Every two months the AA Reading Group organises an evening in which we discuss a particular book. We read fiction and other literary texts as well as personal non-fiction. Themes vary from the quest for equality and independent spaces, the housing crisis and ecology to displacement, hybrid identity and decolonisation. The overall focus is on works that are relevant for our lives as citizens today. Books can be about current topics or they can be older, as long as they have a bearing on the social-political structures that we live in at present. We choose books that are critical of predominant systems in society, that offer alternative visions to those systems or that are otherwise empowering for people who are marginalised in some way.

Ruin by Cara Hoffman is a collection of 10 anarchistic short stories that examine American society in free-fall, and what it may look like to survive the collapse. Each tale offers a glimpse at a world aligned with our own, but slightly off-kilter. Some tales become explicitly apocalyptic, whereas others are more catastrophic in tone than actuality. All the stories are dedicated to a fascination with disorder, which is reflected in the quick cuts, unsettling juxtapositions and hypnotic images. The short fictions celebrate the sharp beauty of outsiders and the creative ways humans muster psychic resistance under oppressive conditions. The ultimate effect of the interconnected stories is one of invigoration and a sense of possibilities—hope for a new world extracted from the rubble of the old.

The discussion of ‘Ruin’ will take place on Wednesday 10th August 2022 at 20:00 hrs on the WG-terrein. If you want to participate, please send an email to: readinggroup(at)amsterdamalternative.nl