Michael Chabon
Chabon creates an alternate future here where an Israeli state is not created after WWII. Instead, Jews are given a 50 year lease on land in Alaska and that becomes the "homeland" after the war. This book is set with 1-year left on that lease and Jews again beginning to think about what happens next. Of course, the zionists are thinking of settlement in the Holy Land and others are trying to figure out what it would mean to stay in Alaska, or emigrate to somewhere else. In this context, Chabon offers a classic murder mystery/political thriller. Much of the beauty of this book is that the context is unfolded slowly as detective Landsman and his partner detective Berko work to find the source of an unlikely murder. They are navigating cultural barriers between ultra-orthodox Jews, native Alaskans, and secularists. Lot's going on here, and it all holds together as a reality, however alternate it might be. Well done.
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Monday, June 24, 2013
Monday, June 17, 2013
The House of the Scorpion
Nancy Farmer
It is strange how many different ways you can write a time travel book. In this case, the setting is sometime in the future, but our protagonist spends most of his time in the past. And even though there is not "time travel" as you normally think of it, Mateo definitely encounters many of the same culture shocks that time travelers do. In many ways, the "child held in the attic" syndrome and time travel are really the same problem, in a literary sense. The plot here involves Mateo, the young clone of powerful drug lord in the country of Opium (a new political entity that has developed between Mexico and the US). As he comes of age, Mateo slowly has his blinders removed to both his own existential issues as well as to the cultural and moral issues that surround someone in his position. Farmer presents characters carefully and with enough substance to feel as if you understand their motivation. Perhaps 30 years from now, this book will look prescient. But that is the beauty of science fiction. If you write enough of it, something will inevitably be right.
Read
It is strange how many different ways you can write a time travel book. In this case, the setting is sometime in the future, but our protagonist spends most of his time in the past. And even though there is not "time travel" as you normally think of it, Mateo definitely encounters many of the same culture shocks that time travelers do. In many ways, the "child held in the attic" syndrome and time travel are really the same problem, in a literary sense. The plot here involves Mateo, the young clone of powerful drug lord in the country of Opium (a new political entity that has developed between Mexico and the US). As he comes of age, Mateo slowly has his blinders removed to both his own existential issues as well as to the cultural and moral issues that surround someone in his position. Farmer presents characters carefully and with enough substance to feel as if you understand their motivation. Perhaps 30 years from now, this book will look prescient. But that is the beauty of science fiction. If you write enough of it, something will inevitably be right.
Read
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Requiem
Lauren Oliver
Book 3 of Delirium trilogy
Delirium - Book 1
Pandemonium - Book 3
I had high hopes. Those hopes were dashed. This is one of the worst completions to a trilogy that I have read in quite awhile. Blue Mars wasn't great, but it had some value. This had none. No character development, no real resolution, no novelty. Really cookie cutter dystopian, teen love triangle with a cop-out ending. In the first book, Lena discovered the truth about society, in the second she discovers life outside of society. In the third, she wanders around with angst about which boy she loves. I will say that I continue to appreciate the modified biblical scriptures presented in "The Book of SHHH", as exemplified by the story of Solomon solving the problem of the baby with two mothers claiming it by actually cutting the baby in half. This is a brilliant continuation of the look at propaganda and power. But it doesn't go anywhere beyond what we have already seen. Spend your time reading something better.
Skip
Book 3 of Delirium trilogy
Delirium - Book 1
Pandemonium - Book 3
I had high hopes. Those hopes were dashed. This is one of the worst completions to a trilogy that I have read in quite awhile. Blue Mars wasn't great, but it had some value. This had none. No character development, no real resolution, no novelty. Really cookie cutter dystopian, teen love triangle with a cop-out ending. In the first book, Lena discovered the truth about society, in the second she discovers life outside of society. In the third, she wanders around with angst about which boy she loves. I will say that I continue to appreciate the modified biblical scriptures presented in "The Book of SHHH", as exemplified by the story of Solomon solving the problem of the baby with two mothers claiming it by actually cutting the baby in half. This is a brilliant continuation of the look at propaganda and power. But it doesn't go anywhere beyond what we have already seen. Spend your time reading something better.
Skip
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Blue Mars
Kim Stanley Robinson
Book 3 in Robinson's Mars Trilogy (started in Red Mars and followed in Green Mars). Blue Mars is the story of nation formation. After the revolution, when you are basically independent and recognized as so by everyone, what do you do? How do you transition from a "leave us alone" mentality that has driven culture for many years of revolution into a "we are just like you" mentality that makes you part of civilization. Of course this is not easy, and Robinson recognizes that it takes time. Fortunately his plot device of long life lets him tell the story of nation building over decades without having to introduce new characters. The thing that I love about Robinson's story is that he (or his characters at least) are committed to non-violent action. Every time the "natural" reaction is to take up arms, or escalate tension via "normal" political processes, a few of the First Hundred step in, holding the vision that this nation that is being created is different and will not interact "normally". It is rare to see such a commitment to this value in any literature. In this case, it takes the fact that the key players in exploration, revolution and nation building are consistent across the couple hundred years that it takes to accomplish the goal. This extreme long view is a severe contraction to the current political scene or corporate scene with 2-3 year re-election cycles or quarterly profit reports. Can a great civilization be built (or survive) with only "short-view" pressures? What cultural pressures can be brought to bear to encourage a long view in either time or scale (to deal with planetary scale problems)? I love that Robinson puts all these socio-political thoughts in the forefront of my thinking.
My critique of the book is that Robinson continues to use long, meandering descriptions of geology or relationship, when at this point in the series, brevity could accomplish the same thing. I often wonder if a long, meandering passage about how slow and boring life can be is intended to bring the reader into emotional congruence with the characters. That is, the characters are experiencing the difficulties of a slow life, and in my reading I feel that slowness. I tend to think, that even if it is intentional, a good editor could help with pacing without destroying the reader/character connection. For this reason, I would say I enjoyed this book less than the first two. If you don't mind leaving long plot lines unresolved, go ahead and wait on this last volume until you have nothing else to read.
Wait
Book 3 in Robinson's Mars Trilogy (started in Red Mars and followed in Green Mars). Blue Mars is the story of nation formation. After the revolution, when you are basically independent and recognized as so by everyone, what do you do? How do you transition from a "leave us alone" mentality that has driven culture for many years of revolution into a "we are just like you" mentality that makes you part of civilization. Of course this is not easy, and Robinson recognizes that it takes time. Fortunately his plot device of long life lets him tell the story of nation building over decades without having to introduce new characters. The thing that I love about Robinson's story is that he (or his characters at least) are committed to non-violent action. Every time the "natural" reaction is to take up arms, or escalate tension via "normal" political processes, a few of the First Hundred step in, holding the vision that this nation that is being created is different and will not interact "normally". It is rare to see such a commitment to this value in any literature. In this case, it takes the fact that the key players in exploration, revolution and nation building are consistent across the couple hundred years that it takes to accomplish the goal. This extreme long view is a severe contraction to the current political scene or corporate scene with 2-3 year re-election cycles or quarterly profit reports. Can a great civilization be built (or survive) with only "short-view" pressures? What cultural pressures can be brought to bear to encourage a long view in either time or scale (to deal with planetary scale problems)? I love that Robinson puts all these socio-political thoughts in the forefront of my thinking.
My critique of the book is that Robinson continues to use long, meandering descriptions of geology or relationship, when at this point in the series, brevity could accomplish the same thing. I often wonder if a long, meandering passage about how slow and boring life can be is intended to bring the reader into emotional congruence with the characters. That is, the characters are experiencing the difficulties of a slow life, and in my reading I feel that slowness. I tend to think, that even if it is intentional, a good editor could help with pacing without destroying the reader/character connection. For this reason, I would say I enjoyed this book less than the first two. If you don't mind leaving long plot lines unresolved, go ahead and wait on this last volume until you have nothing else to read.
Wait
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