Play Book Tag discussion

Playground - Powers
Audio performance with multiple narrators
5 stars

I’ve effectively read this book twice now, going back and forth in the various storylines, putting the pieces together. I’m still trying to figure it out. I’m still thinking about this book. I probably will continue to think about it for a long time.

The structure of this book is somewhat like The Overstory. The emphasis is not on trees, but the ocean, with much wonderful description of marine life. There are four main characters whose lives overlap in one way or another. Each one has a complete back story. These are intense character studies of flawed people. All of the social, political, and environmental problems of the mid-20th century to what is probably the mid 21st century seems to be represented in these four, very human, realistic characters. (view spoiler)[ I feel that this book is really about four broken human beings on a broken planet. I wonder if Powers would agree with my pessimistic interpretation. (hide spoiler)]

I was fascinated by this book. I love that its ambiguous ending confuses me. I’ll definitely keep thinking about this book.

I loved this book! Glad to see you did too!

I love your analysis of it. I’ll have to think about which big issues align with each person.

I had to do a lot of rereading too. I just finished Cloud Cuckoo Land, which required the same thing. I think it’s going to be that kind of year, as the more complex books seem more meaningful to me.

On the AI issue (view spoiler)[ I didn’t catch it at first, but I liked how the tech guy gave us hints that AI is often guilty of plagiarism. I found a book online that could have inspired the story about the female scientist he admired as a child. (hide spoiler)]