Playground by Richard Powers: A review

I must confess up front that I had a very hard time with this book. I read it during and just after this month's election and I was distracted, finding it hard to think about anything other than the election and the enormous blunder that the voters in this country have just made. So, I can't say I really gave the book the attention that it deserved and now find it hard to comment on what I read. But I'll give a try.

The setting of the book is the French Polynesian island of Makatea. It is a tiny atoll in the middle of the Pacific and at the time that the book's action takes place its people are considering a life-changing proposal for their island home. We experience the story through the eyes of four people on the island.

First is Evie Beaulieu who, as a twelve-year-old, tested one of the world's first aqualungs under the eyes of her father in their backyard swimming pool. It was the start of her love affair with the ocean and she now spends her life submerging herself into the depths of that ocean to study the ecology and the creatures there.

Second are friends Rafi Young and Todd Keane. As teenagers the two attended an elite Chicago high school where they bonded over playing board games. Rafi went on to be mesmerized by the world of literature while Todd became an entrepreneur whose work will lead to a major breakthrough in artificial intelligence.  

Finally, there is Ina Aroita who grew up on naval bases across the Pacific and for whom art was her way of seeing and dealing with the world.

Makatea was once a main source of phosphorous which helped to fertilize crops and feed the world. Now it has been chosen for a new project that will send floating, autonomous cities out onto the open sea. But before that can happen, the island's citizens must vote on whether they will allow their home to used in this way. If they refuse to greenlight the project then the seasteaders will have to come up with another plan.

Richard Powers' descriptions of Makatea and its people are awe-inducing and made it really hard to put the book down. The result was that I zipped right through the 389 page tome. His writing is beautiful as he explores themes of technology and its impact on the environment and how it all influences humanity. After reading The Overstory, a rare five-star read for me, and Bewilderment, a four-star read, I was expecting quite a lot from Powers' latest book. I was not disappointed.