I’ve been enjoying the novel’s sense of humor. Between our present and the novel’s time two “Pulses” occurred, huge superstorms that swamped New York and the United States government resettled to Denver, Colorado. We get immersed in the future city’s daily life through detailed travel above and across it, along with stories about how people live in it and the many ways of fighting off water. A tower collapses, and Franklin conducts a second rescue. Franklin falls in love with another trader. Stefan and Roberto dive the Hudson for treasure, find a sunken British ship, and meet Franklin. Someone wants to buy the Met co-op, and not everyone likes the idea leaks start to attack, too. Amelia Black flies into town then tries to relocate polar bears. Right off the bat, just a few pages in, Mutt and Jeff launch a cyberattack on the global economy, then go missing, triggering local responses. We also meet “a citizen,” perhaps a stand-in for the author, more reliably a Greek chorus offering us plenty of information and commentary. They include: two rogue coders/hackers (Ralph Muttchopf and Jeff Rosen, a/k/a Mutt and Jeff), police inspector Gen Octaviasdottir, financier and quant Franklin Garr (named for Ben), the repurposed MetLife building‘s superintendent Vlade Marovich, the Met’s most frequent leader and also a lawyer (Charlotte Armstrong), wildlife activist/social media star/blimp rider Amelia Black, NYC mayor Galina Estaban, and two adventurous boys, Stefan and Roberto. Jason Green found the novel involving a lot of worldbuilding.Įach “part” follows a swarm of characters, tracing events through their perspectives. Not hard to follow, but exhausting at times.Ĭhris Lott saw it as too thin in terms of plot and character.

Making each thread human means a lot of tiny details. Just too many threads going on simultaneously (but it apparently pays off). D’Arcy Norman found the book too detail-drenched. On Twitter some criticism of the novel appeared. A new report appeared arguing that major chunks of the North American internet will be endangered by rising sea levels within a generation. On the web: one political scientist published a Chronicle of Higher Education column arguing for academics to become climate change activists. Yes, people have been excited about this novel. In this post I’ll offer a summary of the plot so far, followed by observations and questions for reading.īut first, let me pull together commentary and links from readers so far. For all posts on this reading, click here.) (If you’d like more information on the reading plan and schedule, click here. This week begins our online book club‘s reading of Kim Stanley Robinson’s New York 2140.* We’re starting off with the first two parts, “The Tyranny of Sunk Costs” and “Expert Overconfidence.” Please join us in reading!

New york 2140 by kim stanley robinson