Status
Available
Call number
Collections
Publication
London : Orbit, 2018.
Description
Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML:New York Times bestselling author Kim Stanley Robinson returns with a bold and brilliant vision of New York City in the next century. As the sea levels rose, every street became a canal. Every skyscraper an island. For the residents of one apartment building in Madison Square, however, New York in the year 2140 is far from a drowned city. There is the market trader, who finds opportunities where others find trouble. There is the detective, whose work will never disappear �?? along with the lawyers, of course. There is the internet star, beloved by millions for her airship adventures, and the building's manager, quietly respected for his attention to detail. Then there are two boys who don't live there, but have no other home �?? and who are more important to its future than anyone might imagine. Lastly there are the coders, temporary residents on the roof, whose disappearance triggers a sequence of events that threatens the existence of all �?? and even the long-hidden foundations on which the ci… (more)
Media reviews
„New York 2140“ ist, bei aller Freude an brillanten futurologischen Extrapolationen, ein sehr engagierter Roman über das Hier und Heute.
New York 2140 is a towering novel about a genuinely grave threat to civilisation.
User reviews
LibraryThing member dukedom_enough
The setting for this new novel (coming out in March, 2017) is encapsulated in the book's cover image. Looking north from the bay, we see Manhattan. Some familiar landmarks are there: One World Trade Center and the Empire State Building, among others. Rising farther north are 3000-foot
In 2140, sea level has risen 50 feet from our day, and lower Manhattan, and vast stretches of Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, mix estuary and a high-tech, 22d Century Venice. The tide washes up and down through Manhattan's downtown streets in the thirties, and buildings collapse as their foundations erode. But many other structures have been waterproofed and remain inhabited, linked by canals - Canal Street is now Canal Canal - and skybridges. And New York City's basic nature remains: a place where fantastic wealth dominates, while the middle class and the poor still find ways to thrive.
The author's diverse cast live in the Met Life Tower, world's tallest building 1909-1913, now awash to its third floor but dry inside to its subbasements, a residential co-op with agricultural levels high up. We have a pair of computer hackers, whose intervention into the world's financial trading system starts off the story. There's a tough, senior, city cop; a fequently-nude reality-TV star who specializes in rescuing endangered animals on camera; two intrepid child "water rats" subsisting in the underground (underwater?) economy; an overworked, socially-conscious mover and shaker; an arrogant young securities trader; and the building's busy super. Robinson always works into his books ideas he's currently pursuing; here, we learn the city and the world through a plot driven by intricate high finance and crooked real estate - very timely, as I write this review in early 2017. The young finance operator has invented an index for hedging the continued sea rise, "a kind of specialized Case-Schiller index for intertidal assets," and an unknown power wants to buy the Met Life Tower. There's a kidnapping, a hurricane, a hunt for lost treasure, and romances new and old, successful and failed.
Robinson explores the idea of liquidity, both of rising water, washing away buildings, and of money, enabling capitalism's washing away the livelihoods and lifeways of the poeple who live within its system. The rising and falling intertidal waters flowing through downtown serve as metaphor for life and for populist political activity. Can ordinary people somehow resist the workings of capital, and manage some creative flooding of their own? He also pulls in great swathes of New York geology and lore; we have to love those infodumps.
A few nitpicks. The technology of 2140 seems little advanced over today's. In particular, the panopticon surveillance we are plainly moving further into is not enough in evidence, and its lack enables characters' schemes that would otherwise not work. Robinson has too much faith in the possibilities of saving the world through rogue government institutions. And he needs to get better scientific vetting - there's a rather garbled explanation of how the atmosphere affects climate change.
[[Kim Stanley Robinson]] is one of modern SF's premier utopians. His previous novel, [Aurora], backed away from that stance. This book serves as something of a return. With its promotion of hope for the prospect of a world less bound by capitalism, it's encouraging and welcome.
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"superscrapers." Dirigibles sail through the sky. And, back downtown, there's all that water between the buildings.In 2140, sea level has risen 50 feet from our day, and lower Manhattan, and vast stretches of Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, mix estuary and a high-tech, 22d Century Venice. The tide washes up and down through Manhattan's downtown streets in the thirties, and buildings collapse as their foundations erode. But many other structures have been waterproofed and remain inhabited, linked by canals - Canal Street is now Canal Canal - and skybridges. And New York City's basic nature remains: a place where fantastic wealth dominates, while the middle class and the poor still find ways to thrive.
The author's diverse cast live in the Met Life Tower, world's tallest building 1909-1913, now awash to its third floor but dry inside to its subbasements, a residential co-op with agricultural levels high up. We have a pair of computer hackers, whose intervention into the world's financial trading system starts off the story. There's a tough, senior, city cop; a fequently-nude reality-TV star who specializes in rescuing endangered animals on camera; two intrepid child "water rats" subsisting in the underground (underwater?) economy; an overworked, socially-conscious mover and shaker; an arrogant young securities trader; and the building's busy super. Robinson always works into his books ideas he's currently pursuing; here, we learn the city and the world through a plot driven by intricate high finance and crooked real estate - very timely, as I write this review in early 2017. The young finance operator has invented an index for hedging the continued sea rise, "a kind of specialized Case-Schiller index for intertidal assets," and an unknown power wants to buy the Met Life Tower. There's a kidnapping, a hurricane, a hunt for lost treasure, and romances new and old, successful and failed.
Robinson explores the idea of liquidity, both of rising water, washing away buildings, and of money, enabling capitalism's washing away the livelihoods and lifeways of the poeple who live within its system. The rising and falling intertidal waters flowing through downtown serve as metaphor for life and for populist political activity. Can ordinary people somehow resist the workings of capital, and manage some creative flooding of their own? He also pulls in great swathes of New York geology and lore; we have to love those infodumps.
A few nitpicks. The technology of 2140 seems little advanced over today's. In particular, the panopticon surveillance we are plainly moving further into is not enough in evidence, and its lack enables characters' schemes that would otherwise not work. Robinson has too much faith in the possibilities of saving the world through rogue government institutions. And he needs to get better scientific vetting - there's a rather garbled explanation of how the atmosphere affects climate change.
[[Kim Stanley Robinson]] is one of modern SF's premier utopians. His previous novel, [Aurora], backed away from that stance. This book serves as something of a return. With its promotion of hope for the prospect of a world less bound by capitalism, it's encouraging and welcome.
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LibraryThing member stellarexplorer
New York 2140 is a wild romp through Venice-cum-New York City in the aftermath of two massive ice melts that have significantly submerged large parts of Manhattan. People live in the skyscrapers of the city even as the lower floors are underwater. The rivers and canals are now traversed by all
It is also chock full of ideas and chaos and survival. Readers familiar with Stan’s work will recognize impeccable research – in this case especially into New York City history, global financial shenanigans, and the science of sea level rise – and the courageous risk-taking that characterizes much of his work. Prominent in the cake mix are the author’s utopian leanings, with a healthy icing of critique of capitalism. I use that odd expression in part to try to imitate his fearless persistence at new verbal constructions, puns and neologisms, seemingly unconcerned about the inevitable failure of some portion of these. And most elicit at least a wry smile.
Under all this energy is a carefully constructed structure, with repeating sequences of orderly chapters each one following a particular character. The structure appears to mimic in abstraction something of the grid-like face of the city itself. The homage to Dos Passos’ cinematic, panoramic experimentalism is hard to miss. In the end, one may wonder about the payoff; after all, this is a long and imperfect novel requiring the time and persistence of the reader. But against that is balanced dynamic world-building, an entertaining romp without let-up, and a serious consideration of a future that seems ever more possible. Maybe the most fun one can have with global warming!
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manner of watercraft, where before the subway and automobile reigned. KSR captures the indomitable energy of the city, which persists and thrives despite the drowning. The book is vivid, wild, untamed with colorful characters.It is also chock full of ideas and chaos and survival. Readers familiar with Stan’s work will recognize impeccable research – in this case especially into New York City history, global financial shenanigans, and the science of sea level rise – and the courageous risk-taking that characterizes much of his work. Prominent in the cake mix are the author’s utopian leanings, with a healthy icing of critique of capitalism. I use that odd expression in part to try to imitate his fearless persistence at new verbal constructions, puns and neologisms, seemingly unconcerned about the inevitable failure of some portion of these. And most elicit at least a wry smile.
Under all this energy is a carefully constructed structure, with repeating sequences of orderly chapters each one following a particular character. The structure appears to mimic in abstraction something of the grid-like face of the city itself. The homage to Dos Passos’ cinematic, panoramic experimentalism is hard to miss. In the end, one may wonder about the payoff; after all, this is a long and imperfect novel requiring the time and persistence of the reader. But against that is balanced dynamic world-building, an entertaining romp without let-up, and a serious consideration of a future that seems ever more possible. Maybe the most fun one can have with global warming!
Show Less
LibraryThing member antao
“Did you ever read Waiting for Godot?
“No.”
“Did you ever read Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead?”
“No.”
“Did you ever read Kiss of the Spider Woman?”
“No.”
“Did you ever read---“
“Jeff, stop it. I’ve never read anything.”
“Some coders read.”
“Yeah that’s right.
“I don’t like R.”
In “New York 2140” by Kim Stanley Robinson
After having read the latest Stanley Robinson, a scene in Kurosawa's 'One Wonderful Sunday' from 1947 popped up in my mind, where at the very beginning two young lovers plead with the cinema audience to support young lovers everywhere and clap and cheer as they imagine themselves performing Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony.
The background to the scene is that the too poverty stricken young lovers spend a rare day off wandering the ruins of post war Tokyo trying to have some fun and imagine some sort of future. They try to see a performance of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony, but are tricked out of the tickets by scalpers. So, they go instead to the empty auditorium. The young man threatens to fall into despair but his girlfriend instead turns to the audience and pleads for 'all young lovers' to give them their support by clapping.
Kurosawa was disappointed that the scene was greeted with mute puzzlement by Japanese audiences (although the film was a success). However, on its rare showings in Europe, this scene got an enthusiastic response, especially in Paris.
Do you think modern SF readers will notice what Robinson did we this novel? Robinson is not exactly a Neal Stephenson, but comes close in his mastery of the dying art of the info dump and breaking the 4th wall. The latter is a theatre term that dates to the 19th century. It’s the imaginary wall between the audience and the stage. Breaking the 4th wall is when the characters deliberately address the audience, like the way Robinson did here with the chapters titled “Citizen”, wherein the omniscient narrator talked directly to the reader. Did he succeed? Regardless of its sometimes-non-mastery, I tend to get immersed all the same because essentially when I'm reading these novels of ideas-SF, I'm reading about some unexamined aspect of myself. And everyone's interested in discovering something about themselves. That’s why I usually enjoy both Stephenson and Robinson, even when they’re not successful. I think that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't; I’d imagine that it's very difficult to do well unless it's connected to some sort of mental state in the characters. Stephenson does this beautifully. I also belong to the sect which believes the info dump, when done right, is what makes SF unique.
SF = Speculative Fiction
“No.”
“Did you ever read Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead?”
“No.”
“Did you ever read Kiss of the Spider Woman?”
“No.”
“Did you ever read---“
“Jeff, stop it. I’ve never read anything.”
“Some coders read.”
“Yeah that’s right.
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I’ve read The R Cookbook. Also, Everything you Always Wanted to Know about R. Also, R for Dummies.”“I don’t like R.”
In “New York 2140” by Kim Stanley Robinson
After having read the latest Stanley Robinson, a scene in Kurosawa's 'One Wonderful Sunday' from 1947 popped up in my mind, where at the very beginning two young lovers plead with the cinema audience to support young lovers everywhere and clap and cheer as they imagine themselves performing Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony.
The background to the scene is that the too poverty stricken young lovers spend a rare day off wandering the ruins of post war Tokyo trying to have some fun and imagine some sort of future. They try to see a performance of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony, but are tricked out of the tickets by scalpers. So, they go instead to the empty auditorium. The young man threatens to fall into despair but his girlfriend instead turns to the audience and pleads for 'all young lovers' to give them their support by clapping.
Kurosawa was disappointed that the scene was greeted with mute puzzlement by Japanese audiences (although the film was a success). However, on its rare showings in Europe, this scene got an enthusiastic response, especially in Paris.
Do you think modern SF readers will notice what Robinson did we this novel? Robinson is not exactly a Neal Stephenson, but comes close in his mastery of the dying art of the info dump and breaking the 4th wall. The latter is a theatre term that dates to the 19th century. It’s the imaginary wall between the audience and the stage. Breaking the 4th wall is when the characters deliberately address the audience, like the way Robinson did here with the chapters titled “Citizen”, wherein the omniscient narrator talked directly to the reader. Did he succeed? Regardless of its sometimes-non-mastery, I tend to get immersed all the same because essentially when I'm reading these novels of ideas-SF, I'm reading about some unexamined aspect of myself. And everyone's interested in discovering something about themselves. That’s why I usually enjoy both Stephenson and Robinson, even when they’re not successful. I think that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't; I’d imagine that it's very difficult to do well unless it's connected to some sort of mental state in the characters. Stephenson does this beautifully. I also belong to the sect which believes the info dump, when done right, is what makes SF unique.
SF = Speculative Fiction
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LibraryThing member lavaturtle
Only made it 50-some pages into this tome before quitting, because I find the writing style irritating and the plot had not yet started. I wanted to like this book, because it seems like the kind of hopeful solarpunk post-apocalyptic thing I'd be into. But I think Robinson's style is just not for
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me. Show Less
LibraryThing member Stevil2001
I haven't read a Kim Stanley Robinson novel since college, when I heroically worked my way through the "Color Mars" trilogy over a summer. New York 2140 is quite long, but also quite enjoyable. In some ways it made me think of reading a late Dickens novel, like Our Mutual Friend. There's no central
As I remember the Mars books being, it is long and slow, but I was never not enjoying it. This is one of those sf novels that's more about world and ideas than plot, and I was okay with that. Like, it's long... but I don't actually know what I would cut! I came to like this diverse cast of characters, and there was an awesomely audacious plot swerve about 400 pages in, even if it ultimately resolved a little too utopianly for my tastes. I'm glad I was forced to finally read more Robinson, and I ought to track more of his work down if it's anything like this.
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character in New York 2140 and (mostly) no central plot line, just a cluster of eight characters from all different walks of life. Many, but not all, live in the Met Life Tower, and their lives sort of criss-cross one another at various points. The book is three things mainly: a piece of "cli-fi" (climate fiction, the sea level has had two dramatic rises in the next 120 years), an sf extrapolation of the global finance industry (Robinson's future has seen two more 2008-esque financial crashes, and a fourth is due), and a love letter to the city of New York (the book is filled with ruminations on the history and culture of the city). In all three areas, it's quite captivating. And I don't even like cities very much!As I remember the Mars books being, it is long and slow, but I was never not enjoying it. This is one of those sf novels that's more about world and ideas than plot, and I was okay with that. Like, it's long... but I don't actually know what I would cut! I came to like this diverse cast of characters, and there was an awesomely audacious plot swerve about 400 pages in, even if it ultimately resolved a little too utopianly for my tastes. I'm glad I was forced to finally read more Robinson, and I ought to track more of his work down if it's anything like this.
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LibraryThing member jfe16
The collapse of glacial valleys in Antarctica unexpectedly poured enough ice into the oceans to cause the sea levels to rise fifty-some feet in a few years. People were displaced, economies crashed, and the world went on. But it was a changed world.
In lower Manhattan, the streets have become
What will the next century bring? Here readers will find a fantastic glimpse into a possible future. But as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that at its heart, this is a tale of human adaptability in the face of a changing environment. Technology, finance, and politics all play a part in the sprawling plot, coming together in an imaginative conclusion that will leave readers with much to ponder.
Highly recommended.
In lower Manhattan, the streets have become
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canals, the skyscrapers are now individual islands. Boats replace taxicabs and trains; sidewalks give way to skybridges between buildings. Here, in what was once the Metropolitan Life insurance Building, life goes on under the watchful eye of Vlade, the building manager. Detective Gwen, lawyer Charlotte, and market trader Franklin all have unfolding stories as does Amelia, a cloud video star who seeks to save endangered species. But the sudden disappearance of coders Mutt and Jeff, who camped out on the roof, and the threat of a tropical storm, put events in play that could prove catastrophic.What will the next century bring? Here readers will find a fantastic glimpse into a possible future. But as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that at its heart, this is a tale of human adaptability in the face of a changing environment. Technology, finance, and politics all play a part in the sprawling plot, coming together in an imaginative conclusion that will leave readers with much to ponder.
Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member ajlewis2
The description of how NYC would be in the event of 50 foot sea level rise drew me into the story. There were several plot lines going and all were very interesting. About 50% into the story I ran out of patience to see where it goes. Scenes perhaps just dragged out too long or there were just too
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many plot lines for me. Finding out what happens and figuring that it would still be terribly depressing, I decided to quit reading. Another problem for me was my lack of understanding the financial part of the story. The book was just too much story for me, I guess. Show Less
LibraryThing member auntmarge64
I've read many Robinson novels, although nothing has ever come close to the genius of the Mars Trilogy. But let's be honest: Robinson knows nothing about characterization and cares little about action. His characters and plots exist solely to give him a place to hang his ideas. But oh, those ideas!
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- often thoughtful, creative, and refreshing, as he outlines possible futures for humankind, whether terraforming Mars and the outer planets or, in this case, rebuilding society after a fifty-foot increase in ocean level. This time out, I found I just didn't care enough to keep reading and gave up after a third. I think I got the gist, and besides, I'm really not interested in financial markets and their intricacies, the explication of which form a big part of the narrative here. Show Less
LibraryThing member pierthinker
Kim Stanley Robinson's story of a future New York following the effects of climate change catastrophe has three threads intertwined into the lives of New Yorkers.
The first and main thread describes life in New York following a century of climate change. Two ice cap melting events have seen water
The second thread of this book is to project todays neo-liberal capitalist politics and its worst excesses - greedy bankers and a focus on financial value as a measure of all things - onto this future world. Robinson posits how a popular and non-violent revolution of the people can thwart the bankers and entrenched money-men politics by nationalising all banks and making the economy work with the common good in mind. I agree with Robinson that the current model has gone awry and I support his view that capitalist market economics is the preferred solution, but with appropriate controls in place. Would this cronyism survive another 150 years and two catastrophic climate change events? Would the correction to market capitalism be achieved by peaceful men? I am not so sure in both cases.
The last and most subtle thread of this book is to look at what a city is, what gives it its particular character and how its citizens think about both it and themselves. New York has a character built over 500 years of shared living, so how does this change with the massive impacts described here? I think Robinson's answer here is both a lot and not very much. The mechanics of how the city works (transport, food, shelter, jobs) are heavily impacted and affect how people see and interact with each other. It is clear that communal living and the shared inconveniences of a recovering disaster zone chip away at perceived differences - everyone is almost literally in the same boat. New York as a magnet for people wanting to change their lives or to get on in their own ways has not changed; New York in 2140 is still one of the centres of the modern world.
I think this is Robinson's best book for some time.
The first and main thread describes life in New York following a century of climate change. Two ice cap melting events have seen water
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levels rise with major impacts on coastal cities around the world. In New York most of Manhattan is either submerged or part of the intertidal zone where property becomes visible only at low tide. Many skyscrapers, their lower floors submerged, are owner-occupied co-operatives/communes with shared facilities, including dining halls. The flooded streets have become canals and most people have access to boats or public transport in the form of vaporetti (water taxis). Of course, technology has advanced, although most of this is described in terms of building technologies for strengthening and waterproofing semi-submerged buildings. The only other visible technology is a greatly increased use of blimps, airships and balloons for transportation and, in some cases, extended aerial living. The dry parts of Manhattan are covered in super-skyscrapers well over 2000 feet tall. Robinson is especially skilled at describing future and strange environments in terms that a resident would understand; describing this alien world in every day chores and actions and trials and tribulations.The second thread of this book is to project todays neo-liberal capitalist politics and its worst excesses - greedy bankers and a focus on financial value as a measure of all things - onto this future world. Robinson posits how a popular and non-violent revolution of the people can thwart the bankers and entrenched money-men politics by nationalising all banks and making the economy work with the common good in mind. I agree with Robinson that the current model has gone awry and I support his view that capitalist market economics is the preferred solution, but with appropriate controls in place. Would this cronyism survive another 150 years and two catastrophic climate change events? Would the correction to market capitalism be achieved by peaceful men? I am not so sure in both cases.
The last and most subtle thread of this book is to look at what a city is, what gives it its particular character and how its citizens think about both it and themselves. New York has a character built over 500 years of shared living, so how does this change with the massive impacts described here? I think Robinson's answer here is both a lot and not very much. The mechanics of how the city works (transport, food, shelter, jobs) are heavily impacted and affect how people see and interact with each other. It is clear that communal living and the shared inconveniences of a recovering disaster zone chip away at perceived differences - everyone is almost literally in the same boat. New York as a magnet for people wanting to change their lives or to get on in their own ways has not changed; New York in 2140 is still one of the centres of the modern world.
I think this is Robinson's best book for some time.
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LibraryThing member nmele
About two thirds of the way through this hefty novel,, Robinson has one of his characters mention the non--fiction book "Why Civil Resistance Works" by Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan. That book became canonical almost overnight among people who work for nonviolent social change (as do I) because
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of the empirical research which quantified how, why and when nonviolent movements succeed. To say I was surprised reveals my underestimation of Robinson, who is one of the most thoughtful novelists around. I don't recall which of his previous novels I have reviewed but I urge you to seek out the three "Science in Washington" novels for starters. For many pages, "New York 2140" is a chronicle of life among a small group of people living in and around a co-op community in lower Manhattan. But well into the story it becomes clearly a chronicle of nonviolent social change, and a sophisticated one which involves the bursting of a financial bubble with a popular nonviolent movement to repudiate debts and pivotal Congressional elections. Oh, there's also a treasure hunt sub-plot, various romances, and a disaster novel in here as a superstorm batters New York City, already partially submerged because of the melting of polar and glacial ice. Yes, that's a lot of complexity, even given the novel's 613 pages, but Robinson knows how to write and I found this one to be a page turner. Which as a bonus offers a way out of some of our current environmental, political and economic troubles. . Show Less
LibraryThing member questbird
Unchecked global warming and financial irresponsibility are Kim Stanley Robinson's concerns in this book. It takes place some decades after two cataclysmic global flooding events, caused by unexpectedly severe melting of polar ice. Coastal cities such as New York are now partially flooded, but made
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liveable through the use of advanced materials and technology. Several characters from a single intertidal building, as well as a disembodied 'citizen' narrator (actually my favourite of the narrative voices) create the window to this future New York City. KSR wants to tell a global story. He uses his archetypal characters to represent the people of New York. He uses New York to represent the world (and Denver as the never-seen new HQ of liquid global capital). However, New York is an atypical global city. The United States is an atypical country. So I find the analogy unsatisfying, except that it conveys the self-absorption of the United States in general and the people of New York in particular. I also am unconvinced that global capital flows would not have been changed greatly by the flooding events and subsequent desparate generational decarbonisation efforts described in the book -- it seems that these events would re-shape global human society as much as World War Two. Yet not only is the United States still intact and with a political economy almost exactly as it was a century and a half earlier, but existing 21st century financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs, Citibank and Bank of America continue to reign supreme in the financial world. It may be 2140 for climate change, but it seems like 2008 in the finance world, which sounds a wrong note. Show Less
LibraryThing member renbedell
A near future exposition on what New York would be like becomes completely flooded due to global warming. The story follows assortment of people in different walks of life on how they deal with a crisis that has become an everyday life. It is nice to see the generational differences on how each
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character responds to the new way of life. The book centers more on what the world would look like in the future, therefore it focuses on world building, but in a realistic world. There is very little plot. It is well written and narration was fantastic. Although it may not be the best book to read through audiobooks as I found it easy to drift since there is no plot to hold on to. Show Less
LibraryThing member fpagan
Want to see some future canals that will result from the global warming so famously denied by the unhinged nincompoop now occupying the White House? Just look at the streets of lower Manhattan. Such is the setting for this extended and estimable tale of the mid-2100s. [*Begin spoiler alert*]
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Robinson's plot suggests that widespread and nonviolent civil disobedience (in rent-paying, bill-paying, buying of unneeded products, etc) could bring about a revolution that overthrows the oligarchical financial class. [*End spoiler alert*] Analogously, I sometimes wonder whether widespread and nonviolent luddism of some kind could be a way of seizing control of digital technology from those who design and use it to obliterate privacy and data security. Show Less
LibraryThing member abycats
Brief comment: not meant for listening. Read this book instead.
LibraryThing member willszal
I don't generally read science fiction, maybe because I read for utility, and have a tougher time judging the value of fiction than non-fiction. This recommendation came from a friend, so I thought I would give it a try. The context for the story is that sea levels have risen 50 feet due to climate
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change, and much of New York City is still inhabited, but underwater. The story itself is about massive union strikes against debt repayment that throw the global economy into shock, at which points the banks are nationalized in exchange for being bailed out. I found the book slow going, which you might expect from something this long. Although I'm quite excited about the storyline, I found it exceedingly frustrating that the story was set over a century in the future. Nothing about the storyline requires that it not just be a story sent in current day. And setting something so far off in the future makes it feel distant, inaccessible, irrelevant. Additionally, I don't think there's any way a century will pass and we'll have anywhere near the continuity and stability that Robinson predicts. The US government still exists, basically unchanged, as do all the traditional financial institutions and investing approach. The same can be said for money itself, still behaving in basically the same way, in dollars. I don't see this as vaguely possible. There's likely somewhere around a 50:50 chance the human race will be extinct, or with population levels in the tens of thousands by 2040. And even if we're lucky and also actually address some of the pressing issues of our time and happen to pull through, I doubt the US government, dollars, or finance as we know it will still be around. So it would be a great story, if it was set in present day. Having it so far in the future—an unrealistic future at that—pulls the air out of it for me. Also, I hate New York! I dislike cities in general, but New York has a grungy and abandoned feeling to it that couldn't be a more fitting illustration of the Tragedy of the Markets. So telling a story set in such a horrible environment also severely detracted from the experience for me. Show Less
LibraryThing member willszal
I don't generally read science fiction, maybe because I read for utility, and have a tougher time judging the value of fiction than non-fiction. This recommendation came from a friend, so I thought I would give it a try.
The context for the story is that sea levels have risen 50 feet due to climate
I found the book slow going, which you might expect from something this long. Although I'm quite excited about the storyline, I found it exceedingly frustrating that the story was set over a century in the future. Nothing about the storyline requires that it not just be a story sent in current day. And setting something so far off in the future makes it feel distant, inaccessible, irrelevant.
Additionally, I don't think there's any way a century will pass and we'll have anywhere near the continuity and stability that Robinson predicts. The US government still exists, basically unchanged, as do all the traditional financial institutions and investing approach. The same can be said for money itself, still behaving in basically the same way, in dollars. I don't see this as vaguely possible. There's likely somewhere around a 50:50 chance the human race will be extinct, or with population levels in the tens of thousands by 2040. And even if we're lucky and also actually address some of the pressing issues of our time and happen to pull through, I doubt the US government, dollars, or finance as we know it will still be around.
So it would be a great story, if it was set in present day. Having it so far in the future—an unrealistic future at that—pulls the air out of it for me.
Also, I hate New York! I dislike cities in general, but New York has a grungy and abandoned feeling to it that couldn't be a more fitting illustration of the Tragedy of the Markets. So telling a story set in such a horrible environment also severely detracted from the experience for me.
The context for the story is that sea levels have risen 50 feet due to climate
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change, and much of New York City is still inhabited, but underwater. The story itself is about massive union strikes against debt repayment that throw the global economy into shock, at which points the banks are nationalized in exchange for being bailed out.I found the book slow going, which you might expect from something this long. Although I'm quite excited about the storyline, I found it exceedingly frustrating that the story was set over a century in the future. Nothing about the storyline requires that it not just be a story sent in current day. And setting something so far off in the future makes it feel distant, inaccessible, irrelevant.
Additionally, I don't think there's any way a century will pass and we'll have anywhere near the continuity and stability that Robinson predicts. The US government still exists, basically unchanged, as do all the traditional financial institutions and investing approach. The same can be said for money itself, still behaving in basically the same way, in dollars. I don't see this as vaguely possible. There's likely somewhere around a 50:50 chance the human race will be extinct, or with population levels in the tens of thousands by 2040. And even if we're lucky and also actually address some of the pressing issues of our time and happen to pull through, I doubt the US government, dollars, or finance as we know it will still be around.
So it would be a great story, if it was set in present day. Having it so far in the future—an unrealistic future at that—pulls the air out of it for me.
Also, I hate New York! I dislike cities in general, but New York has a grungy and abandoned feeling to it that couldn't be a more fitting illustration of the Tragedy of the Markets. So telling a story set in such a horrible environment also severely detracted from the experience for me.
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LibraryThing member rivkat
Robinson’s optimism is increasingly more academically interesting to me than emotionally resonant, but he is good at worldbuilding, so to speak. A half-drowned NYC is still a center of global financial capital, and also of people who come to try to make better lives, although the city is trying
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to limit the entrance of refugees in order to concentrate on its own struggling residents. Various residents of an apartment building/co-op whose lower floors are now a boat dock make their way, some of them actively trying to take down capitalist exploitation and others just trying to survive it. Lots of quotes about New York, many of them witty. Channeling Whitman, Robinson writes, “Mother Nature bats last, and Mother Ocean is strong, and we live inside our mothers forever, and Life is tenacious and you can never kill it, you can never buy it,/So Life is going to dirve down into your dark pools, Life is going to explode the enclosures and bring back the commons,/O you dark pools of money and law … /Hoping for safety, hoping for cessation of uncertainty, hoping for ownership of volatility, O you poor fearful jerks,/Life! Life! Life! Life is going to kick your ass.” And I never saw it before, but Robinson clearly makes sense as an heir to Whitman in his faith in an unending, unpredictable human future. Show Less
LibraryThing member Gwendydd
New York 2140 takes place in New York City after sea levels have risen enough that downtown is under water. New Yorkers being New Yorkers, they adapt and continue to live there.
The world building is fantastic - Robinson goes into a lot of detail about how the flooding happened, buildings are
The characters are reasonably engaging and varied, and their stories are reasonably engaging.
However, after hours and hours and hours of reading this very long book, it's like Robinson suddenly realized that some stuff actually needs to happen, so a bunch of really huge things happen, but they get glossed over really quickly. Then suddenly it feels like he got tired of writing the book and tacked on a sappy ending and stopped. There are major pacing problems - early in the book, we are treated to pages and pages and pages of a rich jerk whining that the girl he has a crush on thinks he's a jerk, and then a major worldwide financial revolution happens over the course of a few pages. Robinson goes into intense detail about how the lower stories of buildings are fortified, but doesn't bother to explain at all how two undocumented children can launder billions of dollars of found gold.
In other words, the book is a great thought experiment, but the story leaves a lot to be desired.
The book is also very much a commentary on 2017. By 2140, or even 2040, it will be very dated. The book dwells a lot on the fallout of the 2008 financial crisis, on our current willful ignorance of the effects of climate change, and on our current rampant capitalism.
I listened to the audiobook (at 1.8x speed because otherwise it would have taken me months to finish). The cast of narrators is very good, and the book is engaging as an audiobook.
The world building is fantastic - Robinson goes into a lot of detail about how the flooding happened, buildings are
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fortified to withstand having their bottom stories under water, how people get around, how the economy responds.The characters are reasonably engaging and varied, and their stories are reasonably engaging.
However, after hours and hours and hours of reading this very long book, it's like Robinson suddenly realized that some stuff actually needs to happen, so a bunch of really huge things happen, but they get glossed over really quickly. Then suddenly it feels like he got tired of writing the book and tacked on a sappy ending and stopped. There are major pacing problems - early in the book, we are treated to pages and pages and pages of a rich jerk whining that the girl he has a crush on thinks he's a jerk, and then a major worldwide financial revolution happens over the course of a few pages. Robinson goes into intense detail about how the lower stories of buildings are fortified, but doesn't bother to explain at all how two undocumented children can launder billions of dollars of found gold.
In other words, the book is a great thought experiment, but the story leaves a lot to be desired.
The book is also very much a commentary on 2017. By 2140, or even 2040, it will be very dated. The book dwells a lot on the fallout of the 2008 financial crisis, on our current willful ignorance of the effects of climate change, and on our current rampant capitalism.
I listened to the audiobook (at 1.8x speed because otherwise it would have taken me months to finish). The cast of narrators is very good, and the book is engaging as an audiobook.
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LibraryThing member quondame
A very enjoyable read this story goes lightly over heavy ground. Too many view point characters for my taste but each had significant contributions and no window on the baddies, so that's a plus.
LibraryThing member Guide2
Took way too long to really get started and more about economics than sci-fi. Almost did not finish it...
LibraryThing member lissabeth21
Prophetic! If you have any interest in the environment, in the resilence of the human species, this is for you.
LibraryThing member grandpahobo
Excellent book. The individual stories are interesting and expertly woven together. There are no lulls.
While the ecological disasters brought about by climate change are dominant theme of the book, I was just as intrigued by the effects of disaster capitalism the author portrays. Its amazing to
While the ecological disasters brought about by climate change are dominant theme of the book, I was just as intrigued by the effects of disaster capitalism the author portrays. Its amazing to
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think that after so much destruction and reconfiguration of society, capitalism would survive and thrive, just like cockroaches and mosquitoes. Show Less
LibraryThing member cindywho
It was a rambling story with a cast of characters (Franklin being the most annoying) - from water rat orphans, to financiers, to a social media star in a blimp - the rest of them traversed sunken lower Manhattan via boat and sky bridge. The stories are there to illustrate some ideas of how humans
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would survive 50 feet of sea rise in the future. The political denouement was shallow and seemed naive, but it was a fun future city to visit. Show Less
LibraryThing member expatscot
Really good dystopian-type adventure, well it seems more an adventure than a thriller to be honest.
LibraryThing member tatere
A helluva book, a helluva book. Amelia Black is absolutely Best Girl. About halfway thru I became convinced they were all about to die horribly bc I liked them too much.
Subjects
Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 2018)
Audie Award (Finalist — Science Fiction — 2018)
Locus Award (Finalist — Science Fiction Novel — 2018)
John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (Finalist — 2018)
Language
Original publication date
2017-03-14
Physical description
20 cm
ISBN
9780356508788