“Prime Meridian” is a novella by Silvia Moreno-García. Set in the near future where Mars has been colonized, Amelia, a Mexican woman, navigates through her once bright future, now bleak due to abandoning school to take care of her ill mother. Now that she has passed away, and all opportunities seem to have vanished, she will face new challenges, like befriending an old movie star as part of one of her jobs, and meeting again with her former boyfriend.
Mexico City is described as a more modern place, yet always the same, demarcating the boundaries between affluent and poor people, always favoring those with privilege. Amelia could have been one, but now all her dreams to emigrate to Mars are but a dream.
The contrast between the real life, and a script she plays in her mind, where Mars is not the real settlement, but a fictitious environment akin to the old sci-fi movies of early cinema. Will she be able to escape her reality?
Extremely recommended!
Korpilandia 