From the Bookshelf of Discourse in a Digital Age…

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Dexter Palmer

Start date: August 9, 2018

Finish date: September 12, 2018

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Mar 07, 2018 Kenneth Hardcastle rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction, time-travel, ebook

Rebecca feels like something is wrong in her life. She has drifted away from her husband Philip in mutual grief, but that’s not the whole story. Everything just seems slightly off in a bizarre way. She sees fleeting visions of the life she should have had. She looks at the President and knows that he’s the wrong person (in a metaphysical way, not a political way). Meanwhile, Philip is a physicist working on a Causality Violation Device. He’s trying to prove that it’s possible to briefly cheat th Rebecca feels like something is wrong in her life. She has drifted away from her husband Philip in mutual grief, but that’s not the whole story. Everything just seems slightly off in a bizarre way. She sees fleeting visions of the life she should have had. She looks at the President and knows that he’s the wrong person (in a metaphysical way, not a political way). Meanwhile, Philip is a physicist working on a Causality Violation Device. He’s trying to prove that it’s possible to briefly cheat the laws of physics and have matter exist in multiple places at once, in a way. It’s kinda like time travel… but don’t say that to him. These threads blend together with a variety of fascinating characters in an original and thought-provoking novel.

The book seems to take place in the near future, maybe 10-15 years from now, when today’s millennials are entering middle age. Palmer masterfully describes the intersection of technology use and social interaction among today’s twenty-somethings. I felt as though my life (relatively traditional and technophobic for my age though it may be) was right there on the page. It is a perfect encapsulation of growing up at the forefront of the digital age. As somebody who hates the arbitrary nature of generation labels and the stereotypes that inevitably come with them, I somehow loved this aspect of the novel.

Palmer applies the same critical thought to the advance of technology. The world of the novel is populated with a variety of usual suspects for the near-future - self-driving cars, big data overreach, and crazy science (see above: time travel). Instead of just sticking them in because the setting is supposed to be futuristic, Palmer thinks through the consequences of including these things in his world, and weaves these consequences seamlessly into the plot.

Finally, the characters were fully-formed and fascinating in their strengths and flaws. The characters, especially Rebecca, drive the novel far more than any simplistic plot ever could. The science fiction went far over my head at points, and the characters had an annoying tendency to speak in lengthy monologues, especially the physicists. All told, though, I enthusiastically endorse this book for anybody who wants to see what speculative fiction can do.
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Sep 03, 2018 Teresa rated it it was ok

I think the book was to long. I really liked some parts of it at others I just wanted to skip through. The idea was good. I liked the idea of the government taking control of the CVD at the end and even the different versions of history was ok. But overall, there was a lot that was just unnecessary to the story and not that interesting.

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May 26, 2016 Julia marked it as to-read

Shelves: spotted-library-journal

Aug 28, 2018 Anne rated it liked it

Shelves: digital-discourse, 2018

Aug 08, 2018 Readridinghood is currently reading it

Shelves: discourse-digital-decision

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