Five Points on an Invisible Line by Su J. Sokol

Five Points on an Invisible Line, is the sequel to Cycling to Asylum (recently re-issued as The Invisible Line). In it, author Su Sokol returns to the Wolfes, an American family of four, who had bicycled from Brooklyn, New York, across the border into Canada. The setting is the probably not-too-distant future, where the US, for many reasons, has become more authoritarian. The changes have been deep, and even its name has changed. It is now “United America.”

In the first book, Laek—a father whose past had been marked by radical activism—became a target for the authorities for fighting for social justice in New York. As the danger became ever more apparent, he decided to take his family to Canada. The plot of Five Points on an Invisible Line picks up three years later in Montreal. Laek is pursuing his social activism, teaching underprivileged and homeless children at a shelter, while also teaching History at a school. His wife, Janie, is a refugee lawyer, helping others who wish to escape from United America. Children have started disappearing from the facility where Laek volunteers, and he is worried about what is happening. Their daughter, Siri, who is fifteen, wants to get involved in social activism as well. Their son, Simon, twelve, is more concerned with his friend Aiza, a girl his age who, to his discomfort, is maturing faster than he is. The family has been joined by Philip, an old friend from Brooklyn who has just come north as a refugee and is trying to find a way to obtain permanent residency.

Although Canada has not descended into authoritarianism like United America, it has changed, too. Sokol describes the activism needed to address social issues centred largely on homeless people and immigrants. Her focus is not on the overall political situation, but rather on how the confusion of the times affects her characters. The narrative consists of first-person accounts by Laek, Janie, Siri, Simon, and Philip, each taking turns describing what is happening to them.

What is distinctive about Sokol’s writing is how she conveys how different this future is from the present that is familiar to the reader. As can be expected, she has added a lot of technology to people’s lives. Everyone has a “wrist disk” or implant to communicate with other people as well as with the technology that permeates everything. Holographic images have replaced paper almost entirely. And people tend either to bicycle or use public transportation rather than use personal automobiles.

But Sokol does something else that is very effective: she shows how language may change. Quasi-techie slang colours the children’s language, and gender awareness now pervades everyone’s interactions: people are he, she, xe, or they, and it’s often unclear what gender (in the cisgender sense), if any, a person being spoken about possesses. It’s a definite evolution in the way people speak about one another. Not limiting herself to language, however, Sokol also examines the nature of love from a number of angles: parental, sibling, teenage, and friendship. And not just emotional, there is a thoughtful consideration of physical love as well. Polyandry is openly addressed.

So, with the backdrop of the search for the missing children and the integration of Philip into Wolfe family life, Sokol is giving the reader not just a view, but a palpable feel for what the future will be like. A thoughtful and intriguing accomplishment.

Five Points on an Invisible Line and The Invisible Line are published by Flame Arrow Publishing.