bookchickdi: My Name Is Iris by Brando Skyhorse

Monday, August 14, 2023

My Name Is Iris by Brando Skyhorse

My Name Is Iris by Brando Skyhorse

Published by Avid Reader Press ISBN 9781982177850

Hardcover, $28, 257 pages

One of the best things fiction can do is create empathy on the reader. Brando Skyhorse's new novel, My Name Is Iris does that masterfully.

Iris Prince is a second-generation Mexican-American. She has a good job, a young daughter she loves, and she is getting a drama-free divorce from her husband. Iris and nine-year-old Mel are moving into a new home in a nice neighborhood.

Iris's mother has always taught her to follow the rules to living in America- speak English in front of strangers, walk far from gringos on a sidewalk until they acknowledge you, call them "sir or ma'am", and never ever cry in front of anyone. Iris always tries to follow the rules.

But suddenly the rules were changing. A company created "the Band", something a person wears on their wrist that had their identity on it. You would use this band to get a drivers license, pay your utility bills, basically anything you need to do, you need the Band to be able to do it.

In order to get a Band, you have to show proof of not only your citizenship, but also of your parents' United States citizenship. This is something Iris in unable to do, and her life was shrinking because of it. Eventually, the government required employers to prove their employees each had a Band.

While the Band was becoming a part of American life, Iris notices a wall in front of her house. This wall appears to be growing, and no one else seems to be concerned or even acknowledges that it is there. Her neighbors (who are all white and pepper Iris with microagressions in each encounter) and even her ex-husband make no mention of this huge wall growing in front of Iris' home.

Iris doesn't understand what is happening. She has always followed the rules, she believes that if she works hard and raises her daughter to work hard, she will be justly rewarded with a good life. But now those rules mean nothing.

Brando Skyhorse has created a character in Iris Prince who is unforgettable. The reader has empathy for a woman who is doing everything right only to be told that it doesn't matter, it only matters where your parents came from. My Name Is Iris is such a timely and relevant novel, a great companion to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. I found myself shaking my head in disbelief and yet also thinking that this is something that frighteningly could be a reality. I give My Name Is Iris my highest recommendation, it is truly a superb piece of fiction.

Thank you to TLC Tours for putting me on Brando Skyhorse's tour. The rest of his stops are here: