I remember the first times I read Neuromancer and Mona Lisa Overdrive. Or, at least, I seem to remember them. The memory places me in the middle of summer, up in my old bedroom which hangs out over my mom's driveway. The windows are open and the fan is struggling to move the hot, soupy air around the room. The prose, though, was cool, whisking me away to Chiba City, the Sprawl, and Freeside.
Reading The Windup Girl reminded me a good bit of my first read of those Gibson novels, but there's one significant difference: this feels like a winter book. While Gibson's writing has a hard, cold edge which evokes the hardboiled detective genre, Paolo Bacigalupi's prose is humid and his world opaque, a dense hazy world centered in Bangkok of the near-future. However, regardless of whether you've ever been to Thailand, you'll spend the first hundred or so pages trying to figure what on Earth the novel is to be about. The plot begins at the end of Chapter Eight. Prior to that it's an exercise in hacking your way through a jungle of prose, trying to orient yourself in the complex setting, and frankly, it's not the easiest book to get into. It's plenty good, don't get me wrong, but you do have to work at it a bit.
Once there, you're immersed in a post-oil, nearly post-carbon fuel world, a world at the mercy of multinational agribusiness, whose genetically modified crops are intellectual property to be pirated by genehackers, to be resisted by the Thai government, and whose engineered plagues are designed to kill native crops, creating new customers for engineered food in the wake of bioterrorism and famine. Motive power is provided by humans and GMO beasts of burden on the ground, by sails across the oceans (in trimaran clipper ships), or by dirigibles in the air. Special springs are used to store energy and can provide limited amounts of locomotion. One character speaks of his grandparents, who could not make the journey from suburbia to city center following the oil collapse, which is known in Bacigalupi's world as the Contraction. Several generations have passed since that initial shock, and the world has reformatted itself into a calorie-based economy, one that some Thais are desperately trying to keep at bay. Mercifully, the world is presented matter-of-factly and not dogmatically.
From that kernel the book spins outward, simultaneously a book about an expatriate "calorie man" (with more than a touch of The Quiet American about it), palace intrigue and intra-governmental agency turf wars, and the windup girl Emiko, a beautiful creature genetically engineered in Japan for servitude and pleasure. Abandoned in Bangkok by her previous owner, Emiko seeks freedom beyond the seawalls of Bangkok, but as a windup she's contraband, one bad step away from being mulched by the Environment Ministry or slaughtered in the street by nearly anyone. The world is dystopian, but in a much hazier, hotter, and humid way than usually encountered. In this world, ice is a luxury, ironically one which a luxury item like the windup girl needs for survival. You'll find yourself seeking a cool place to read as you press on through the story. If you're into science fiction, which a good number of Citizens appear to be, it will be worth your while to check this book out. Pick it up from the library, though, lest it not grab you before you make it through those first hundred pages.
What are you reading?
I've been working on Incognito lately. So far, it's pretty interesting, but I just haven't been in the mood to read much lately.
I've also been reading a bit of my Czech phrasebook, but it's been slow going.
I found Snow Crash much more entertaining than the Gibson books.
This month I read Richard Morgan's Thirteen, another cyberpunk noir book in the vein of the Takeshi Novaks novels. It got a bit too philosophical over prejudice for my taste, but still wasn't bad.
Also read Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Ubik, and have a book of his short stories to read next. I had Our Friends from Frolix 8 as a kid, and had also read Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb, so there's plenty of his work I needed to read. Anyway, I'm finding I enjoy Dick's ideas more than I enjoy his writing. He and his writing remind me of Terry Gilliam's movie work: they are wonderfully crafted, but can get a little silly at times. Ubik tenuously reminded me of the movie Identity, in the "what the hell is happening to these people?" way.
Change the author's name and that's my one sentence review of Bacigalupi's book. The ideas were what kept me going (and really, the ideas are what I enjoy about science fiction, anyway). Others might enjoy it more, though.
I've read a few of Dick's novels and some shorter pieces, but never Ubik. I should probably revisit his catalog before too long.
I'm not necessarily a fan of historical what-ifs, so The Man in the High Castle doesn't interest me greatly, but I want to at least check out his shorts which were made into movies.
I read the timeline on Dick's life, and it left me shaking my head more than once. What a life he led.
Caught The Adjustment Bureau this weekend and thought the very same thing after I'd finished watching it.
I haven't read Gibson, but I really enjoyed Snow Crash, as well (really, how can you go wrong when the main character is called Hiro Protagonist?)
+1. Ubik was immensely confusing.
I'm making my way through American Gods. I greatly enjoy it. The tone and description are spot on, and the story is interesting and unsettling in equal amounts. Thanks for the rec, everyone.
I tore through American Gods pretty rapidly, it's a wonderfully written story. Going to be getting more of Gaiman's books, that's for sure.
i'm finally next in line for it from the library. better finish up my current book because i don't think i'll be able to renew.
I've never read a less-than-awesome Gaiman story.
I finished up The Fires of Heaven. The first half felt overly slow and bogged down, but picked up and got more enjoyable in the second half or so.
Since then, I've been working on A Dance with Dragons which feels like its building up to something potentially epic. Also, good to get re-acquainted with some characters who weren't in A Feast for Crows.
Dido with A Dance of Dragons. I'm on page 270 now.
I'm about 550 pages in, or so, but won't say any more.
(for reference sean, the spoiler above is from Feast and doesn't have anything else you haven't already read in Dance.)
I read The Machine by JoePos. I was a little underwhelmed. The 1975 Reds were a great team, but are they the greatest team ever? Is the 1975 World Series the greatest ever? Is Born to Run the greatest rock'n'roll album ever? According to Joe, yes all around. A qualified yes on the last one, he says "many" consider it to be the best. At the risk of "going there", I've never heard anyone say it is the greatest. Isn't it enough to say it was a classic? That the Reds are one of the greatest teams, that '75 series was one of the best?
The book is 275 pages. I read it in a little over four hours. It is too long. Joe repeats himself a lot in the book and it began to annoy me. When I read that Cesar Geronimo's dad wanted him to be a doctor but Cesar didn't like the sight of blood, I knew that, because I'd already read it 40 or so pages back. There were several instances where something like this occurred.
Ultimately, I think the problem with this book is that the subject isn't that great. There were great players on that team, but Bench, Rose, and Morgan all come off as asses. The Reds didn't battle anyone during the season, they won their division by 20 games. They mauled the Pirates in the playoffs. It all came down to one thing: Fisk's homer in game 6 (the most famous home run ever!). The Reds win that game and this book doesn't even get to the drawing board.
I think Joe hints as much. He recounts how Joe Morgan says at the Reds GM's funeral that the Big Red Machine was different because they really cared about each other and still do. And then, he looked around the room and saw that he was the only member of the Big Red Machine in attendance. This wasn't a special team in any way other than they had talented ball players who played well.
My $.02.
I think the repetition is more on Joe's editor than Pos himself. Turning a manuscript into a book is no small task, and while the author is the big-picture creator, the editor's job is to make sure little stuff like that doesn't detract from the experience.
Blaming the editor for a book's failings is a bit like blaming a school counselor because your kid picked a crappy college. 'cept that pos prolly had to hire the editor.
But yeah, it is good to have an effective editor. Every writer needs one
CH, awesome job. Your post was way more literate than mime have been.
I am a third of the way through Dan Simmons' Drood so far. Very entertaining. Makes me want to find a biography of Charles Dickens.
Send me your address via email so that I can send the book to you. You should be psyched now!
Will do. add a photo too.
speaking of photos, I will try to get the group shot from grumpy's up soon.
I think it's more like blaming the producer for a lame record.
They can't polish turds, but they should fix obvious problems.
If Pos repeats himself, that should be on the editor.
If Pos posits that the '75 Reds were the best team ever but with an unconvincing argument, that's on Pos.
The above all written by someone with no knowledge of book editing, just presumptions about what it should be.
Amr wins with the best analogy in show.
Underwhelming would be my description, too. I love Pos as a writer, but the book felt like a draft--or something written by a 9-year-old Indians fan. A very talented 9-year-old, mind you. I just expected more than it delivered. Still, that Cincy team was stacked and occurred at the height of my baseball-fixated youth. (Somewhere at my mom's house are a couple boxes of slides from photo day at Dodger Stadium--vs. the Reds-- in 1974. Pics of me and my younger bro and sis with the likes of Tony Perez, Bobby Tolan, Ron Cey, etc. I need to get that box.)
I agree that it wasn't a great book but the part I liked about it was that it did point out that Morgan, Rose, and Bench were essentially jerks. It made it feel a lot more real than just more hero worship.
Haven't participated in one of these for a while, but then, I hadn't read much. Got back on the reading horse a bit this month.
Bossypants by Tina Fey. Listened as an audiobook. More biographical than I thought it would be, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Tina Fey reads the audiobook and it was great to hear it in the author's own voice. A lot of it was about being a woman in show business, but not in a preachy or political way. I enjoyed it.
Right Livelihoods by Rick Moody. This book was lent to me by my boss when he saw I was reading another Moody book (The Four Fingers of Death, which I'm going to finish someday). Three novellas that ranged from not that good to alright. I have found that I really dislike buffoonish narrators that don't realize their own ridiculousness (probably why I so disliked Shteyngart's Absurdistan and have struggled so mightily with A Confederacy of Dunces). The first novella really crystallized that realization for me, so at least I got something out of it.
Something Missing by Matthew Dicks. Another audiobook, this one did not benefit from that format. An interesting concept (an obsessive-compulsive thief who becomes concerned for his client's welfare) resulted in some lengthy descriptive passages that probably worked better in a physical book than the slower paced audiobook. It got tedious at times, and the plot didn't quite hold up for me, but for a debut novel, I thought it showed some promise, and I might follow up and read some of his later stuff if the premise sounds interesting.
Samedi the Deafness by Jesse Ball. Another debut novel that struggled a bit with plot. Nonetheless, I really like the author's style - this almost reminded me of The Boy Detective Fails in that the way the world and the central mystery were presented. Samedi is not as good of a book, but I really enjoyed the poetic style and the easy pace (I finished this one in about 2 days). I got this one because I was looking for Ball's latest, The Curfew, but now I think I am going to read all of his books.
Currently Reading:
Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross. Just started this one, the synopsis sounded interesting (a mystery novel with some potential for interesting twistyness), but I haven't really formed an opinion yet.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I keep coming back to this in spurts, the chapters seem like separate stories, but I can see a couple of threads that may come back to tie it all up in the end.
The good Dr and I started listening to The Pale King, David Foster W's uncompleted final novel, and couldn't finish. I'm interested in reading the book, but it really didn't translate into good road listening.
I'm at the half way point of Denis Johnson's Tree of Smoke, and thus far I've really enjoyed the experience.
Dr. Chop bought, and tore through, A Visit From The Goon Squad and couldn't say enough bad things about it. I think I'll just avoid that one all together.
I, too, tore through A Visit From The Goon Squad and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd be curious to hear what Dr Chop's beef was.
I think she felt like the author provided no way to like, or relate to, any of the characters, and that the framework of the novel was a cheap version of more successful postmodern fractured narrative. But, I don't speak for the Doctor. We'll have to discuss it at length the next time we make it to beers.
We'll have to discuss it at length the next time we make it to beers.
When might that be? (How long are you two in Minny?)
The Given Day -- Dennis Lehane: The mystery writer tackles a historical novel set in Boston circa 1918. A sprawling story (700+ pages) about a proud Irish family of policemen and an African American ballplayer on the run from his past and their dalliances with corrupt officials, Unions, and Bolsheviks. All sorts of historical figures weave their way through the narrative, from Babe Ruth and Samuel Gompers, to Eugene O'Neil and J. Edgar Hoover. The only problem with the book that I (occasionally) had, were where the dialog sounded too contemporary. Interestingly enough, his gift for dialog is what made me a fan of Lehane in the first place.
Slam -- Nick Hornby: A breezy little story about teenage pregnancy and and the idea of "family". Hardly profound, but an entertaining read with a likeable, young bloke as protagonist. Plenty of amusing Brit-speak for the Anglophiles in house.
I finished "The Turnaround" a couple weeks ago. I think it was recommended by DPWY. I really liked it. It's by one of the writers from The Wire. I could picture a couple of characters from the series fitting in the story.