Resisters

Gwen Su grows up in AutoAmerica, a country where an all-seeing network called Aunt Nettie sorts citizens into the comfortable, employed "Netted" and the surveilled, underemployed "Surplus" — Gwen's family among the latter. When Gwen's exceptional baseball pitching arm draws attention from a prestigious, Netted-only college, her family is forced to decide how much of their independence and safety they're willing to trade for her chance at a different life, as the country's surveillance state closes in around anyone who steps out of line.

Gish Jen builds a satirical dystopia around class, automation, and race, following the Su family from a marginalized floating community into the heart of a system that would rather absorb their daughter's talent than her whole self.