Flynne is sitting in for her brother, Burton, test-driving a video game. Wilf Netherton is trying to herd a difficult personality. Their worlds are utterly different. But we know both worlds are our world, in some sense, in some version. How did we get from where we are now to these places? The history between any two is a compelling and intense mystery. How did we get to where we are now?
William Gibson's latest novel, 'The Peripheral,' is a perfect union of opposites, in many senses. It alternates between two protagonists, Flynne and Wilf. Flynne is pretty much trailer trash in a nearish future where the worst parts of the present have been cranked to eleven. Wilf is a rich git with some sort of heart that can't be shut off so easily as one might expect of a man living in his rather opulent circumstances.
In any single scene, Gibson's prose puts us perfectly in the moment. Flynne's crappy future is heavy on meth-heads, rustic rust, and a vision of America looking like Germany in the late 1920's – money by the bucket, worth not so very much. There's no fascist leader in sight, but life manages to have grit and ugliness in spite of the second-hand future tech the characters have scrounged from greener pastures.
Wilf's splendor is equally confusing and not so much happier. Sure, Wilf isn't struggling with drugs and poverty, but his comfort is no less imbued with stress than Flynne's life. The writing here is richer and more ornate, as is the setting, but the overall effect on the reader is the same. Everything is unsettling. No matter where you go, the future is a foreign country.
'The Peripheral' takes some effort on the part of the reader. Gibson gives nothing away as to what he's up to and why. But as the relationships unfold and as the worlds become clearer, as readers solve the first mystery as to what the hell is happening here and why, the second-level mystery, the plot of the novel, unfolds in a series of magnificent revelatory chapters.
Readers are advised not to read the dust jacket, which gives away a big part of the story, as do many reviews.. This is a novel best experienced on its own, immersive terms. Gibson has proven that he's a writer we can trust and that pays off here in so many ways. Plunging us into a vision of crime and caper complicated by an intricately devised future, 'The Peripheral' is perhaps Gibson's best novel yet.
One the most enjoyable aspects of 'The Peripheral' is Gibson's bone-dry sense of humor. This is a very funny book, with nary a laugh line in sight. Gibson's smart use of the crime genre and science fiction genre give him the perfect excuse to zip up and down the income scale in a manner that speaks intimately to the income gap permeating our lives that nonetheless is somehow unspeakable.
All that is readily apparent in our world starts out invisible in 'The Peripheral.' By the time the novel ends, we can look back, and sense our own history, remade and re-mystified. Gibson paints a portrait of the future that highlights the weirdness of the present. He writes superbly about technology; how it changes us as we change it. But he needs no tech to re-wire our minds. Words will do just fine.
11-19-14:David Greene Catches 'Midnight in Siberia: A Train Journey into the Heart of Russia'
The Character(s) of a Country
David Greene's 'Midnight in Siberia: A Train Journey into the Heart of Russia' is a subtle triumph of showing, not telling, on two levels. The characters he crafts in his engaging and entertaining travelogue arrive early and often. We're right there with him, from page to person without a hint of his writerly skills. He simply puts us in his shoes and theirs with fewest, smartest, craftiest words he can find. And what a cast! This is people watching at its finest.
But all the while something else is happening as well. As we get to know "Aunt Nina," Sergei, his translator, the son of the creator of the AK47, singers, a kid hawking space rocks from a meteor strike, Greene's episodes craft for readers another character; Russia itself.
By showing us the country from the ground up – he took that train for a reason – Greene builds for his readers a new Russia. Forget the headlines and the celebrity (there's really only one). Greene makes it clear to his readers that Russia is not simply a country of threats, bluster and crackdowns. Greene's talent for showing us character quickly begins to reveal the character of the country.
At every turn, Greene is there with us, for us. He lets his characters speak for themselves, and in so doing create a rather different vision of Russia than one might presume. Few of us can afford to travel as Greene does; his experience as a reporter for NPR gives him an easy air of access. He already knew the country he sought to portray, and happily as he did so, he clearly learned a lot more. His ability to put us there easily is a triumph of the quiet, thoughtful observer. 'Midnight in Siberia' is about much more than a single moment in a single place. Our world hangs in the balance.
11-17-14:Azar Nafisi Resides In 'The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books'
Choose Your World
Reading is an artistic experience, one that requires a real, learned skill on the part of the reader. Anyone can quickly become a master reader. It's a learn-by-doing skill. Better still, as readers we are all collaborating on our art with the writers we read. Azar Nafisi is a superb writer and reader. In her new book, 'The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books,' Nafisi makes use of both skills to give her readers a leg up. It's learn-by-doing squared.
The book is divided into five sections. The introduction is a rabble-rousing call-to-arms for readers, the sort of thing that will have you toting the book into the presence of the nearest human so that you can read it aloud. If humans are unavailable, pets or the Internet may suffice. What Nafisi does is to expertly frame her personal experiences in the context of larger questions. She begins the book with an anecdote from a book tour, and spiral out from that kernel to craft truly uplifting prose about import and necessity of the reading experience.
Mark Twain's 'Huck Finn' was the impetus for starting the book in the first place, but she found that she had to bin her critical exegesis for something more personal. In the segment of the book covering Twain's masterpiece, she brings readers into her life and the life of a close friend from Iran. Their experiences in democracy and theocracy are refracted in the themes and language of Twain's novel. It'd a moving, intense, moody essay on the import of free speech and how closely freedom of thought and freedom of reading – and imagination – are bound.
She next examines 'Babbitt' by Sinclair Lewis. As with any book she mentions, whether you've read it or not, Nafisi will have you grabbing a copy pronto – and one trusts that you'll be purchasing any new copy from an independent bookstore. 'Babbitt' becomes a stepping-stone for a discussion on the necessity for the so-called "liberal" education, as opposed to the vocational model that's being foisted on a populace trapped in a seemingly permanent economic downturn.
Carson McCullers' 'The Heart is A Lonely Hunter' inspires the story of a friend of hers who lost his way. Nafisi comes to edge of breaking the reader's heart while e3xploring the human heart and the need for connection that McCullers captures with such power and precision. This leads to an epilogue about James Baldwin that evokes his presence in the world of our imaginations.
Nafisi never misses a step in 'The Republic of Imagination.' She makes sure that the writing and the stories she tells are engaging, but she does so while telling a bigger story about readers and reading to those reading the book. There's more than a bit of literary recursion to be found here. Readers will find themselves lost in her stories only to find themselves part of those stories. Reading, which is so often portrayed as a solitary experience becomes, in Nafisi's vision, a very public experience. We all belong to a country that has no borders beyond those we allow. Everyone can open a book and create their own Republic of Imagination. Set your eyes to the page and let the language take you where you desire to go.
New to the Agony Column
09-18-15: Commentary : William T. Vollman Amidst 'The Dying Grass' : An Epic Exploration of Simultaneity
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with William T. Vollman : "...a lot of long words that in our language are sentences..."
09-05-15: Commentary : Susan Casey Listens to 'Voices in the Ocean' : Science, Empathy and Self
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Susan Casey : "...the reporting for this book was emotionally difficult at times..."
08-21-15: Agony Column Podcast News Report : Senator Claire McCaskill is 'Plenty Ladylike' : Internalizing Determination to Overcome Sexism [Incudes Time to Read EP 211: Claire McCaskill, Plenty Ladylike, plus A 2015 Interview with Senator Claire McCaskill]
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Emily Schultz Unleashes 'The Blondes' : A Cure by Color [Incudes Time to Read EP 210: Emily Schultz, The Blondes, plus A 2015 Interview with Emily Schultz]
07-05-15: Commentary : Dr. Michael Gazzaniga Tells Tales from Both Sides of the Brain : A Life in Neuroscience Reveals the Life of Science
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Michael Gazzaniga : "We made the first observation and BAM there was the disconnection effect..."
04-21-15: Commentary : Kazuo Ishiguro Unearths 'The Buried Giant' : The Mist of Myth and Memory
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Kazuo Ishiguro : ".... by the time I was writing this novel, the lines between what was fantasy and what was real had blurred for me..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Marc Goodman : "...every physical object around us is being transformed, one way or another, into an information technology..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 199: Marc Goodman : Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It
