{"id":31393,"date":"2025-07-30T02:13:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T02:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/31393\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T02:13:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T02:13:09","slug":"rhett-daviss-new-novel-explores-climate-anxiety-in-a-world-where-humans-transform-into-trees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/31393\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhett Davis\u2019s new novel explores climate anxiety in a world where humans transform into trees"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"<\/p>\n

FICTION
Arborescence
Rhett Davis
Hachette, $32.99<\/p>\n

We\u2019re familiar with the idea that planting a tree is a gesture of hope, a way of helping to heal the Earth. But what about taking root and becoming trees ourselves?<\/p>\n

The characters in Victorian writer Rhett Davis\u2019 new novel Arborescence feel both overwhelmed and underwhelmed by life in what is recognisably a version of urban Australia. Their planet has been ravaged by humanity\u2019s overconsumption. Their workplaces are being transformed by \u201calternative intelligences\u201d. Someone has spray-painted \u201cTHERE IS NO HOPE\u201d on a train station wall.<\/p>\n

But something extraordinary is happening. In forests and fields, on roads and along waterways, people are turning into trees \u2013 by choice. The book\u2019s title was our first hint that this was going to happen; arborescence means \u201cbecoming tree-like\u201d.<\/p>\n

But why is this happening? Is this a cult? Performance art? A protest against modern existence? A resignation to grief and helplessness? Or is this metamorphosis a way of healing, a statement of solidarity with the Earth?<\/p>\n

Those who read Davis\u2019 quirkily dystopian 2022 debut Hovering may be hearing an echo here. In Hovering, as houses were transplanted, roads re-routed and humans altered by online over-stimulation, one character read a book by an author arguing that in a world of chaos and uncertainty, the best response was to be as quiet as plants. In Arborescence, Davis takes this idea and runs with it.<\/p>\n

\"Rhett<\/p>\n

Rhett Davis again uses narrative playfulness in his second novel.Credit: Rebekah Halls<\/p>\n

Caelyn and Bren are the novel\u2019s main characters. They\u2019ve been in a relationship for four years. They own a cat. They have families and a circle of friends, but there\u2019s something robotic about these interactions. What if, Caelyn asks early on, there\u2019s no humanity left in humanity?<\/p>\n

Bren, the novel\u2019s first-person narrator, works for a company he knows little about. Even after years of employment he\u2019s never actually met another human employee. He\u2019s assigned various tasks by \u201cthe Queue\u201d \u2013 writing, editing, creating images \u2013 but doesn\u2019t know why these things must be done or who they\u2019re for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FICTIONArborescenceRhett DavisHachette, $32.99 We\u2019re familiar with the idea that planting a tree is a gesture of hope, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[64,63,457,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-31393","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-books","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}