The Three Body Problem, by Liu Cixin and Ken Liu, 4 stars

[NancyJ]

The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, translated by Ken Lui, is part historical fiction, part science fiction, with some science history. This is considered “hard science fiction” which is outside my comfort zone, but I found the book engaging, thought-provoking, and sometimes brilliant. It took me a little while to see how all the pieces fit together, but eventually it all came together. Some of the science went over my head, but much of it was also very familiar – Newton’s laws, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, Galileo, etc. Some of the imagined scientific developments, such as "unfolding" multidimensional protons, were described so beautifully and imaginatively that it gave me a little thrill. I want to read about them again.

This book was a sci-fi hit in China, and became popular in the US when it was translated by Ken Liu (whose short stories are popular here). It has won or been nominated for several sci-fi awards. I found it on Obama’s Reading list, and there is a Netflix show in development (by some of the people who made Game of Thrones).

The story is primarily set in China during two time periods - the cultural revolution and present day. During the cultural revolution, many scientists were deemed traitors if they taught material (such as Einstein’s Theory of Relativity) that does not fit with the new values. A young scientist observes her father beaten to death, and she is also branded a traitor over a paper about the environmental ideas in Silent Spring. She avoids jail because her expertise is needed for a secret government project. She eventually makes a decision that will have far reaching ramifications for the future world.

Decades later, scientists are now valued as crucial to the future of China, but mysterious things are happening to key scientists on major projects. The search for an answer brings Wang Miau to a virtual reality game called Three Body Problem, which many of the scientists had played. As strange things begin to happen in his life, he becomes obsessed with the game. This game is a story within the story, about a distant planet with three suns that create unpredictable extremes of temperature and near-extinction level destruction. The game allows players to propose models or solutions to help the planet. We meet historical figures such as Chinese emperors, Copernicus, Galileo, and Einstein. [Eventually, someone gets the idea that the Trisolarans should move to a planet like ours with mild and predictable weather. :D I thought this was a nice twist on sci-fi stories that show earthlings seeking other planets to escape Earth’s climate destruction.]

The writing is very clear and engaging, but the relationships between many of the characters feel emotionally distant. Some reviewers mentioned difficulty connecting with the characters. I don’t know if that reflects the national culture, hard science fiction writing in general, or simply the author’s style.

I mentioned that this is outside my comfort zone, so why did I read it? Somehow it managed to link to books, topics and goals from last year, this year's plans, and multiple reading challenges. I wanted to read more about China and the cultural revolution, and in my preview of the book I saw references to Einstein and Silent Spring. I liked When We Cease to Understand the World, also on Obama's list, which gave me the (unwarranted?) confidence that I could handle the science. If you like "first contact" stories, you should check this out.

[Karin]

I'm glad you liked this--I am skipping your review now only because I just started this last night and want to read it with no more input. I read the section about the Cultural Revolution last night.

[Theresa]

I liked the Cultural Revolution part of this story best as it really felt alive. That actually taught me a lot about that and the science community in China. I read it with my Feminerdy Book Club last year and we all gave it 3 stars. I thought the science info dumps too many, and wearied of the Three Body Problem game long before the story moved past it. I did think the translation read very smooth
Y, but the jacket blurbs and promos absolutely ruined what was to be a great surprise twist the reader was supposed to learn just as character in book did.