects, commercial deep-sea diver Solvig is one of 100 finalists selected for the Mars Project, an ambitious, private space venture to send a handful of people to settle Mars. This may be the thirty-seven-year-old’s dreams made manifest, but if she is selected, it will likely mean she will have to leave Earth forever, separating herself from her long-term partner, James, and his hopes that the couple will soon raise a child.
Solvig spends long hours in high-pressure saturation for her deep-sea dives, leaving her time between spurts of dangerous work to pick through her mind, where childhood dreams of reaching the stars conflict with the reality of her life on Earth. Through a story which is equal parts meditation and action, Mackintosh engrosses the reader with her tale of a determined character who tries to balance ambition and care in her regular life while facing interplanetary possibilities. When Solvig meets another finalist, a mother who is set for life on Mars where she will likely die away from her many children, Solvig realizes she must confront her own desires, and her final destination.
For a novel that confronts some of humanity’s largest quests, Mackintosh keeps Solvig firmly grounded in human problems. While none of us may be getting on a ship to Mars this year, it may be soon that we will be asked if a better future exists for us in the stars. Mackintosh skillfully explores the anxieties and possibilities of motherhood, showing us the complex possibilities that science may soon present to us.