Vandermeer gets it. I don’t even really know what “it” is, but I get it and so does he.
I see this trilogy as a book about humanity’s relationship with nature at its core. In the first book, the biologist’s persona is characterized by anti-social behavior, a preference for silence and nature over human interaction. I find it interesting that in the third book, she finds the connection that she was unable to achieve with her husband when they were actually together. She was only able to find it in the form of the owl, who may or may not have been an incarnation of her husband. Does this imply that some people are fundamentally incapable of human connection, only able to find it amidst nature?
The biologist’s double, Ghost Bird, is almost more capable of human connection that her originator. How fitting a juxtaposition, that the human feels more alien in the human world than the alien.
What does the purgatory between Earth and Area X represent? Is it the state of the world if allowed to continue in its current incarnation? The fate of the world where Area X originated? Some combination of the two?
A recurring theme in Book 3 is the difference between modern humanity and nature in the way that they experience time and purpose. Humanity – must have a purpose; something to be continually working towards. Preoccupied with this purpose, and the future, and the past. Nature – lives in the present. Engages in base instinctual drives; food, sleep, shelter, water. This is the strongest dichotomy between Control and Ghost Bird, and you can see how both the biologist and Grace progress from one philosophy to the other throughout the course of their time in Area X.
I also like the depiction of bureaucracy and politics as the worst of humanity. Lowry, reactionally grasping at control (ah, and Control the character), since he could not exert control over Area X. Consider, even, his creation of a mini facsimile of Area X at headquarters.