Summary
Pigs by Johanna Stoberock is a 2019 novel that explores themes of environmental responsibility, community, and innocence. Set on an island that serves as the world's garbage repository, the story follows four children tasked with sorting trash and feeding it to a herd of insatiable pigs. This unique premise sets the stage for a compelling work, challenging readers to consider the consequences of human waste and the nature of humanity itself.
Plot
On an island used as a global garbage dump, four children maintain a delicate ecosystem. They sort through the incoming trash and feed it to a herd of constantly hungry pigs, creating a seemingly perfect system for waste management. This isolated world functions smoothly until an unexpected arrival disrupts their routine—a barrel washes ashore containing a boy. The presence of this stranger throws their established order into question and forces the children to confront a difficult decision. Should they treat this unknown boy as more garbage to be processed and fed to the pigs, or accept him as one of their own?
As the children grapple with this dilemma, they must reevaluate their roles on the island and their relationship to the outside world that continuously sends them its trash. The story unfolds as they navigate this moral quandary and its implications for their small community.
Themes
Environmental responsibility and consequences
Moral dilemmas and ethical decision-making
Isolation and community dynamics
Innocence versus corruption
Survival and resource management
Human value and disposability
Coming of age in extreme circumstances
Setting
Pigs is set on an unnamed island that serves as a global garbage repository. This isolated location acts as a microcosm, reflecting larger societal issues of waste management and environmental responsibility. While the era is not explicitly stated, the premise suggests a dystopian near-future or alternative present where the world's trash problem has reached catastrophic proportions.
The island is described as a place where all the world's garbage accumulates, creating a stark and polluted landscape. The children who inhabit this island live among mountains of refuse, sorting through the endless stream of waste that washes ashore. This setting underscores themes of environmental degradation and the consequences of overconsumption.
Within this larger setting, specific areas of importance include the shoreline where new trash arrives and the feeding grounds of the titular pigs. These insatiable animals, which consume the sorted garbage, represent a crucial element of the island's ecosystem. The arrival of a barrel containing a boy introduces a new dynamic to this closed system, challenging the established order and forcing the child inhabitants to confront moral dilemmas within their isolated world.
Characters
Four children: The main characters who live on the island and sort the world's garbage.
Boy in the barrel: A new arrival to the island whose fate the children must decide.
Pigs: The herd of insatiable animals that consume the sorted garbage.
Quick facts
Pigs, published in 2019, is author Johanna Stoberock’s second novel.
Pigs is set on an island that serves as the world's garbage dump.
The novel’s main characters are four unnamed children who inhabit the island and are tasked with sorting the incoming trash and feeding it to a herd of insatiable pigs.
Pigs explores themes of overconsumption and environmental responsibility.
Community and innocence are also central themes in the story.
The plot takes a turn when a boy in a barrel washes up on the island, forcing the children to make a moral decision.
Pigs was acclaimed by critics, receiving a starred review in Booklist.
The novel has been described as an allegory, a parable, and a cautionary tale for our planet.
Pigs was featured on the TODAY show with Hoda and Jenna, as recommended by Read With Jenna book club author Megha Majumdar.
About the Author
Johanna Stoberock is an American author and educator. She has published two critically acclaimed novels, City of Ghosts (2003) and Pigs (2019), which explores themes of overconsumption, environmental responsibility, and the loss of innocence. Her essays and short stories have been featured on Lit Hub and in the Chicago Review of Books and the annual Best of the Net Anthology.
Among recognition for her writing, Stoberock received the 2019 Artist Trust/Gar LaSalle Storyteller Award and a runner-up for the 2016 Italo Calvino Prize for Fiction. She has been granted residencies at renowned institutions such as the Corporation of Yaddo, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Millay Colony. She combines writing with teaching at Whitman College. She lives in Walla Walla, Washington, with her family.
