Antarctica 35
| Antarctica | |
| author | Kim Stanley Robinson |
| pages | 672 |
| publisher | Bantam Books |
| rating | 7/10 |
| reviewer | Duncan Lawie |
| ISBN | 0553574027 |
| summary | Compelling description in a slow moving work from the master of hyper-real science fiction. |
The situation described at the outset of Antarctica, set a few decades into the future, is a natural progression from the current day. Antarctica is already a home to scientific communities and is becoming a playground for adventurers and the rich. The most remote continent is attracting increasing interest as money and technology bring it within reach. The nature of the Antarctic environment is being affected by human activity in the rest of the world. This, in turn, may also affect us profoundly. These topics are as relevant in Michigan and Melbourne as at McMurdo Station. From these present realities the author attempts to build a gentle plot of science, tourism, ecoterrorism and the value of the last continent to the future of our planet.
KSR seems more interested, however, in the continent itself and its effects on those who spend time there. The novel exhibits in all its characters the profound effect that Antarctica has on those who fall into it's grasp. Wherever else in the world they might go, they are drawn back. Whether they wish to exploit it's wealth or preserve it's austere beauty they are under a spell where simply being in Antarctica makes life more real. Whether shepherding idiot tourists or measuring the compass orienation of random pebbles, these are merely the price paid to be truly alive.
Much of the novel is a travelogue. Sweeping descriptions - the view from above what is now McMurdo Station, the arrival at the South Pole - are reminiscent of Sara Wheeler's travel book Terra Incognita. There are parallels between one protagonist's activities in the Dry Valleys and KSR's own visit as part of the US Antarctic Program's Artists and Writers Program. It is the descriptive aspect of his writing which makes the book worth reading. In fact, KSR writes so convincingly that it can be difficult determine whether what is described is literally true, literally fiction or simply has not yet occurred. Like the Mars trilogy, the writing is such that, looking back, much of what has been read feels like profound personal experience. This is the greatest success of KSR's 'maximalist' style of writing. However, at times the plot slows visibly in order to accommodate the detail. The plot is a servant of exposition and discussion rather than an animator.
An example of this is lengthy discussion of early explorers, principally Scott, Shackleton, and Amundsen who, KSR suggests, form the only shared culture of the continent. It is hardly surprising that this is so: many of the familiar Antarctic places are named by them or for them; they managed several of the final big 'firsts' possible on this planet; they are from the last age of heroes and their stories, though debated and rewritten, are powerful. One protaganist's journey across the ice is a metaphor for coming to terms with both the myth and the reality of the "old boys".
There is a temptation to attempt to fit KSR's works into a single future history. Antarctic science is used in the Mars program. This is as true in the real world as it is in KSR's writing. Antarctica is thematically in accord with the Mars trilogy: there is the intense interest in science and concern for ecological questions; there is a warm, human perspective; there is a cold and unforgiving world. However, this need only mean that this is the work of the same man. He didn't actually visit Antarctica until after the Mars trilogy was virtually finished but, like many of his characters, he wants to go back. This may explain why the novel fits better into the genre of Antarctic writing than into the science fiction genre. There is a danger in this book that the reader may be similarly mesmerised by the ice. Antarctica is a continent that almost no-one initially experiences first-hand and this taste is as honest as any. In a certain sense the novel has been a success if it leads the reader on to Apsley Cherry-Garrard's The Worst Journey in the World and the many books, good and bad, lined up behind that masterpiece.
Pick this book up at Amazon.
Re:Good, but too derivative of Mars (Score:1)
One reviewer (Evelyn C. Leeper) referred to the book as "White Mars".
Interestingly, there is a forthcoming book called White Mars written by Brian Aldiss, which is supposedly his response to the Robinson Mars trilogy.
Put it on you "to read" list (Score:1)
-Derek
Re:Mars Trilogy Didn't Grab Me (Score:1)
It ain't literature, but that's fine by me.
--Krit
Re:Mars Trilogy Didn't Grab Me (Score:1)
--J(K)
Re:Good, but too derivative of Mars (Score:1)
At Page 126 Right Now (Score:1)
I finished Red Mars with effort. Long stretches of it read like a travelogue or an ebullient geography (oops, areography) text. While it was fascinating technically, it quickly became tedious. Nevertheless, I liked the concept, and after finishing it, started Green Mars... but never finished that second book. It simply failed to grab me; I put it down one evening, and there it laid until I put it on the bookshelf three weeks later. I found Greg Bear's Moving Mars much more riveting and equally well thought out.
Antarctica so far is noticeably tighter than KSR's "areology," with equally good character development (which I happen to relish), and only short passages of geographic pedantry. It's exceptionally well researched, and I enjoy the accounts of the first Antarctic explorers (madmen, indeed). KSR's vision of the future of megacapitalism strikes me as astute, and more than just plausible. So far, the plot is developing well, and the first chapter really grabs you...
Re:Good, but too derivative of Mars (Score:1)
Consciousness is not what it thinks it is
Thought exists only as an abstraction
Re:Almost a year to the day... (Score:1)
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Lake Effect [wwa.com], a weblog
Can't be. (Score:1)
I know that there is a movie named Antarctica with a great soundtrack by Vangelis.
That sounds like Antarctica (1983) [imdb.com], a (true?) story about two scientists returning to rescue their sled dogs in 1958. Since it came out about 15 years before Kim Stanley Robinson's novel, which is set in the near future, I don't think they're related!
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Lake Effect [wwa.com], a weblog
Re:Good, but too derivative of Mars (Score:1)
Red Mars says nothing good about the human condition, unhappiness and senseless destruction are whe watchwords here. It made me almost sorry to be human.
Re:Mars Trilogy Didn't Grab Me (Score:1)
Currently I'm finishing reading KSR's California trilogy after reading the Mars trilogy. I'm inclined to say Pacific Edge is one of his best and you can see a lot of his ideas in the Mars series germinating here - hell there's even a Hiroko!
Antarctica the movie (Score:1)
I have three questions:
1. Is that related to this book in any way?
2. Has anyone seen the movie?
3. Is it any good?
Mars Series (Score:1)
Antartica will be one of my next reads, as I have become so enamored with his writing style in the Mars series.
Almost a year to the day... (Score:1)
http://slashdot.org/books/98/10/08
Re:Good, but too derivative of Mars (Score:1)
Did I mention the Mars based science fiction novel I'm writing. In the future, Mars is such a desolate, unpleasant place, it's populated like Australia was, with criminals. Hence the name
"Mars Bars"
George
Re:His First Series... (Score:1)
I liked "The Gold Coast" a lot, though there wasn't alot of science fiction in it, substitute computer driven cars for today's freeway and you have a novel of modern LA, sort of a kinder, more detailed "Less Than Zero", though that's faint praise.
I didn't get into "The Wild Shore", it was an adequate alternative history, but I prefer my alternative histories in the "Mad Max" vein, the schlumping around in the dirt dreaming of past glories bored me.
I also like KSR's "Escape from Kathmandu", he should have taken some of that humor and leavened Antartica and Mars with it, though the sandwhich paragraph was funny, in a biting way.
George
Mars Trilogy Didn't Grab Me (Score:1)
If I had to use one word to describe the book it would be pedantic. Stanley, in an overwrought quest to give his characters distinct personalities reached new heights in minutiae. Page after nauseating page of character development left me in a catatonic state of boredom.
Stanley was so unimaginative that he describes his characters as being less than enthused when they get to within spitting distance of Mars. They were the first people to ever reach Mars, for crying out loud!!! Show a little excitement why don't you ?!?
I usually respect the opinions of geekdom but I think most people "like" this book because they think they have to to keep their geek cards from being revoked.
Re:Mars Trilogy Didn't Grab Me (Score:1)
I'm currently reading Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson and I've finally found a "cyberpunk" novel deserving of its praise. I can't wait to read the next 100 pages. While reading Neuromancer and attempting to read Red Mars, I never quite got that feeling.
Re:Been there, done that (Score:1)
Stan is right about Antarctica grabbing you and not letting go. I've been trying to arrange a return for several seasons, unsuccessfully for several reasons. While I missed the snowmobile incident (it happened right before I arrived), my favorite anecdotal part of the book was the description of the dance. I didn't realize he was *at* that dance. .
ObShamelessSelfPromotion: read about Stan's visit and life on the Ice at Penguin Central [penguincentral.com]. -ethan
The Works of KSR (Score:1)
I've been reading his books for a while now (since Red Mars came out in paperback), and I have to say nothings come up to the Mars trilogy. You could tell he's put alot of his life into researching, thinking and dreaming about how colonising Mars could have gone, and how science will change. There are parts of the book that we're a tad to slow.Theyhad alot of description, that almost put me off reading the rest (and stoped friends who I forced the books onto).
This didn't stop me queuing up to get Blue Mars in hardback to come out, and to meed the man and get the book signed (I really wanted that "University of Mars" tshirt he had).
I read his older books (could only ever find two of the Orange County trilogy books) and wasn't best impressed. I read Icehenge and binned it (sorry, but It was trash, imho). I egerly awaited his next book, Antartica..
I read it, and was struck how it was the Mars trilogy, without the interesting people, and too much talking about the landscape again. I mean I'm not adverse to it, but you need something more to happen..
But at least The Martians put him back on form again...
Re:Good, but too derivative of Mars (Score:1)
Did *I* mention the dystopian sci-fi novel I'm writing, where a gender-related disease (a la Frank Herbert's The White Plague) forces everyone to live on nearby planets, except when they visit Earth to reproduce?
It's called "Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus".
Its accurate (Score:1)
As someone who was down at the South Pole base and McMurdo, I have to say that this book is really very good in its description of culture and environment down there. I was really surprised at just how well it represented these aspects.
If you'd like to see what it is like at the southpole at the moment, follow the AASTO cam link from my homepage http://danielmarlay.homepage.com [homepage.com]
His First Series... (Score:1)
I enjoyed The Mars Trilogy Immensely, Antartica Was okay, nothing great storyline wise, i was actually hoping it would be the story of the mars charachters 2 months in Antartica.
However i found Getting into his first series very difficult, and eventually gave up halfway through the first book.
Anyway my $.02, Oblisk
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Re:Good, but too derivative of Mars (Score:2)
The only problem is that everyone believes in a different utopian Mars.
As I've said, the trilogy is a roman à clef for the ecological debates on Earth today. On Earth, you make a small change and it may take years to see an effect. On Mars, you make that change and almost immediately you can judge it. It's both laboratory and metaphor.
While Robinson is no dystopic sf writer, he's clearly telling us that we take ourselves with us when we travel to other places/planets, and taht our motivations for simple actions can be deep and complex, with wide-ranging unforeseen consequences. This is a truth about life, and a lesson in living with a coherent ecosystem like Mars
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Lake Effect [wwa.com], a weblog
Been there, done that (Score:2)
I have to agree that while Antarctica is a good read, it has too much similarity to the Mars series.
If you liked Mars, you'll like the style of Antarctica. He captures the essence of life on The Ice, including amusing real-world anecdotes. I chuckled greatly over "The Snowmobile Incident", which ocurred while I was in McMurdo.
He's right on the money -- if you've ever been there, it will forever beckon you. Something Zen about the beauty of emptyness.
Summary: Typical KSR style. Very similar to Mars. You'll like it if you liked Mars. You might like it more if you _didn't_ read Mars.
*** (three stars) (Score:3)
The Mars trilogy has its fans and its anti-fans. Still, it was a downhill slope: If you didn't really like _Red Mars_, you were not likely to enjoy Green and Blue at all. I enjoyed the deep politics, but even I -- an admitted political junkie -- found it tedious by the end of the trilogy. Still, there was enough character development, travelogue, and hard-sf detail to keep me reading.
Antarctica is both tighter and lighter than the Mars books. KSR has clearly worked to insert more fun and tone down the political theory. The characters are less complex and more accessible, while not losing their personality or individual motivations. The storyline moves along at a much faster pace, clearly inspired by the recent trend of high-altitude/low-temperature adventure stories (Into Thin Air [amazon.com], Endurance [amazon.com], Across the Top of the World [amazon.com], et al.). I've read a lot of those, and so I was well-versed in the early history of Antarctica to which KSR frequently refers. It's good to read this book with a map and a couple of reference works close at hand, ideally with a photographic work to ground you to the experience. I looked up a LOT of Antarctic web pages in the process (start with The Ice [theice.org]), and I even looked at the _Lonely Planet_ guide to the continent [amazon.com] -- yes, an Antarctic travel book.
Even if you didn't like Red Mars much, this book touches on many of the same themes in a much more immediate, action-oriented adventure context. In the same way that the Mars trilogy was really a roman à clef for the ecological arguments currently swirling about how to manage the Earth*, Antarctica contains thoughtful lessons to absorb for our very near future.
In short, this is basically _Red Mars_ aimed at a wider audience, successfully. It's not as deep as the trilogy, but that's a good thing. Whereas the trilogy is, in any practical sense, unfilmable (cf. LoTR), this would make a really fun 2-hour movie.
* and if you didn't read that into it, try thinking that one over and picking the books up again -- especially if you were bored!
[GETTING REALLY PISSED OFF as I hit "Preview" three times in a row and got "Error" three times in a row. Slashdot and proxy servers simply do not mix.]
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Lake Effect [wwa.com], a weblog
Good, but too derivative of Mars (Score:3)
The Ferals: Ok, we got people living low impact close to the environment lives on Mars, we get them in Antartica. Cute, but not sustainable for huge amounts of populations.
The "cut off from authority for x hours" device. In Mars, they blow the elevator to cut themselves off from Earth's authority. In Antartica, a convenient storm keeps the US Navy away until the NSF, eco-tuers and contract workers can all hammer out an agreement.
The "we're too busy too sleep, we'll work for 100 hours straight". Granted that it is science fiction, but I've been up for about 60 hours straight and was pretty nonfunctional by the 60 hours. I have trouble believing all these people (X, Wade, Frank, Nadia) would be perky, and skillfully handling heavy equipment after after being up so long. Then again, I didn't try amphetamines.
The "wacky Russian". In Mars, it was Arkady, who was very entertaining, KSR shouldn't have killed him off. In Antartica, it was the Russian ice sailing dude.
The "long dangerous trek in a harsh environment". In Mars, it was Ann, Frank, Maya, et all escaping from the dome in the stealth rover, in Antartica it was Wade, Val, X et all escaping in the hovercraft.
All in all, a good read, but I wonder if KSR used too much sed to write it.
I'm also finding KSR's characterizations not as good as they used to be, I found the characters in "The Gold Coast" a lot more human.
Hey, I should write a review of "The Gold Coast", though it's not very
George
Fact or fiction? (Score:3)
Where it falls down, though, is in the plot department: this just isn't a good piece of fiction. The conflicts are interesting enough (commercial exploitation vs. scientific research vs. environmentalists vs. politics vs. some very odd people indeed), but none of these things are fully explored. Instead it just sort of fizzles out with a totally unsatisfying "but then we had enough pages written, so they all decided that none of the problems were really problems at all,
and lived happily ever after". Ah well, this book works as a description of places and people rather than events. I just wish he could have backed off enough to admit that and leave out the convoluted now-we-will-change-the-world elements altogether.
In the end, the success of this book is as a wonderful visualisation of what Antarctica is like, and it made me want to go there myself...