this is the voice of re:mote induction.Friday, September 12, 2003
The Years Of Rice And Salt - i was reading the latest book by kim stanley robinson, but i've put it on hold for awhile. it just wasn't doing much for me, despite the fact that i have enjoyed most of the other material i have read by him. the book is a fair slab, split into ten sections, which could technically be taken as separate stories. perhaps they gain more relevance as the book goes on, but through the 3 chunks i read the links were tenuous. as tenuous as the point of wiping out europe with the plague.
the book is set at a time where the black plague was sweeping across europe. robinson extends this with the idea that it was worse than it had been, and europe was wiped out. leaving asia to take history. each section takes us through levels of history, stepping us forward through mongolia and china, with each reincarnation of the characters of an interconnected karmic group.
as i mentioned yesterday, i am currently reading Bangkok 8. the main character in that is a buddhist cop, and when he looks at people he will quite often get impressions of their past lives. this is what reminded me of robinson's book. it is funny how burdett manages to integrate this into a contemporary setting - using it even where two lovers from a past life meet and instantly click. while robinson has his characters barely aware of the fact they keep meeting each other, except when they die and find themselves at the point of judgement where there next lives are decided. i suspect if robinson had managed to be more contemporary with his book it would have been more interesting. instead he has written a series of historical short stories.
the fact that he has this open europe for asia to spill into hasn't made a lot of difference. even when a mongol warrior wanders the land there is little for him to experience. even when a monk goes that way as well it is just a new asian community. these things don't make a difference, it is just explorations of the same culture, which could just as easily have taken place in parts of asia. which is still where much of the narrative takes place. so what difference does the idea make?
as i say i haven't finished it. i do intend to come back to it at some point, hopefully it will all come together and in the end it will all make sense. but for the moment it is on hold, and i am reminded of it by thoughts of buddhism.
the book is set at a time where the black plague was sweeping across europe. robinson extends this with the idea that it was worse than it had been, and europe was wiped out. leaving asia to take history. each section takes us through levels of history, stepping us forward through mongolia and china, with each reincarnation of the characters of an interconnected karmic group.
as i mentioned yesterday, i am currently reading Bangkok 8. the main character in that is a buddhist cop, and when he looks at people he will quite often get impressions of their past lives. this is what reminded me of robinson's book. it is funny how burdett manages to integrate this into a contemporary setting - using it even where two lovers from a past life meet and instantly click. while robinson has his characters barely aware of the fact they keep meeting each other, except when they die and find themselves at the point of judgement where there next lives are decided. i suspect if robinson had managed to be more contemporary with his book it would have been more interesting. instead he has written a series of historical short stories.
the fact that he has this open europe for asia to spill into hasn't made a lot of difference. even when a mongol warrior wanders the land there is little for him to experience. even when a monk goes that way as well it is just a new asian community. these things don't make a difference, it is just explorations of the same culture, which could just as easily have taken place in parts of asia. which is still where much of the narrative takes place. so what difference does the idea make?
as i say i haven't finished it. i do intend to come back to it at some point, hopefully it will all come together and in the end it will all make sense. but for the moment it is on hold, and i am reminded of it by thoughts of buddhism.
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