{"id":8138,"date":"2026-05-12T14:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T17:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/discours-e.ca\/?p=8138"},"modified":"2026-07-28T14:32:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T17:32:39","slug":"on-reading-foe-by-iain-reid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/discours-e.ca\/en\/2026\/05\/12\/on-reading-foe-by-iain-reid\/","title":{"rendered":"On Reading Foe by Iain Reid"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is available in English only.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Stephanie Domet<\/a>, Frye Correspondent<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Book read: Foe<\/em> by Iain Reid<\/a> (Simon and Schuster, 2018)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Weeks after reaching the final page of Foe<\/em> and putting the novel down for the last time, the story and its themes still haunt me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Iain Reid\u2019s books are often classified as thrillers, what\u2019s happening in Foe<\/em> is quieter than that, but no less unsettling, honestly. Where other writers might lean into baroque writing dripping with adjectives, Reid employs restraint and rhythm to create a creepy tension that keeps a reader turning pages till way past bedtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Foe, we meet an isolated, recently married, rural couple, Henrietta\u2014or Hen\u2014and Junior. In short order, they are visited by Terrance, who says he works with OuterMore\u2014a public-private partnership designed to colonize space. And Junior\u2019s been chosen for the Installation\u2014a short term outer space residency. Not to worry, Terrance lets them know, while Junior\u2019s gone, Hen will have familiar company, in the form of a kind of replica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story, such as it is, unfolds within tight constraints. Three characters and a limited setting. The isolated farmhouse, and the fields of genetically modified canola that surround it. We\u2019re in a near future world in which there are self-driving cars, in which it is illegal to own livestock, and in which the government is working with industry to colonize space. Oh, and the algorithm is always listening, via the microphones in devices. A chilling, not-likely-far-off vision of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reid writes with considerable restraint, spare prose, uninflected dialogue, and a slow but steady pace as Junior and Hen wait years for something to happen\u2014for Terrance to return and let Junior know he\u2019s heading off to OuterMore, or to let the couple know that Junior is off the hook and their life can return to its usual rhythms. Against this constraint and restraint, however, Reid is able to dig deeply and repeatedly into big philosophical questions about who we are on our own and in relation to others. He explores what it means to be known deeply within a marriage, but also how easy it is to disappear inside one, to be held in place by old narratives and ideas, or by a partner\u2019s faulty perceptions. He examines, too, what\u2019s at stake when one partner changes or desires something different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are plot twists here that I did not see coming and that made the entirety of the story wash over me in a new way, sending me back to the first few pages to look for clues. And while nothing gory or overtly frightening happens during this book, the tone and pacing are such that my reading was accompanied by a deep and thrilling sense of dis-ease. That Reid accomplishes all of this with spare prose and deep questions about the nature of love, relationships, and our very existence, is truly a testament to his skill as a writer and his insight into human nature.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Weeks after reaching the final page of Foe and putting the novel down for the last time, the story and its themes still haunt me. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":255556986,"featured_media":8145,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":[3072],"meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[3380,2098,2104,1459],"correspondant":[3368,2269],"org-partenaire":[2809],"projet":[3378,2096],"formats":[],"nature":[],"class_list":["post-8138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nouveaute","tag-campagne-des-correspondantes-2026","tag-festival-frye","tag-litterature","tag-mediatheque","format-article-fr","correspondant-iain-reid-fr","correspondant-stephanie-domet-fr","org-partenaire-festival-frye","projet-campagne-des-correspondantes-2026","projet-festival-frye"],"acf":{"type_contenu":"article_dossier","source_de_la_nouvelle":null,"autrice_de_larticle":[2269],"langue_de_la_video":["EN"],"articles_enfants":"","corresp_ordre":[{"corresp_term":[2269],"corresp_poids":1},{"corresp_term":[3368],"corresp_poids":2}],"presence_au_festival":""},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pg22Gt-27g","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/discours-e.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/reid-lunch-copie.jpg?fit=3007%2C1873&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/discours-e.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/discours-e.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/discours-e.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discours-e.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/255556986"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discours-e.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8138"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/discours-e.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8693,"href":"https:\/\/discours-e.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8138\/revisions\/8693"}],"acf:term":[{"embeddable":true,"taxonomy":"correspondant","href":"https:\/\/discours-e.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/correspondant\/2269"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discours-e.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/discours-e.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discours-e.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discours-e.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8138"},{"taxonomy":"format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discours-e.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/format?post=8138"},{"taxonomy":"correspondant","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discours-e.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/correspondant?post=8138"},{"taxonomy":"org-partenaire","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discours-e.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/org-partenaire?post=8138"},{"taxonomy":"projet","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discours-e.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/projet?post=8138"},{"taxonomy":"formats","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discours-e.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/formats?post=8138"},{"taxonomy":"nature","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discours-e.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nature?post=8138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}