"The Last One" Effortlessly Marries Reality TV and Post-Apocalyptic Fiction. No Kidding!

The Last One - Alexandra Oliva

Just about anyone who knows me well probably also knows that I have nothing to do with so-called “reality” televisions shows. I’ve never voluntarily watched more than a few seconds of “Survivor,” “Big Brother,” or any other example of the genre. Face facts: I’m really not willing to suspend my disbelief for this particular form of escapism: life’s tough enough for most people without phony challenges and fake contests. So it might come as a surprise to my acquaintances that my most recent literary find is all about a reality television show…

…or maybe they wouldn’t be surprised, since Alexandra Oliva’s debut novel, The Last One, is at the same time a damned fine example of one of my favorite genres: post-apocalyptic fiction. Here: let me tell you about it.

Throughout almost the entire tale, our heroine is the contestant viewers of the ill-fated “In the Dark” will call Zoo. Zoo, because that’s sort of what she does: she works for a wildlife rehabilitation center. The other players have similar handles – Tracker, Waitress, Carpenter Chick, Rancher, Cheerleader Boy, Biology – but those eleven are observed only in flashback as the original twelve contenders jockey for position in the game. After several days of individual and team challenges, the remaining nine (two quit, one was carted off by the medicos) set off on a solo challenge. Even as they get underway, the cameramen and producers that had swarmed about them like mosquitoes since day one suddenly disappear…

Days later, Zoo’s first-person narrative picks up: the young woman's unaware of a pandemic that swept through the area, killing many of the production staff and even some of the contestants. Instead, she’s been doggedly following “clues left by the producers” as she heads eastward; coincidentally straight at the home where her husband waits… or so she thinks. The apocalypse being in the rearview mirror, all the standard tropes of a post-apocalyptic novel befall her – except not precisely as fans of the genre might expect. Maybe it’s because the disease that swept through didn’t strike out on the West Coast; perhaps it’s because the disease wasn’t as virulent as the typical apocalyptic disease.

And maybe it’s just because people aren’t as inherently evil as the likes of Cormac McCarthy or Peter Heller might think. As the point of view bounces from Zoo to the group during the first days of the show, readers are privy to some inside baseball – watching as the producers tweak the on-camera interactions to influence the viewers’ reactions to the characters. It’s a pretty safe bet that Zoo will ultimately be the fan favorite… or she would have been, if the show hadn’t ceased to exist after three episodes.

Oliva’s first novel, which I for one certainly hope won’t be The Last One, effortlessly stitches together what may be the 21st century’s least-enduring entertainment trend with one of the longest-running literary trends – and she does a darned good job. Highly recommended!

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