Review: "Excavations" by Kate Myers

Excavations by Kate Myers
Published July 2023 via HarperVia
★★★★

In Greece, an archeological field site is in the process of being explored, not for the first (or, most likely, last) time. This summer, though, five very different women are involved. There's Kara, desperate to prove herself and use her archeological experience as a springboard to a position at Christie's or Sotheby's; Elise, who has more expertise than most of the workers combined but gets only half the credit because she doesn't have the same academic degrees as the men in power; Z, stagnating in work and love and desperate for a reset and a new direction; and Patty, an undergraduate who is onsite to do grunt work and have an adventure, any adventure, that will get her out of the States and out from under her stifling family's home. (That's only four women, you say. True: the last woman's story is hers to tell, and hers alone.)

Read with tongue firmly in cheek, this is witty and incisive. It's a slim little novel, and at times the descriptions read like snarky character studies—these characters, with their quirks and flaws and petty moments, are never held on pedestals, even as they're banding together to turn the dig on its head. They're not always entirely self-aware, but the narration makes up for that. Meanwhile, I don't think I've read a book set at an archeological dig before (wait, does Caroline B. Cooney's For All Time count?), and this strips away any romantic notions I might have had.

I wavered between three and four stars, because if I try to take the book too seriously, the bad guy (I'll not spoil it, though it's obvious early on) is so cartoonishly bad—inflated ego, dishonesty, pith helmet and all—that, well, he can't be taken seriously. And yet...when I remind myself that success tends to blind people to faults, and most of the characters are allowed their cartoonish moments, I find it harder to mind.

For all the broader-picture material about gender and elitism and who writes history, my favorite parts of the book were usually found one or two lines at a time:*

Six years ago, Z was on her hands and knees checking to see if an ancient priest had dropped anything from his toga pocket. Now half a decade, four jobs, and eight boyfriends later, she was on her hands and knees checking to see if, when the priest had dropped anything from his pocket, it bounced. (loc. 1554)

He was a walking reminder of who she used to be and had an annoying suspicion she still was. (loc. 1599)

He really talked like this, and people were really okay with it. (loc. 3108)

It seemed to her that trust was when you decided to care slightly less about something in order to let someone else care about that thing a bit more for you. (loc. 3543)

Z gave her a quizzical thumbs up from the driver's seat, and Elise returned a demoralized one, a lexicon that would have to do for the moment. (loc. 3652)

*I read an advance copy, so quotes and location numbers may not be final.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a free review copy through NetGalley.