Kim Stanley Robinson's "Sixty Days and Counting"-- Anyone else feel a little let down?

[TygrBright]

Don't get me wrong, I love KSR, and I raced through "Forty Signs" and "Fifty Degrees" with joy.

But, wonderful as it was to know what happened to all those great characters, it felt to me as though he was tucking in too many loose ends and striving too hard for a happy ending.

Given that the series was set in the matrix of near-contemporary American politics, and the cast was mostly attached to the US Government, I very much doubt that things would work out as hopefully as they did in "Sixty Days."

It sort of deteriorated into didacticism-by-inference. "When we DO start dealing with climate change in the real world, it will all work out if we just find the right charismatic Presidential candidate and the right scientist-leaders, etc...."

disappointedly,
Bright

[phantom power]

1. My reaction was in the same ballpark...

For your entertainment, here is my original post after finishing it.

0) The particular combination of ideas, attitudes, and solutions mentioned in this series made me wonder, seriously, if KSR hasn't been reading E/E. If not, I have to conclude that he at least was reading a lot of the same sources that we discuss here.

1) It finally dawned on me that the entire series was at least partially inspired by KSR's reading of Thoreau and Emerson. Of the two, I estimate that KSR is most like Emerson. More philosophical and humanist.

2) KSR has a tendency toward what I'll call anti-climactic story arcs. Although he has many sub-plots with climaxes, at the highest level, tension just seems dissipate in some kind of socio-political dialectic enlightenment. "Sixty Days and Counting" reminded me of "Blue Mars" in this respect. I'd like to say that I'm really enlightened and see the superiority of this style, but actually I find myself pining for a bit more sound and fury.

3) I did not like his implication that "We can swap out our power and transportation energy supply for 300 billion dollars." I simply think that's bollocks. The fact that he saw fit to even mention space-based solar made me want to grab him by the shoulders and shake him.

4) Although I enjoy his explorations of "feral" lifestyles, I think he places too much weight on that as a solution. It's a sort of economic version of Thoreau's Axe. His ferals might be a useful niche, but they are also somewhat parasitic on more traditional economic activity. You may be able to live by dumpster-diving, but only if somebody else is filling the dumpsters.

5) I thought the idea of using America's nuclear naval fleet as mobile emergency power generators was clever.

6) I still don't get his aversion to wind power.

7) The idea of combating sea level rise by filling low-lands with fucking sea water seems like a disaster far worse than losing coastal cities. Dear fuck, it's literally salting the earth.

8) For a trilogy ostensibly about a Climate Chaos, there really is a shortage of actual climate chaos in the book. Quite a lot of what there is, takes place off-stage, and you hear about it only because a bunch of Washington technocrats are discussing it. The only major climate event in the last book is some kind of barely-averted "system collapse" in China. And yet, the entire situation is related as third-hand news. One of the first rules of good storytelling is to make things both human, and specific. If there was a significant flaw to the book, I would say that was it. In retrospect, that isn't too surprising, since KSR is a big-picture, historical dialectic kind of guy. It's clearly what he loves, and I think he over-balanced a bit here.

9) Another thing about KSR is that he's fundamentally an optimist. On some level, I think that made him the "wrong" person to write this story, because in reality so much of what is coming is tragic. He alludes to some of that tragedy, but again, it's mostly off-stage. It's not that I would want to read a hopeless story, but overall, the series never quite rang true to me, and I think it's because he just never delved into the tragedy of it. I think a slightly darker author like Greg Bear would have captured that aspect of it better. Maybe an author collaboration?

10) It's still a good series. Go read it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=141742&mesg_id=141742

[Beetwasher]

2. It Seemed Unfinished

But he had to wrap it up, but still an enjoyable read. I expected more I guess.

I will say I was wondering how he would resolve the whole spirit-posessing-the-kid subplot and I like how he did it. I wasn't expecting that twist and was being prepared to be let down by that not being explained empirically. I was pleasantly surprised!

[TygrBright]

3. Yes, I thought that was a lovely bit of sly humor.

And a nice addition to the character exposition of the Khembalung community.

appreciatively,
Bright

[Beetwasher]

4. Loved The Development of the khembalung's!

And dig his angle about Buddhism sort of being the unofficial religion of science.

[Ignis]

5. I liked 40, but thought 50 stumbled a bit.

I love KSR as well--particularly The Years of Rice and Salt--but this series just isn't doing it for me.

:(

[shimmergal]

6. I read the series a

year and a half ago, and I doubt the hopeful ending would seem as plausible to me now as it did then! At least getting leaders who'd do the right thing seemed like it _could_ happen.

However, I had trouble with the viewpoint character's being able to function as a high-level advisor even after he makes it clear that his stay-at-home-dad role will be his first priority. A woman couldn't get away with that, and I doubt it would work for a man either. The only similar real-life situation I can think of is Karen Hughes in W's admin., and that didn't work out too well for her, either.

[Forkboy]

7. After The Years of Rice and Salt anything he did was bound to be a let down.

That's the best novel I've ever read (I've already read it three times).

I enjoyed this series, but it didn't blow me away. It was still better than a lot of other sci-fi though. Can't wait to read his newest one, Galileo's Dream.

[phantom power]

8. So far I Like It A Lot.

His characterization of Galileo is engaging as hell.

When KSR disappoints me, it is usually with respect to his endings. So I won't know that until -- the end.

[Ignis]

9. +1

I think I've given 5 copies of that book as gifts now, and everyone has loved it.

I'm just surprised that more people haven't heard of it. :shrug: