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Chargement... The Birthday Problempar Caren Gussoff
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In the year 2060, the next plague has arrived. MaGo bots, the nanotechnology used for everything from fighting the common cold to radical life extension, have begun to malfunction, latching onto the brain's acetylcholine receptors to cause a permanent state of delirium. The Birthday Problem follows four Seattle survivors: Chaaya Gopal Lee, great-granddaughter of the MaGo programmer, whom the pandemic turns into a killer; 40-something ex-rock star and pharmacy technician Greystone Toussaint, the "King of Seattle"; Alastair Gomez-Larsen, forced to become a blood-smuggler to treat his father's liver disease; and Didi VanNess, a lovesick former-WNBA center and CNA, who tries to win back her wife's heart against a backdrop of madness, death and 30 cats, all named Ira. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyClassification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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As in Gussoff's story collection The Wave, the characters feel real. And the writing is beautiful; in one favorite passage, the nanobots are described as hanging like barnacles on the brain stem.
The novel is chock full of interesting bits of science and history. My favorite character, the King of Seattle, is based on a real historical figure. In the madness of Gussoff's techno-dystopia, he takes the Space Needle as his headquarters. I was also fascinated by the titular Birthday Problem, which refers to humans' tendency to underestimate probability -- in particular, we are surprised that it needs a group of only 23 people to get a 50% probability that two people in the group share a birthday. I had fun seeing how this blind spot leads to the end of the world.
A sociopathic serial killer provides tension in the story, but a lot of my pleasure came from Gussoff's focus on the aspects of dystopia that most writers would overlook. For instance, in the midst of the pandemic, face masks become the normal fashion, despite being ineffective against the nano-plague, and Gussoff plays with the difficulty of deciphering the emotions of a masked person.
I like that the cast includes non-heteronormative characters. The structure of the novel is interesting, perhaps reflecting the structure of the fullerenes/fuckyballs. Overall it's a fun read, and it makes me look forward to Gussoff's next book. ( )