Love is Strange

by Bruce Sterling

They're futurists in love. They don't believe in romantic happy endings.

Farfalla Corrado is a globetrotting Italian witch, trained in Brazilian voodoo. Farfalla can tell real fortunes, see real ghosts and speak real curses. Farfalla doesn't just know the future – she can feel in in the dark, twisted depths of her heart.

Gavin Tremaine is a high-tech Seattle venture capitalist. He can forecast the future, spot its trends, and invest in its business models. Gavin has a big future ahead of him – unfortunately, Gavin knows what that big future holds for the little people.

When their worlds collide, history itself begins to crumble. They already know how this love story is bound to end – and it's not what the other expects.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bruce Sterling lives in Austin, Turin and also Belgrade. He is married to the Serbian feminist and novelist Jasmina Tesanovic.

He is an American science fiction author, best known for his novels and his work on the Mirrorshades anthology, which helped define the cyberpunk genre.

His nonfiction works include The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier; Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years; and Shaping Things.

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Ebooks, Novels, Romance, Fantasy

300 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 27, 2012

About the author

Bruce Sterling is an author, journalist, critic and a contributing editor of Wired magazine. Best known for his ten science fiction novels, he also writes short stories, book reviews, design criticism, opinion columns and introductions to books by authors ranging from Ernst Jünger to Jules Verne. His non-fiction works include The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier (1992), Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years (2003) and Shaping Things (2005).

Reviews

[Michael Burnam-Fink · Rating 3 out of 5]

What happens when a Seattle Venture-Capital Futurist falls in love with a Brazilian-Italian Voodoo Priestess? More to the point, what happens when a Texas Cyberpunk Design Guru married to a Serbian Feminist Novelist decides to write a romance?

The end result of that could only be Love is Strange, which is about what you'd expect; a little clunky, a little awkward, characters that are both totally unbelievable and absolutely real. People like the characters exist; I've met them and they're on the same conference circuit as Chairman Bruce. And occasionally some high quality near-future-past-present-perfect weirdness (the extended rant on Carla Bruni, for example, all of which you can independently verify. On Wikipedia).

As for the book itself, the first act is a little rough, and the final act strange and confusing, but I greatly enjoyed the middle act, as our star-crossed lovers figure out what they're supposed to do with much philosophical angst. It feels a lot like being in love, or at least, I imagine it's a lot like being in love if you're that aforementioned Texan cyberguru pursuing strange witchy European activists.

So why am I only giving this book three stars? First, from a literary perspective I've heard that characters need to grow and change and experience some kind of arc. In Love is Strange, the characters simply react; brilliantly, explosively, and fascinatingly, but without really changing. And they deserve some sort of real introspective moment of clarity, because they represent important modern archetypes. Because the future is being made by poorly dressed cybernetic Seattle accountants and the conflicts between their innate conservatism and demands for ever more Economic Creative Destruction. And the future is mostly going to be lived in by globalized favela-dwelling pop superstar with immense skills and no traditional career prospects. More to the point, The Future (and futurists, and futurismo) are central to the book, and even after reading Gothic High Tech, I'm still not sure what Sterling thinks The Future is. Is it a holy transcendent calling? The province of uber-capitalist TED talk hucksters? Tomorrow's history? An early 20th century Italian art movement obsessed with speed and movement? Maybe it's too much to ask for a single definitive definition, and a (romance) novel is probably not the proper place for this kind of weird philosophy, but I think this central idea deserves more consideration.

I enjoyed this book, being a certified Bruce Sterling acolyte and a 26 year-old futurist with a comparatively dull life (and love-life, natch), but it has some significant problems from both literary and idealistic perspectives.

[Saoki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have very conflicted feelings about this book. I generally liked it and was quite envolved with it at times, but some things just repelled me and other times I found it actually boring (metaphor-explaining dialogues, I'm looking at you). For that, it gets 3 stars.
But this book requires some ranting, so I'll rant.

Bruce Sterling is a great writer, there's no mistaking that. His plots work, his characters, although a bit exaggerated, are multidimensional, motivated beings, he can pull and push at your attention in order to move the story without your notice and he gives you enough of the feeling of a place to make you feel there. So don't get me wrong when I say hated Farfalla with all my heart. She's whiny, fearful, sexist and not at all like a brazilian woman (I would know, since I'm one).
Yep, I'm brazilian. That, by the way, is another problem. I was awash in the tiny little culture-clashing details. Like how he only gave one character a real brazilian name, the other brazilians had either european or african names. Or the robot-speak way in which every portuguese sentence was constructed. Worse: the (wrong) recipe for caipirinha and the fact that he kept calling cachaça "rum" (even though rum is usually made from molasses and cachaça is only made from fermented sucarcane juice. Different things, different tastes).

Of course, the fact that an author gets Brazil wrong in a book has never stopped people from other countries from enjoying it, so think nothing of it. Actually, it wasn't this that stopped me from enjoying it. What stopped me was something else.
I get that he was deconstructing the romance novel, the myth of romantic love, of "one true love". I saw that the characters are exactly what romance characters are, only backwards, and that the paranormal was there as a metaphor, or maybe an in-joke. I understand what he was doing. I just don't understand why he decided to keep some of the most infuriating habits of romance writers, that of changing the point of view to the character that is not in the interesting scene and of solving the secondary plot in the background and then pretending no one really cared, not like they cared about every single obsessive though and discussion between the main couple. The result felt like reading a person's diary, which he on writes on slow, uneventful days.
Sure, those were uneventful days filled with discussions on the future, the past and state of the world (pure Sterling, that. It was a joy to read Gavin's conversations, even if he reminded me of a certain ex-boyfriend), but there was nothing actually happening.

So yeah, I liked the smart in it and disliked the romance in it. Just as expected.

[Alfredo · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a great story with extraordinary pace. Sometimes I wish it would have been more detailed and span. A paranormal romance. Nothing like it.

[Kaethe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Foretelling the future is hard. It's so hard that we award Grand Master status to writers of science fiction who manage to name any one thing that actually comes to pass. It's so hard that Sylvia Browne has made a vast fortune without ever getting one specific prediction right. (To be fair, she is really good at cold reading.)

I mention this because the paranormal here isn't vampires or werewolves running about buff and shirtless. Gavin and Farfalla can predict the future. For him, this means a lucrative career in accountancy in a venture capital firm in Seattle. For her, this means accurate personal fortune-telling of a kind that would make Cassandra squirm. He's a white boy from the US at the top of his game, she's an Italian who grew up in Brazil, and now tries to scrape together an existence as a translator.

And since a romance on its own can be tedious, we have the unlikely addition of a Cosmic Cupid sculpture to be found for a odd US academic, and the backstory of an unusual woman, Am��lie Rives Troubetzkoy, a Virginaian novelist who married first an Astor heir, and then a Russian prince.

There are Futurist conferences, philosophy, fashionable Italians, Brazilian voodoo, Swedish Methodism, steampunk novelists, time travel and state secrets. Although set now, amid the ongoing international financial turmoil, I would expect this to appeal to those who enjoy all the similar sorts of elements of The Diamond Age. Best of all, it's a romance likely to appeal equally to men and women, tech fanciers and artists. It is amusing, quirky, earnest, and charming.

review (e)copy from publisher

Books added to the List that were mentioned in this book: The Innocents Abroad The Quick or the Dead?: A Study, Archie and Amelie: Love and Madness in the Gilded Age

[Andrija · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Stop hacking my romantic narrative!"
I suspect Love is Strange was written as a dare or a bet. The story of a very oddball romance between a Seattle futurist venture capitalist and a Brazilian/Italian translator/witch is Bruce Sterling deconstructing the phrase "Paranormal Romance" in the strangest way possible. He also takes on romantic constructs, faith, family, Sara Palin and futurist conferences. (I agree with Warren Ellis - I think he's trying to get himself uninvited from a few conferences). Reading this felt like watching a modern version of French New Wave films. Heavy in dialog, the characters describe the setting, their feelings, and their ideas in a stream of post-modern consciousness. Phrases like "Level 80 Undead Priestess" become a ritual chant in his dialog. So if you did not like Breathless or Shoot the Piano Player I'd stay away from this book. If, on the other hand, you're in for a very strange tale of love, capitalism and the future this would be a very good stop.

[Marcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

So glad I have a Kindle. Apparently this book is not published in paper at this time. So this science fiction author who usually does not write anything metaphysical or romantic, wrote this fascinating book that mashes up his usual cyberpunk (hacker fic, or whatever we're calling it these days), plus romance, plus psychic stuff, plus the cultures of Brazil and Italy. It may not be the most perfect book but it's so unlike everything else. I can see how the themes in Gothic High-Tech which I just read led to Love is Strange.

[Emanuela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Il Sig. Sterling mi impone di fare una lettura da Settimana Enigmistica, tanti sono gli indizi ai rebus che dissemina nel romanzo a cui dare una soluzione.
Ne ho trovate tre; ce ne sarebbero molte di più che probabilmente si sveleranno mentre guiderò per andare a scuola o mi laverò i denti. Nell'immediato mi accontento e si accontenti il mio lettore a cui consiglio il libro per scovarne altre.
In ordine, dalla più facile alla più difficile:

1- metamorfosi
La protagonista si chiama Farfalla. Nella storia subisce una trasformazione e, come i famosi lepidotteri, attraversa le fasi da bruco che poi si abbozzola nella fase latente di pupa e poi si schiude diventando creatura policroma con quell'aspetto maturo che tutti conosciamo. Bella ma delicata, insicura e conscia della propria fragilità, un po' spaventata da tutti quei poteri che le danno le ali.

2- Sardegna
Il protagonista si chiama Gavin, nome che ha nella nostra isola, credo, intorno al 99% di frequenza sulla popolazione mondiale e a seguire Gavino Ledda di Padre e padrone, con quel genitore un po' troppo dispotico dal quale il protagonista si emanciperà, cosa che succede anche al nostro di Seattle. Ora, non me ne vogliano i sardi, ma noi continentali abbiamo l'idea del maschio insulare come persona caparbia, molto ferma sulle proprie convinzioni, con atteggiamento posturale un po' rigido e quella parlata dove le vocali sono chiuse e le consonanti quasi raddoppiate. Uomini tosti e Gavin lo è.

3- realtà aumentata
Farfalla e Gavin si innamorano, non con la stessa modalità, non con le stesse percezioni, non nello stesso tempo, non negli stessi spazi. L'amore è "strano" (misterioso, che provoca stupore e turbamento), perché trascende ogni riferimento convenzionale -spazio e tempo-, proiettando i protagonisti in dimensioni che altri non vedono in barba al luogo comune che attribuisce cecità alla passione. I due sono già predisposti dalla loro capacità di leggere il presente e di vederne i risvolti futuri in un percorso non lineare e spesso doloroso che li porterà a dover assaggiare anche l'immondo. Ma una volta che indosseranno gli "occhiali di Google" dell'amore, al quale si abbandonano, per loro sarà tutto perfettamente sincronizzato e limpido.

The end (forse)

[Dave Lefevre · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really have no words to describe this book. It actually is different. When I read "Mirrorshades" 20 years ago, I could never have dreamed that Bruce Sterling would ever write a romance. But it isn't a romance novel... not really. It's some new category that hasn't been named. It's a great read.

I am not going to describe the book, but I will make a couple of comments. There is some major allegory going on beneath the surface of this narrative. It has some great commentary about one of the driving conflicts of our technological times: the idea of open technology versus the old, broken down corporate idea of "I.P." In the computer world this plays out as the battle between the corporates (the Microsofts of the world) and the Open Source groups. It doesn't get commented on in the popular press because the corporate media have decided who they like, and it's not the Linus Torvalds-type guys hacking away for fun. Of all the hours I have watched CNN in the past decade, they have mentioned Linux a total of two times, and one of those was a mention that much of their weather equipment used it. This is in a era of half a billion smart phones running Android on a Linux kernel and the technology obsessed media won't even acknowledge the existence of the Open Source movement! In the Internet era, where every user of the Web is a user of Open Source software a dozen times over, its amazing that our proprietary friends can squelch the debate of so-called "Intellectual Property" and Open Source technology to the extent that they do. It's refreshing to see Sterling write a story (and a LOVE story no less) that is partially based on this major tension of our times.

Secondly, Phillip K. Dick is mentioned in an offhand way. A PKD reference always raised my star rating by one. But, seriously, I am still certain that Dick will be, when his literature is properly assessed, considered one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. Dick lives both in the future and the past, and he deserves a place in a book about futurists.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

This reminds me of my favorite Bruce Sterling novel, Distraction. Sterling somehow manages to write a compelling romance even when one of the leads speaks in geek robot voice. It's also a real pleasure to read his brilliant satirical skewerings of the present day and indeed the last 100+ years, and while he may get details wrong he is a lot closer to an informed citizen of the world than most American writers will ever be.

I have seen Sterling speak, and he is kind of a bitter and picky guy, so it's amazing to see that kind of needle like destructive level of insight coupled with some kind of love of the characters and sympathy for humanity, albeit bitter.

I really just could not stop reading this, it was such a pleasure.

There is this cognitive break in the novel where it gets almost metafictional and treads very close to the "too surreal" line for me, but he pulls it off. Its like half a chapter and if you just keep reading it will all become clear and you will get through it. It's very tricky what he's trying to pull off and I think he manages it well for the most part.

RE: the kindle and some other comments here. You don't need a kindle to read this (kindle for PC, or any phone) and if you don't like kindle DRM you can jailbreak this once you have the file, and convert into a pdf or something so you will have it more foreverish.

[Donald Hutchison · Rating 3 out of 5]

i like the idea but it's way too dated with all the sarah palin crap

also brazil is the future

[Donald · Rating 3 out of 5]

only half through and loving it. interestingly, but not surprisingly for Sterling, this is Kindle-only edition. i don't read a lot on the Kindle, but it's kind of unsettling to me that i won't have this on a bookshelf eventually.

this one tailed off in the second half.futurists in love was fun when emphasis was on futurists, second half was kind of nerds in love and, no offense, not that interesting.

[Satrina T · Rating 1 out of 5]

Silly people -to be polite- creating problems where there are none.

Like I said in a review for another book, why would you want to complicate simple things in an already complicated world.

And just when you think things are finally sorting out… In comes the voodoo temple. So, deluded people on heavy drugs or people with the emotional maturity of a three-year-old.

My conclusion is that this is the story of two very disturbed people with serious mental health issues who somehow managed to escape from an asylum sort of clinic or they didn’t manage to do it, and this awful fantasy is their way of coping and eluding their terrible reality.

I started this book in February and only managed to finish it by July because I got sick, and I mean really sick and could barely move so I was stuck with the only book I had within reach.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love conversations in Bruce Sterling books. They irritate my wife, because I feel compelled to read them out loud to her, because I find them so funny, but she doesn't necessarily have context... ah well. The clever comparisons of Italy, Seattle and Brazil are just so fun and interesting. And I enjoy the descriptions of Seattle, which I'm familiar with, and Capri, which I've visited - it makes me want to visit Sao Paolo, although kinda not, too. I had thought I had read everything Bruce Sterling wrote, at least his novels, so I was surprised to find this... and then I learned it was a Kindle exclusive. Which explains things. If you enjoy Bruce Sterling, you will enjoy this!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

By far one of the most unique books I've read. The dialog is really bizarre. I thought the author was Italian, maybe. Or Brazilian. Those are the two countries referenced in the book, along with the US. Just looked him up and he's from Texas. So... The dialog is just really bizarre, I guess.

I'm not sure if it's just because I'm behind in my goal for reading this year or not, but I felt almost frenzied while reading it. I couldn't slow down - I couldn't go back to reread something I didn't quite catch. It wasn't because I was full of suspense...it just wasn't an option. lol!

I'm not sure I'd recommend it, and I don't think I'll ever read it again. But I also don't regret reading it.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been a Sterling fan for years. I discovered him back in the late 80s cyberpunk movement, and followed him into his speculative fiction in the 90s. Love is Strange is... strange. The book is definitely a Bruce Sterling book. Plot, dialogue and pacing all feel like his work, but the paranormal romance is truly a strange new twist.

The book is definitely fun, and was worth reading, though I can't say if a second book in this style would be as enjoyable.

[Squeasel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bruce Sterling's parody of a trashy romance novel was in some ways almost unreadable (he's got to have bet someone he could and would use literally thousands of exclamation points in one book - and the words "future" and "futurist" hundreds of times) yet also oddly entertaining, perhaps because of its continued horrific perversity. It just kept going like a glorious train wreck. I don't even...

(Seriously, I wish I knew how to run a count of the exclamation points in this! Thousands!)

[Konrad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mostly enjoyed the book. The characters are well-drawn, if sometimes a little too sketchy. But what really distracted from my reading pleasure is the very conventional gender roles that permeate all relationships. In contrast to the rather radical, edgy stuff he describes, this is really ... strangely distracting.

[Ray Charbonneau · Rating 1 out of 5]

A good premise, poorly executed. I expected better from Sterling.The first quarter of the book starts out OK but devolves into the characters having ranting monologues at each other. I got sick of that, and checked Amazon, where reviews led me to believe it wasn't going to get better or wrap up many loose ends. Too bad.

[Lanie Tankard · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is strange. Some of the futuristic ideas are interesting, as well as the societal observations, but bottom line? Embarrassingly simplistic dialogue, rampant typos, and a plot that should have been tossed. I expected better—from both Bruce Sterling and Amazon ebooks.

[Chuk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Bruce Sterling and this touches on a few of his common themes, but it also kind of wanders around and seems to drop a lot of plot threads. Gets pretty talky in places too Glad I read it but not some of his best work.

[Anja Regine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no idea if this is a pastiche, a parody, a satire or some kind of eccentric combination of all of the above. I am pretty sure it is unreadable on purpose, but it IS STILL completely unreadable. Oh my GOD.

[Kbuxton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried reading this but couldn't finish it. I usually like Sterling but for some reason the writing style on this one was driving me batty

[Chris Conway · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Didn't want it to end.

[Gabriel Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly, I thought the writing was terrible... but I kept reading. Overall, I enjoyed this book, it led me to an insight and for that I'm grateful. Recommended.

[Florin Pitea · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tongue-in-cheek reimagining of paranormal romance. Recommended. For a detailed review, please visit my blog: http://tesatorul.blogspot.ro/2013/12/....

[Carrie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this!

[Vivek · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kind of boring. I abandoned it after reading 30% of it.

[Pedro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Irregular.

[Gianluca Insolvibile · Rating 1 out of 5]

Trama inconsistente, personaggi ottusi, dialoghi che sembrano scritti da un dodicenne. Se vi piaceva lo Sterling di "La matrice spezzata" state alla larga. Anzi, state alla larga in ogni caso.