Women in Blake Crouch's Wayward Pines Series

I'll be perfectly honest and admit from the get go that I had never heard of Crouch or his series until Fox decided to air the television series Wayward Pines, based on Crouches trilogy Wayward Pines. .  Whenever I discover that there is a print version of a movie or a television show that we are watching I try to read it because I believe that it gives a fuller picture of the story.  As wonderful as television and movies are, and for all of the progress in technology, there are simply some things that come across better with the written word.

I picked up the first book,  Pines after watching five episodes of the Fox series, certain that I had by then attained at least a basic understanding of Crouch's story and world. It seems that thus far at least, the show is pretty faithful to its source material.  This is good in many ways because Crouch takes a unique approach to his dystopia, particularly in this era where the zombie is king.  That said, in terms of gender, Crouch's Wayward Pines series is seriously lacking.

The Wayward Pines series is yet another dystopian story in which the straight, cisgender, White, able bodied male not only becomes a leader, but he is practically a saviour.  Time and time again, Pilcher brought Ethan out of stasis, only to have place him back in  stasis when Ethan refused to adapt to the community.  Ethan refuses to quietly go along and he above everyone else, gets the answers as to what is really going on with Wayward Pines.  It's the typical approach dystopians take because somehow authors who can picture the most fantastic scenarios, cannot seem to imagine a woman in charge, let alone being heroic.

With the exception of one female character, the women all exist to nurture Ethan, uplift Ethan, teach Ethan a lesson or simply follow his rules.  They are so wrapped around Ethan that they don't seem to have a personality of their own.  This is particularly true when it comes to Theresa, Ethan's wife.  When we first meet Theresa, it's been a year and half since Ethan has disappeared.  Theresa is vulnerable, lonely, grieving and desperate. Without a doubt, Ethan is everything to her and she is desperate to hold onto the memory of him.  She talks repeatedly about the hold Ethan has over her.  For his part, Ethan is certain that had Theresa been unfaithful instead of him, their marriage would have been over.  Theresa is absolutely willing to forgive him anything because at the end of the day, they both acknowledge that Theresa loves Ethan, far more than he loves her.  Immediately, this fact creates an imbalance of power in their relationship.

Only in the most egalitarian of relationships is parity ever reached in heterosexual relationships.  Theresa gives up everything to be a wife and mother and at the end of the day, that's all she really is.  She doesn't act to defend herself unless it's a life or death situation and even then, she's counting on Ethan coming to the rescue.  It never occurs to her that she might find a way to rescue herself.  The only thing that Theresa knows for sure, when she is given a choice between Ethan and his boss, is that she was meant to be a nurturer and it is for that reason that Theresa chooses Ethan. Theresa actually chooses to take a secondary role because that's natural to her.   When Theresa learns the truth behind Wayward Pines, she commands Ethan to fix it, once again not giving any thought as to what she might do.  When Theresa and Ben are on the run from Abbies, Theresa comforts her son by suggesting that Ethan will save them. So. not only is she naturally a woman who stands behind her man no matter what, she has absolutely zero agency.  She is a cardboard cutout trope.Theresa is a damsel waiting to be saved and or noticed.

The Last Town (Wayward Pines #3) by Blake Crouch

The Last Town is the last in the Wayward Pines trilogy. When Ethan decided to pull the trigger and reveal to the citizens of Wayward Pines the truth about the town he couldn't even have begun to imagine what it would cost. Ethan must find a way to stop all of the death and get the town on track but the people must able to him owe their allegiance to  David Pilcher, the town's creator. David is not happy with the fact that his self styled divinity is not being respected or recognized in a manner he finds suitable and is therefore willing to do anything to teach the residents a finale lesson.

It's impossible to read Pines and not want to find out how this story ends.  Pines is really about the mystery of Wayward Pines itself.  Wayward tends to focus on how to deal with what Wayward Pines is and The Last Town  deal with the survival of humanity itself.  Of the three books in this series The Last Town is easily the least nuanced because it is essential a horror book.  Ethan and the residents of Wayward Pines spend the majority of the book rushing from place to place in order to either a) take control away from Pilcher or b) stay one step ahead of the abbies which want nothing more than to slaughter them.

The action pace of the novel allows no room for further character development.  What little the residents do communicate with each other is often stilted and agonizingly drawn out. The women really suffered The Last Town which isn't surprising as the the Wayward Pines series falls into the all to typical dystopian fantasy trap of making everything about the straight white male. I had hoped for some time that Theresa would really come into her own.  At the end of the day, Theresa ended the book as she started, a wife and a mother.  Unless she is forced into action, Theresa is content to hope that Ethan will save her.  Trapped in a jail cell and surrounded by Abbies, Theresa's way of comforting her son Ben is tell him that Daddy is going to fix it.  In the wake of learning what is happening with Wayward Pines, Theresa commands Ethan to fix it. 

Wayward (Wayward Pines #2) by Blake Crouch

Wayward Pines is a small town nestled in Idaho.  It has picturesque views of mountains and a small population that mostly knows each other.  It's about American as apple pie, if you ignore that each house has a running camera to track movements and sounds, jobs and even spouses are assigned.  No one ever speaks about their past.  The primary rule however is that no one can leave.  This is the world Ethan Burke finds himself in.  Human civilization collapsed nearly 2,000 years ago when humans devolved in Abbies/ Aberations.  Ethan knows all to well what is on the other side of the wall.  Somehow he has to balance people's right to know where they are and what happened to them, against his life and that of his family.  If that were not enough, as the local sheriff, Ethan is responsible for finding out who killed one of Wayward Pines citizens.

Pines, the first series in this trilogy is really about the mystery of Wayward Pines.  In this current novel, now that the mystery has been answered Ethan must find a way to live with what he knows.  The world as he knew it is over and while Wayward Pines offers relative safety and comfort, it is controlled by David Pilcher - a ruthless man with a God complex. 

Pilcher more than any other character in this story got some serious character development.  Wayward Pines is the result of his life's work and its also his sole obsession.  Pilcher didn't just save humanity out of a sense of altruism, he very much wants to be perceived as the great benefactor, in short, a God. The children in school are even taught that he is their real father.  Pilcher went as far as to have his wife murdered when she refused to take the leap with him into the future.  He cultivated the trust of people who were vulnerable in some way and offered them security and a dream of a better tomorrow.  It's easy to see why those who live in the mountain (the humans that are aware of the real state of this world ) almost worship him.

Throughout Wayward, it's clear that this book is a long chess game between Ethan and Pilcher.  We do get the perspective of other characters like Theresa for instance but that serves largely to remind us of the horror the citizens are living with. The disagreement between Ethan and Pilcher comes down to power.  Pilcher having envisioned and created this town feels that it is right to control it and the people in it. Ethan even fully aware of what life is like outside the fence is determined to have some sort of control over his life and some basic privacy. He doesn't buy into Pilcher's belief that the ends justifies the means.

The dance between Pilcher and Ethan is interesting but it does have some flaws.  What would motivate Pilcher to keep waking Ethan up when each time he has made it clear that he isn't going to go along with the program?  Knowing that Ethan is not a man to be controlled or manipulated, what sense did it make for Pilcher to decide to invest Ethan with power by making him sheriff? And the coup de grâce? Pilcher with Pam's aid killed his own daughter and that tasked Ethan with finding the murderer.  Pilcher could have taken her body outside the walls of Wayward Pines He could simply have buried it but instead he left her body for Ethan to find and then tasked him with finding the murderer. Yes, Pilcher claimed to want to put the blame on Kate by planting a weapon at her house but for someone who is capable of conceiving and starting Wayward Pines, his plan seems overwhelming ridiculous.

Pines (Wayward Pines #1) by Blake Crouch

Secret Service Agent Ethan Burke wakes after a horrible car accident to find himself disoriented and lost.  Ethan makes his way into the lovely town of Wayward Pines - the very town he was sent to, to investigate the disappearance of two secret service agents.  Immediately, things about the idyllic looking Wayward Pines start to seem strange.  When he cannot get in touch with his boss at The Secret Service, or his wife and child, Ethan gets determined to leave Wayward Pines.  The problem is that the town members have decided that the only way for Ethan to leave is in a pine box.

I'll be honest and admit that I decided to read this book simply because of the fact that it has been adapted into a television series.  That said, if you've seen the first five episodes of Wayward Pines the television show, this review will not contain any spoilers for you.

The only character really developed in the Pines is Ethan Burke.  We learn about his fear and his PTSD, after having been captured and tortured in Afghanistan.  Ethan is clearly a haunted man.  He knows that he hasn't been a good father to his son and he most certainly has not been a good husband to his wife Theresa.  Ethan's clear that had Theresa been the one to be unfaithful, the marriage would have been over whereas; Theresa is clear that not only did she forgive Ethan his one dalliance, she would forgive him even if he cheated again.  Theresa talks about Ethan just being everything for her and yet that is clearly not the case for Ethan.  Ethan does truly love his wife but he doesn't actually know how much until his life is threatened and he realises that he might never see her again.

The show does a really good job of giving a good sense of the cult like nature of Wayward Pines but because the orientation meeting is missing from the book, it's not nearly as heavily developed.  We don't learn heavily about the rules.  The terror comes from Ethan's limited interactions with the citizens, like the ever creepy Pam and the increasingly hostile Sheriff Pope. For a time, it's Ethan who seems damaged, despite his insistence of the opposite because he is after all the one running around town claiming to be Secret Service, without any identification at all.  It well could be the emotional breakdown that Jenkins suggests.