Annihilation

This is a strange book. An expedition of investigators is sent into Area X to try to find out what's going on there. Eleven previous expeditions have failed. Unsurprisingly, this twelfth one fares no better. I read reviews of Annihilation comparing it to something by Lovecraft. From what little Lovecraft I've read, I guess that is a fair characterization - but it's softer. This book is classified as science fiction, but it perhaps more appropriately belongs in a psychological horror genre, but horror doesn't really fit it either. It is, perhaps, in a nameless genre.

There are no names in this book. Our narrator, the biologist, is accompanied by the anthropologist, the surveyor, and the psychologist. The linguist bailed before the expedition began. The biologist talks about her husband, but the only name he has is 'my husband'. In her reminiscences her husband had a nickname for her, Ghostbird. It may be the only name used in the book, but she dislikes it and doesn't use it as a name for herself. At one point she comes across a folded up piece of paper, a note or a letter, with a word scrawled on it, beginning with an S, perhaps a name. It makes her very uncomfortable - she hasn't heard a name in months. The lack of names annoyed me as much this unspoken name unnerved the biologist.

These professions, instead of names, - they seemed like place holders for the characters. The other members of her team had virtually no personalities at all. They were non-persons. This was a literary device that the author chose to use. I think it was, perhaps, not the best choice. The biologist, our narrator, was supposedly on a team of investigators , following a period of training, but she might as well have been alone in this strange land in which she found herself. She certainly wasn't part of a team. There was no camaraderie, no teamwork, no sharing of information - there was no team.

This book is the first in a trilogy. I don't know if I will read the remaining two books. I might; I might not. Do the next two books have names?