What does freedom mean? I think at a very general level, freedom means choices. It means options. Financial freedom means a broad range of choices. Often, though, financial freedom means not having to worry about bills, but for some, it means so much more than that. For someone escaping an abusive spouse, financial freedom means the ability to escape. For someone having to unexpectedly care for a dependent, financial freedom means not working two or three jobs. Unfortunately, for most Americans, finances are tied to employment. But what if once a year, the government gave every American – rich, poor, young, old – an income? This is the basis of a policy known as Universal Basic Income (UBI), and UBI is the basis for Rachel Swirsky’s January Fifteenth. Over the course of a signal day, readers follow four women as they deal with the effects of UBI on their lives. Swirsky takes a good hard look at the consequences of enacting UBI, weighing the pros and cons, while giving readers rich, deep characters that will move you.
Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.
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TL;DR
January Fifteenth by Rachel Swirsky follows four women on the day they receive their universal basic income. These four, richly detailed lives depict the effect of such a bold policy. Highly recommended.
From the Publisher
January Fifteenth—the day all Americans receive their annual Universal Basic Income payment.
For Hannah, a middle-aged mother, today is the anniversary of the day she took her two children and fled her abusive ex-wife.
For Janelle, a young, broke journalist, today is another mind-numbing day interviewing passersby about the very policy she once opposed.
For Olivia, a wealthy college freshman, today is “Waste Day”, when rich kids across the country compete to see who can most obscenely squander the government’s money.
For Sarah, a pregnant teen, today is the day she’ll journey alongside her sister-wives to pick up the payments that undergird their community—and perhaps embark on a new journey altogether.
In this near-future science fiction novella by Nebula Award-winning author Rachel Swirsky, the fifteenth of January is another day of the status quo, and another chance at making lasting change.
Review: January Fifteenth by Rachel Swirsky
January Fifteenth follows four women throughout the day they receive their UBI benefit. Each protagonist has their own unique situation that allows Swirsky to explore the pros and cons of basic income. Hannah is an abused mother on the run from her ex. Janelle is a former UBI activist now caring for her trans sister and working as a freelance journalist. Olivia is on winter break from college, visiting her old high school friends at a party to waste their UBI benefit. Pregnant and ostracized by her sister-wives, Sarah marches from her home to the government office as part of her cult’s protest. Readers check in on all four women six times as their day progresses.
January Fifteenth is a close third-person narrative. The four stories are unconnected outside of the idea of universal basic income. There is no overarching narrative, but there doesn’t need to be one as each story is excellent. There are six sections to the book, and four chapters to each section. The order never deviates. Hannah is first, followed by Janelle, then Olivia, and finally Sarah. This structure provided a nice crisp pace to the book that kept me reading more. If I started a new section, I had to read all the way through to the next.
Hannah
Hannah and her kids are in rural Maine hiding from her ex, the kids’ mother. Hannah displays all the post traumatic stress indications of someone who escaped an abusive situation. She lives in anxiety that her ex will find her and the kids. Then her nightmare will begin all over again. Hannah’s benefit is waiting for her at the post office, and unlucky for her, a blizzard began blanketing the town that morning. In the post office, she meets her landlord, Elizabeth, who wants to get the rent money from her.
Janelle
When younger, Janelle was an activist trying to get UBI passed. Now, she cares for her younger trans sister after their parents died in a plane crash. Janelle is a freelance journalist who is trying to get human interest stories about universal basic income. What do people do with it? But it’s the same assignment as the previous UBI day, and it’ll be the same assignment the year after. Janelle is getting bored, but she needs the money. Her younger sister, Neveah, gets sent home from school in the morning for wearing a not safe for school t-shirt protesting UBI. Neveah thinks UBI should be canceled and reparations to black people should be given instead. She notes that UBI does nothing to combat the structural racism inherent in American society. Neveah joins Janelle, and throughout the day, they debate the impact of UBI.
Olivia
Olivia spends the day in Aspen, CO at a ‘waste’ day party. She’s on winter break from her freshmen year of college, stressed that she’s going to fail out. To relax, she’s spending time with her old high school friends. They party like any young, obscenely rich kids do. Alcohol, drugs, and bad decisions abound. The group of friends decide to participate in a contest for the most decadent way to ‘waste’ their UBI benefits. Previous examples are cashing the check then eating all the cash. Olivia, however, doesn’t believe in wasting the money. She’ll just buy something expensive. As the day progresses, she begins to see her high school friends for the people they are.
Sarah
Sarah is a pregnant, child bride in Utah. She has three sister wives who are a decade older and don’t like her. Sarah tries to keep up with them during the march from home to the government offices, but it’s too difficult for a person in the third trimester. Sarah overhears her sister wives gossiping about her younger brother, Toby. The boy was beaten by his father and brothers then driven to the countryside and stranded one night. The rumors are that Toby wasn’t obedient, that he was a trouble maker who disrespected his father. But Sarah doesn’t believe any of that, and as the walk continues, she can’t get Toby out of her head. The boy she knew didn’t deserve his fate anymore than she deserves hers. As she falls behind, she walks alongside her cousin, Agnes. The walk, the pregnancy, the loss of her brother drive Sarah to some deep introspection about the live she’s living.
UBI: Yay or Nay?
Rachel Swirsky presents a favorable picture of UBI. She’s also honest that it won’t solve all of society’s ills. It will solve some issues and introduce others. But overall, she presents UBI as an instrument to help out those who are stuck. Stuck in abusive relationships, stuck in a cult, stuck in an unreliable job, or even stuck trying to keep up appearances. Swirsky shows that UBI can help people. Mostly, it helps those at the lowest socioeconomic rung. But even some middle and upper class people can find ways to donate or use their benefits to help people.
The best story in the quartet is Janelle’s. Her and Neveah spend the day debating UBI. Their debates are ones worth having outside this book. Because the universal part of universal basic income does nothing to address the inequalities caused by structural racism. It does nothing to address transphobia or any type of hatred towards marginalized groups. In some ways, UBI will reinforce the anger among bigots, similar to how people on food stamps in GA blame welfare for all the ills of society despite being on welfare themselves. It’s because they’re getting help while others are abusing the system.
Ultimately, January Fifteenth shows that UBI can help those most vulnerable to improve their situations. Will it help all the vulnerable members of our society? Probably not. Will it be abused? Certainly. Will it cause rich and upper middle class people to become even crankier about taxes? Lord, yes. Will conservative politicians find ways to make receiving your benefits difficult and even painful? Of course. But none of these things matters if it helps even one person better themselves. Imagine the mother who only has to work one job instead of two. Imagine the fathers or mother who could stay home to raise their children if they wanted. UBI provides freedom by providing options, and that’s why it’s good policy.
Conclusion
Rachel Swirsky’s January Fifteenth is a thought experiment on what society might look like if we implemented universal basic income. This beautifully crafted book follows four women through the day and games out how UBI affects their lives. January Fifteenth delivers wonderful stories full of complicated but rich characters. Highly recommended.
January Fifteenth by Rachel Swirsky is available from Tor.com on June 14th, 2022.
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