Classic Kim Stanley Robinson poetic mysticism

This book was published over 30 years ago and got a few things right.

It predicts a future of autonomous drones and self-driving cars pretty closely.

Other predictions didn't pan out like changes in the institution of marriage and stalled out progress in the developing world.

It's got compelling characters and delivers on that classic KSR poetic mysticism.

Merci. Votre vote a été pris en compte.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation !

5 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Not as Good as the First Book in the Triptych

The Gold Coast is book two on KSR's triptych. This story is set in 2027 and Orange County is totally developed, full of shopping malls, sprawling industrial development, massive residential buildings and the autopia - multi-level electric/magnetic roads (built in the "roaring 20s") filled with programmable self-driving cars. It is a concrete jungle. This book was published in 1988 so KSR is projecting technology and world events out ~40 years, some predictions he gets pretty close and some not so much.

Our Californians are still recording things on CDs and video tape, and there isn't a cell phone to be found. Standard old telephones are still in use, so if you don't want to talk to that annoying friends just leave the phone off the hook like we used to. Houses have video walls which serve as computer screens and television screens, very interesting. Young folks take designer drugs via eyedropper and record their sexual encounters for later viewing. The world is an extension of 1988 in that Russia and the US are still in a cold war, and the development of weapons systems similar to Reagan's "Star Wars" is one of the main topics of this novel.

The narrative switches back and forth between Jim McPherson, a disgruntled twenty-something wannabe author who works part-time as an English teacher and spends a lot of time running with the same group of friends, and his dad Dennis McPherson who is an engineer for a major defense contractor which is trying to land the government contract for an advanced Star Wars weapons system. Sprinkled throughout the book, KSR tells of the past and future (1988 to 2027) history of Orange County and how it became the overdeveloped, overpopulated mess that the novel is set in.

In Dennis' timeline we learn all about what life is like at a defense contractor, how bidding and negotiation with the Department of Defense is handled, details about future weapon design, and how Dennis and his company are hoping to put an end to the cold war once and for all. Concurrently, we see the other side of the coin in Jim's timeline as he and his friends are anti-war and are looking for ways to take down companies like the ones his dad works at. Dennis and Jim aren't close and don't see eye to eye during the course of the novel, but their separate plots converge somewhat at the end.

Just like in The Wild Shore there is a very old man named Tom with memories of the past, and in this novel he happens to be Jim's grandpa.

I thought this novel came together nicely at the end, in a similar way the first novel of this triptych did. I liked it but not as much as The Wild Shore.

Merci. Votre vote a été pris en compte.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation !

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Kept waiting for something to happen, but…

I still enjoyed it. I just legit thought Jim was going to accidentally trigger the bombing somehow…

Merci. Votre vote a été pris en compte.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation !

Very Satisfying Story

If you know Orange County it is an added plus. It is also important to read this with the two other books in the triptych; they are not a sequence, but three separate to be amazing visions.

Merci. Votre vote a été pris en compte.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation !

Great story weird narration

I really enjoyed the plot but the laugh that the narrator makes is one of the most disturbing sounds in the world.

Merci. Votre vote a été pris en compte.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation !

Brilliant and fascinating

I was fascinated by the depiction of a future Southern California. This book is highly entertaining, and very thought-provoking, as is the case with all of Robinson's work!

Merci. Votre vote a été pris en compte.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation !

Waste of Time

Stupid, meandering, pointless, pseudo-intellectual, pseudo-historical mental masturbation. There is no import or consequence to any of this.

Merci. Votre vote a été pris en compte.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation !

I Can See This on Social Media All Day

Stefan is great - as usual. Why he'd want to read this I do not know.

The story is about a bunch of whiny, self centered children trying by any means possible to avoid growing up and being responsible members of society. Drugs? Yes. Sex? Yes. Dystopian? Not so much. It rings strongly to me of 2022 and reacting to your emotions vs thinking with your head.

I got most of the way through this and quit. I couldn't stand Jim's whining and hand wringing. Another Thomas Covenant. Bleh!

Merci. Votre vote a été pris en compte.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation !

Hard to follow

Sequence of events and relationships between characters was hard to follow at times. The narrator was outstanding… and easy to fall asleep to.

Merci. Votre vote a été pris en compte.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation !

Boring

This book doesn't begin to match it's companion, The Wild Shore. I couldn't finish it.
The story fulfills some of the worst stereotypes of sci-fi. Little plot, lots of gadgets, and lots of "free love", without enough story to make it meaningful. Add in a disco ball and a shag carpet and we've arrived in the back pages of Penthouse in 1972.... even though the book was written in 1988.
The book is supposed to be set in 2030, but the world-building isn't convincing. It's like 1972, but with designer drugs, more mirrors in the bedroom, and self driving cars.
The narrator reads as if something dramatic is about to happen, but then nothing happens, which makes it more boring. I hope that by the end of the book the events presaging The Wild Shore will take place. I couldn't wade through to the end and I don't think there will be any insights.

Merci. Votre vote a été pris en compte.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation !