I wanted to love this book. I wanted to appreciate Robinson's grand-scale worldbuilding, his fluidly descriptive prose, and his ability to weave an ensemble cast of characters and storylines into an epic whole.
After all, I enjoyed Red Mars.
I did not enjoy 2312.
The shortcomings are as much a case of what was excessive as what was lacking. Anyone who wants to see what the solar system might look like in three hundred years won't be disappointed. Robinson describes a moving city on Mercury, hollowed asteroids that serve as combination transports and habitats, and terraforming projects on half a dozen moons. Like his future society, Robinson wants to fill up every blank corner of his solar system, and much is left behind in the process. Unfortunately, it's frequently the characters.
Spending time with the characters of 2312 was like visiting crazy relatives. You see them after a long absence and suddenly remember why you didn't miss them in the first place. Then, just as you're spending enough time with them to start brushing off some of the less egregious weirdness, you depart and remember that they have nothing to do with the other 364 days of your year.
It's kind of like that.
Swan Er Hong, the mercurial performance artist from Mercury (see what he did there?) is the principal protagonist and our first introduction to the people of 2312. It's a shame, because while she could have been a fascinating and complex character, she is most often simply irritating. While I spent more time with Swan than I would have liked, I never felt like I got to know her well enough to sympathize with her. As a result, her many mood swings and extremes either baffled me or compounded my idea of her as shallow, self-absorbed, and flighty.* She actually threatens to scream when other characters refuse to tell her something she wants to know.
Most of the other characters weren't much more interesting or weren't around often enough to salvage the story. My favorite character was probably Inspector Jean Genette, a detective and a member of a group known as "smalls" who, for reasons left (surprisingly) unexplained, are all extremely petite.**
Kiran's subplot was also well-done, mostly because Robinson really captured the disorientation of someone who is in over his head, stuck in a plot that he isn't able to follow. Then again, maybe I just liked that story because it felt relatable while I was reading this book.
Frequently, characters' conversations about things that appear to be crucial plot points and themes (see: revolution) seem so general and so disassociated from any actionable context as to seem irrelevant. It's as if readers are hurtling along on one of those orbiting asteroid terrariums, and every once in a while we swing back into view of the characters just to see what they're up to before taking off again. After having a lengthy conversation with her computer about the historical contexts and causes of "revolutions" (virtually any kind you fancy), Swan then goes on to have a vague (yet nonetheless heated) conversation with Wahram about fomenting an actual revolution. Moments like these felt like they should have been better connected. As it is, it often feels like we're wandering from one event to the next, often without a great deal of causality or explanation.***
And during our many sabbaticals from the characters and their stories, we're treated to some rather bizarre infodumps. These are mini-chapters, and they may be titled "Lists," in which case they are actual lists of things: disorders, famous women, ways that Swan has mortified her flesh in the name of performance art. Others are "Extracts," which read like segments cut (often mid-paragraph) from textbooks on the science and history that underpins 2312, and yep, they're generally about as interesting as they sound. Still others are lengthy descriptions of planets, moons, asteroids, and other heavenly bodies, and I might have appreciated these more if there weren't so many seeming non-sequitirs. It's frustrating to see a writer as skilled as Robinson rely on such a sloppy method of worldbuilding.
The irony is that many of the infodumps state that the year 2312 will be the dawn of a new era. Unfortunately, the story feels like too much of an afterthought for me to care or understand why.
*Like the moment she suggests self-crucifixion as a memorial to her burned city contrasted with her horror at remembering that time she ingested alien bacteria. And yet she has no qualms or regrets about having a permanent hormone drip implanted, having part of a bird's brain attached to her own, or having a quantum computer embedded near her skull.
**Best guess? Something to do with successive generations changing under the effects different gravities and environments. There are also "talls."
***For instance... why the heck did they start rebuilding Terminator halfway through? Wasn't it already established that there was no way to prevent a repeat catastrophe until they figured out whodunnit?
After all, I enjoyed Red Mars.
I did not enjoy 2312.
The shortcomings are as much a case of what was excessive as what was lacking. Anyone who wants to see what the solar system might look like in three hundred years won't be disappointed. Robinson describes a moving city on Mercury, hollowed asteroids that serve as combination transports and habitats, and terraforming projects on half a dozen moons. Like his future society, Robinson wants to fill up every blank corner of his solar system, and much is left behind in the process. Unfortunately, it's frequently the characters.
Spending time with the characters of 2312 was like visiting crazy relatives. You see them after a long absence and suddenly remember why you didn't miss them in the first place. Then, just as you're spending enough time with them to start brushing off some of the less egregious weirdness, you depart and remember that they have nothing to do with the other 364 days of your year.
It's kind of like that.
Swan Er Hong, the mercurial performance artist from Mercury (see what he did there?) is the principal protagonist and our first introduction to the people of 2312. It's a shame, because while she could have been a fascinating and complex character, she is most often simply irritating. While I spent more time with Swan than I would have liked, I never felt like I got to know her well enough to sympathize with her. As a result, her many mood swings and extremes either baffled me or compounded my idea of her as shallow, self-absorbed, and flighty.* She actually threatens to scream when other characters refuse to tell her something she wants to know.
Most of the other characters weren't much more interesting or weren't around often enough to salvage the story. My favorite character was probably Inspector Jean Genette, a detective and a member of a group known as "smalls" who, for reasons left (surprisingly) unexplained, are all extremely petite.**
Kiran's subplot was also well-done, mostly because Robinson really captured the disorientation of someone who is in over his head, stuck in a plot that he isn't able to follow. Then again, maybe I just liked that story because it felt relatable while I was reading this book.
Frequently, characters' conversations about things that appear to be crucial plot points and themes (see: revolution) seem so general and so disassociated from any actionable context as to seem irrelevant. It's as if readers are hurtling along on one of those orbiting asteroid terrariums, and every once in a while we swing back into view of the characters just to see what they're up to before taking off again. After having a lengthy conversation with her computer about the historical contexts and causes of "revolutions" (virtually any kind you fancy), Swan then goes on to have a vague (yet nonetheless heated) conversation with Wahram about fomenting an actual revolution. Moments like these felt like they should have been better connected. As it is, it often feels like we're wandering from one event to the next, often without a great deal of causality or explanation.***
And during our many sabbaticals from the characters and their stories, we're treated to some rather bizarre infodumps. These are mini-chapters, and they may be titled "Lists," in which case they are actual lists of things: disorders, famous women, ways that Swan has mortified her flesh in the name of performance art. Others are "Extracts," which read like segments cut (often mid-paragraph) from textbooks on the science and history that underpins 2312, and yep, they're generally about as interesting as they sound. Still others are lengthy descriptions of planets, moons, asteroids, and other heavenly bodies, and I might have appreciated these more if there weren't so many seeming non-sequitirs. It's frustrating to see a writer as skilled as Robinson rely on such a sloppy method of worldbuilding.
The irony is that many of the infodumps state that the year 2312 will be the dawn of a new era. Unfortunately, the story feels like too much of an afterthought for me to care or understand why.
2312 if you dare. But I'd go with Red Mars instead.
**Best guess? Something to do with successive generations changing under the effects different gravities and environments. There are also "talls."
***For instance... why the heck did they start rebuilding Terminator halfway through? Wasn't it already established that there was no way to prevent a repeat catastrophe until they figured out whodunnit?
