An unnamed woman lives on an island that's losing objects, one at a time.
As the story opens many things - like ribbons, stamps, gems, hats, bells, perfume, candies, and boats - have disappeared. Once an item is gone, the islanders lose all knowledge of it, and no longer recognize it or know its purpose.
Exceptions to residents with mass amnesia are a small number of citizens who can remember everything. One of these 'rememberers' was the woman's mother. When the woman was young, her mother would tell her, "Long ago, before you were born, there were many more things here. That's just the way it is on this island. Things go on disappearing. The island will soon be nothing but absences and holes, and when it's completely hollowed out, we'll all disappear without a trace."
The mother would then allow her daughter to take out a 'vanished' item hidden in a cabinet, and would tell her all about it.
People with intact memories are persona non grata on this island, like Jews in Nazi Germany. Once the 'rememberers' are identified, they're taken away by the Memory Police, and then disappear or turn up dead. Some of these unfortunate folks try to hide, but the Memory Police search for them relentlessly - and cart them off when they're found.
This happened to the woman's mother. Fifteen years ago the mother was told to report to the Memory Police for an interview. Her body was returned a few days later, with a story about a heart attack. The woman's father then passed away also, and she was left all alone except for an elderly family friend called 'the old man.'
As it happens, the woman is an author, and the narrative is interspersed with chapters from her novel. The woman's book is about a girl who's lost her voice, and can only communicate with her boyfriend via typewriter. The woman's manuscript is being carefully vetted by her editor, a man called R.
The woman realizes that R can remember things that have vanished, and she fears for his life. Thus the woman gets 'the old man' to help her fix up a secret room in her house. Reached by a trapdoor from the second floor, the little chamber is kitted out with a bed, a desk, a chair, some shelves, a toilet, a ventilation system, and a string phone made with funnels.
R moves into the room, leaving his pregnant wife behind.
Things on the island continue to disappear, one by one, and the citizens robotically cooperate by burning their corresponding possessions. So when books vanish, the residents burn their literature.
Before long the region is almost bare - with very little food and constantly falling snow.
When photographs vanish - and the woman feels compelled to get rid of her pictures - R implores her, "You don't have to burn your photographs. Important things remain important things. Their essence doesn't change. If you keep them, they're bound to bring you something in return. I don't want to see any more of your memories lost."
The woman responds, "No. Nothing comes back now when I see a photograph They're nothing more than pieces of paper."
In fact most of the island residents are really not bothered by the disappearances. They're not frightened and they don't miss the things that are gone.
As the situation on the island worsens, the situation for the mute girl in the woman's book worsens as well.
The tale is almost relentlessly downbeat, though the girl, the old man, and R try to stay cheerful, and even have a tiny birthday party.
For me the authoritarian regime that governs this island is very puzzling. I understand the rationale for fascist leaders in the REAL WORLD - like Hitler and Mussolini - whose aim is to control the population, expand their territory, and increases their influence.
Mussolini (left) and Hitler
The government on the island, however, seems bent on destroying the whole shebang, which seems like a self-defeating goal. But maybe that's the point.....no one actually cares.
The author may not have had this in mind. but the book's theme makes me think of human despoliation of the Earth, global warming, and the extinctions that result. Like the novel's islanders, a segment of the world's population seems indifferent....or even happy to enable the changes for their own advantage and profit. 🥺
The book, originally written in Japanese, has a quieter vibe than dystopian novels by western authors, and is more mysterious. The novel is well worth reading if you're in the mood for something different.
Rating: 3.5 stars
In this 25th book in the comical 'Stephanie Plum' cozy mystery series, the bail enforcement agent gets involved with a series of bizarre abductions. The book can be read as a standalone.
*****
Stephanie Plum works as a bounty hunter for her cousin Vinnie's bail bond business in Trenton, New Jersey.
Stephanie and her sidekick Lula - a voluptuous former ho - are comically inept at picking up bail jumpers, but usually get the job done in the end.
As the story opens, Stephanie stops by the bail bond office to get new 'skips' when Vinnie announces that his father-in-law, a mobster called Harry the Hammer, needs a manager for the Red River Deli he's just acquired.
The previous managers have disappeared, one after another, and someone has to run the place. So Stephanie is appointed manager, and Lula is made assistant manager - jobs they're supposed to do in addition to bounty hunting.
Stephanie and Lula are concerned about working in the deli because they don't want to join the ranks of the 'disappeared.' All of the missing deli managers seem to have been abducted, with a single shoe being left behind in each case.
Lula speculates that the managers were beamed up by aliens, but a more earthly explanation seems likely. So Stephanie's two guys, her boyfriend Joe Morelli (a Trenton cop) and her sexy friend Ranger (a security expert), work out a plan to keep her safe. Stephanie has been vacillating between these two hotties for the entire series, and the triangle has gotten old (to say the least).
The deli employees are an amusing bunch of recreational drug users who work hard and claim to know nothing about the abductions. Being careful of their own safety, they refuse to throw out the trash since the kidnappings occurred in the dumpster area. This is a bonanza for raccoons, roaches, and rats, which abound in the run down neighborhood. 😝
To add to the mayhem a murder occurs, and the victim appears to be connected to the abductions. The rapidly escalating situation leads to an all out search for the kidnappers by the cops, Ranger, and an oddball illusionist called Wulf - who knows one of the abductees.
The story has few of the series' signature shenanigans, with minimal appearances by Stephanie's Grandma Mazur and no bombs. Most of the laughs come from Lula, who - given sandwich making responsibilities at the deli - ignores the actual orders and makes her own creations. So if you order tuna salad on whole wheat, you're likely to get sliced chicken with hot sauce on a hamburger bun.
As usual, Stephanie and Lula make a hash of catching bail jumpers; Lula self-soothes with donuts and fried food; and Stephanie gives her hamster Rex peanuts and affection. Same old, same old.
I got a few laughs from the story but it's not nearly as funny as the best books in the series. Still, if you're a Stephanie Plum fan you might like it.
Rating: 3 stars
As the story opens the moon explodes into a number of big chunks for reasons that are unclear, though most likely it was hit by some space object.
The shock and awe among Earth's human population is soon exacerbated when scientists announce that the moon chunks will inevitably collide with each other, break up into smaller and smaller pieces, and - in two years time - begin to rain down on the Earth. This 'hard rain' will last five thousand years and destroy the entire surface of the planet.
In an effort to preserve the human race, world leaders and scientists plan to construct a space habitat for a couple of thousand people - with the International Space Station (ISS) as the hub. The book is almost 900 pages long and approximately the first three-quarters describes, in great detail, the construction of this habitat. This part of the book is very technical and (for me) hard to picture.
My overall impression is that people would live in roundish space pods, each about the size of a trailer home, that can attach to and detach from the ISS and each other. This would allow the pods to move about to avoid being hit by space debris. It would also enable them to connect to each other and rotate, to generate a gravitational field.
The space habitat would need to generate food, oxygen, and energy. It would also need to house a huge amount of tools, medicine, scientific equipment, technology, and so on. The habitat would also include a chromosome bank to preserve the genomes of plants, animals, and humans left behind on Earth.
The long range plan is, when the Earth becomes habitable in five thousand years, it will be repopulated by the descendants of the space people as well as other living things generated from the genome bank.
Naturally there's some drama attached to the selection of the tiny percentage of people who will be sent aloft, since everyone else would die. The author doesn't really address what would happen among those destined to be left behind. He seems, in fact, to suggest they would (for the most part) benignly accept their fate. This seems completely unrealistic. Then again, covering this issue would probably be another book.
Meanwhile there's plenty going on during the construction of the space habitat. As always when there are more than five people involved in an undertaking, politics rears it ugly head. Thus things don't proceed according to plan and lots of unexpected things happen. I don't want to give away spoilers so I'll just say that - after many many pages - the hard rain starts and life in space commences.
Jump ahead five thousand years and the descendants of the original humans in the space habitat - now numbering several billion people divided into seven races - start to terraform and return to Earth.
Inevitably, given human nature, the races are divided into the equivalent of two "countries" called Red and Blue. These are somewhat reminiscent of the old Soviet Union and the United States. There's tension between Red and Blue, and wars and peace treaties result - much as occurred on Earth before time zero (when the moon exploded).
In the last part of the book a group of seven people, including an individual from each race, are sent down to Earth on a scouting expedition. Their mission is to investigate some odd sightings and to see what's what down there. This leads to the climax of the book and perhaps presents some hope for the future of humankind.
I'm not quite sure how I feel about this book. The premise is fascinating, and the author - who clearly did a phenomenal amount of research - seems to cover every aspect of what's required to make a successful space habitat. The details of constructing the habitat, however, are overly long, detailed, and tedious. For me, the human interactions in the habitat are more interesting.
I also feel that the story becomes more compelling toward the end, when the new human races are preparing to go back to Earth. There are a few surprises in the story, which some readers might anticipate.
Director Ron Howard is making a movie adaptation of the book, which I look forward to.
It might provide visual images of technical details that are hard to follow when described in scientific jargon. It should also provide a picture of the new races - which seem to be significantly different from modern humans.
I'm not sure the average reader would enjoy this book but I'd certainly recommend it to fans of 'hard' science fiction. In any case, this book could definitely generate lots of intelligent, engaging conversations at book clubs, dinner tables, and parties.
Rating: 3.5 stars
This is the second book in the "44 Scotland Street" series. It can be read as a standalone.
In these lighthearted stories, Alexander McCall Smith recounts the activities of a diverse circle of folks who live in Edinburgh's "New Town" neighborhood. Many of the characters live in apartments at 44 Scotland Street - and others are their friends and acquaintances.
*****
The most endearing character in the book is little Bertie Pollock, a six-year-old boy whose mother embarked on 'the Bertie project' as soon as he was born. Bertie's mum Irene immerses herself in the literature of child psychology; rejects gender-specific appurtenances; and is determined to make Bertie the best that he can be.
Thus Bertie is in therapy with a psychoanalyst;
Has a pink room and pink dungarees;
Goes to a floatarium; takes Italian classes;
Has saxophone lessons;
Goes to yoga; and is restricted from having friends.
In this book Bertie starts kindergarten, which gets him out of Irene's clutches for a bit. Still, Bertie dearly wishes he could play rugby; go to a classmate's birthday party; watch trains; go fishing; wear jeans; and so on. To these ends Bertie makes a few sly maneuvers and gets some help from his father Stuart, who FINALLY decides to be a more assertive husband and better dad.
All this gets young Bertie into a pickle or two, but he has some fun and even meets Glasgow gangster Lard O'Connor - who takes quite a shine to the lad.
*****
Matthew Duncan is a well-meaning young man who's failed at one business after another, all of them financed by his multi-millionaire father. Matthew is currently running an art gallery, which - miracle of miracles - is actually showing a profit.
Matthew now has other troubles however. His father has a new girlfriend, a 'younger woman', and Matthew is certain she's a shameless gold digger. During dinner with the couple Matthew behaves badly, leading to a showdown with his dad (which made me laugh).
Mr. Duncan Sr. is nobody's fool, though, and events take an unexpected turn.
*****
Pat McGregor is a university student who's platonic roommates with handsome narcissistic Bruce Anderson. Pat is very busy these days. She's preparing for classes; working part-time in Matthew Duncan's art gallery; having dinners with her concerned father; and hanging out with her neighbor, anthropologist Domenica MacDonald - who's thinking of going off to study sea pirates.
Domenica takes it upon herself to do a spot of match-making, which gets Pat invited to a nudist picnic.
*****
Good-looking Bruce Anderson, who never passed a mirror he didn't like, has lost his job as a surveyor. Bruce thinks about getting a job in a wine shop, but - in his usual egotistical fashion - decides he'll hit up a university friend for a BIG investment and open his own spirits store.
Bruce doesn't know much about the wine business, however, which leads to an unexpected turn of events.
*****
Artist Angus Lordie, like all residents of Scotland Street, frequently stops by Big Lou's coffee bar for refreshments and conversation. Angus's dog Cyril, who has a gold tooth, accompanies his owner everywhere, and fantasizes about biting people's ankles.
In this book Angus finally gets to nip someone (after being sorely provoked), and everyone on Scotland Street gets a big laugh.
*****
Lawyer Ramsey Dunbarton, who's led an uneventful life, decides to write up his boring (to other people) remembrances. Ramsey chivies his wife Betty into listening to him narrate the memoirs, which she finds very soporific. (And so does the reader.)
*****
Some of my favorite scenes in the story are Bertie's therapy sessions with his psychoanalyst, Dr. Fairbairn. Bertie thinks Dr. Fairbairn is crazy, and is certain he'll be carted off to a mental institution any minute. This is hilarious....as are many other moments in the book.
I'd recommend the book to readers who enjoy humorous stories.
Rating: 3.5 stars
