2045

by Peter Seidel

Global warming, environmental degradation, the rapid pace of technological innovation, and the economic stresses of globalization give rise to much speculation about the future. How will these dynamic factors affect society in the coming decades? In this dystopian novel, environmental expert Peter Seidel has created a stark and haunting vision of a world on the near horizon.Carl is a small-town midwestern businessman who is accidentally put into a coma when he receives an inadequately tested vaccine. When he finally regains consciousness, he discovers that it is the year 2045 and his unusual medical story and recovery have turned him into an international celebrity. As he visits family and friends, he finds out that almost everything has gone wrong and the family business he ran thirty-five years ago has disappeared. Carl's fame lands him a job on a seemingly idyllic tropical island with one of the eight giant international corporations that own almost everything. His job is to help promote a soft drink. He is overwhelmed by the unbounded luxury he finds on the island. But he learns that the ethical standards in this strange place are only a front. During a business trip, he discovers something that horrifies him and turns him in a new direction, one beset with life-threatening dangers.Seidel skillfully projects a wide range of current trends into a believable and disturbing near-term future scenario.

346 pages, Paperback

First published March 24, 2009

Reviews

[Keri · Rating 1 out of 5]

The concept of 2045, about a man waking up after a decades-long coma and faced with a world where big corporations rule, water is low, poverty rampant, and terrorism a daily occurrence, is very interesting.

However, the way the story was executed, in terms of writing style, is simply awful. Readers are bombarded by endless dialogue filled with exposition. Instead of showing us the world of 2045, the author relies on dozens of characters to fill us in. As a result, the characters are impossible to keep straight and the prose is dull. The main character is flat and his emotions are stated outright in simple sentences such as "Carl was excited," "Carl was frustrated," or even he was "deeply in love." Also, it doesn't help that the narration frequently jumps between Carl's close third-person point of view to suddenly third-person omniscient. Just as readers are starting to get a sense of Carl's character, the narration switches to the thoughts and feelings of another character, often in the same paragraph.

It is unfortunate because I believe that the book could have made very important statements about the excess, waste, and greed that rules society, but due to its inability to follow even the basic rules of fiction writing, the novel became nearly unreadable and it quickly lost credibility with me.

[Marty Greenwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not really well written but it conveyed its message that short term profits of big business are what is important. Not human interconnection, not real land and water, not a safe climate, but profits

[Pamela · Rating 1 out of 5]

The ideas behind this book was mostly well done, but the execution, the writing, was so awful! It was painful to read some of these sentences. I stopped at one point, but craziness came over me to just finish. That whole what happens?? thing kicked in. The main character, Carl Lauer woke from a 30 year coma to find a different world. This book is a warning, if we don't change some of our ways now, the future will be a disaster. Seidel hits all the high points, for starters: lack of clean water, few jobs available most low paying, and no cheap oil; which means people mainly walk or ride bikes or use expensive public transport. This changes where people live and how. Anyway, the plot was fine, just the writing, oh horrible! I don't encourage anyone to even think about reading this, move on, and forget about this book.

[Amy]

Don't. Bother. This was awful, and if I weren't so obsessive about finishing what I've started, I would not have completed it. The author takes the premise of a modern day Rip van Winkle who falls into an unexplained coma in 2010 and awakens in 2045 to a frightening, futuristic world. The prose is dull and wooden. The ideas are probably sound and extrapolate what global warming, water shortages, overpopulation, etc are doing to our world, but I would rather a completely factual file of charts and statistics. If you really must read an author's fictionalized of the future try Welles, Huxley, Orwell, Burgess -- anybody else.

[Zoe Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

...if you love your family, friends, and humanity in general, I strongly advise you to read this book before you vote for anyone...ask questions, get lots of varied opinions from MANY news outlets, then try to separate the proverbial wheat from the chaff...

[Phyllis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Depressing not even well written. Don't bother.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not a well-written novel. I gave it a 2 rather than a 1 because its speculation about the nature of our future world was intriguing, and I agree with many of the author's concerns.

[Glenetta · Rating 1 out of 5]

Interesting idea but poorly crafted. I couldn't finish it. And that rarely happens with me.