Customer Reviews

The Memory of Whiteness: A Scientific Romance

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I would consider this one of the all around best works of modern fiction. The depth and breadth of the worked that Robinson creates is truly a wonder. Few writers can successfully juggle the complex ideas contained within this book and still present a coherent story.

When I started this novel I feared that the level of music theory and physics was going to overshadow the story and make for a dry and boring read. By the end of the third chapter I realized that I was hopelessly hooked and couldn't put the book down. This was not due to an attachment to characters but rather an involvement in the world that I have rarely felt.

Let's just hope that no one gets the bad idea to try and make a movie.

Calling Robinson a stream-of-consciousness author may be unkind, thanks to the label's attachments... let's rather peg KSR as a stream-of-ideas craftsman.

Those that made their way thru the Mars trilogy and called the journey pleasant will testify that what kept them entranced was not any certain traditional literary technique, but instead a technique possibly unique to KSR himself. KSR builds rich gardens, scenes built on pure thought and ideas, realistic enough and utterly fascinating, and then allows his characters to wander within for awhile. We never are fully guided through any of these idea gardens, but as we close the book, we realize that he has left a meta-map of 5 or 6 of these for our minds to explore later. Asimov may have created 1 or 2 of these idea gardens (psychohistory, as one), but KSR does it repeatedly. It is a totally unique experience in literature.

Speaking to The Memory of Whiteness itself, it is set in the year 3229... that alone speaks volumes, and KSR builds the finest 4th milennium stage I've yet read. You will be guided on a tour of worlds and cultures (KSR also being a fine 'culture creator', another of his distinct footprints), and the entire idea of 'music' will transform before your eyes. The story moves along with good pace, with enough complexity to entice you to read it again, and builds to an ending that will haunt your waking days. So this one certainly deserves an A+.

Robinson is the only human who could possibly write a novel about a recovering drug addict on a mission from God to accurately represent 10th dimensional physics through music. Music lovers will love it, Physics lovers will love it. Simply grand.

I do not include music or physics among my interests, yet I enjoyed MOW. The book really makes you think about the way things are (or appear to be). Since this book is about a musician, and you do read it as opposed to listening to it, the author wonderfully conveys the essence and the power of music. For this alone this book is a must read. After reading of one of the concerts in the book, I was left absolutley floored as the narrative was that powerful. This was the first KSR book I have read. I was very impressed with the connection the author made with me. KSR uniquely addresses the reader at various points throughout the book and that added to my reading experience. Some of the physics theory really slowed me down as I struggled to understand as much as I could. All in all a very engaging and thought provoking work.

A fine example of thinking man's SF a la Clarke, Asimov or Le Guin, this early work by Kim Stanley Robinson compels readers to ponder the nature of space and time, and their relationship to music - the major theme of the story. These themes are skillfully tied together in a very well-written and suspenseful story that takes its characters from one end of the solar system (Pluto) to the other (in orbit around the sun). Incidentally, this latter aspect was particularly well-rendered; Robinson really did a good job of describing what it would be like flying in a spacecraft along the sun's surface and hanging around in a space station just above the its flare zone. The story moves along quickly, and despite the author's exploration of various scientific and philosophical aspects of the nature of existence, he makes no grand statements in the end, leaving readers to ponder these matters and draw their own conclusions. Except for the author's annoying way of addressing the "dear Reader" when speaking in the narrative voice, this is an almost perfect short sci-fi novel.

In the 33rd century Johannes Wright is beginning his tenure as the 9th Master of Holywelkin's Orchestra. The Orchestra allows a single person the ability to produce music as a full symphonic orchestra would. The Orchestra was created by Arthur Holywelkin three hundred years earlier. But the Orchestra was not Holywelkin's primary achievement, indeed, the Orchestra was only created towards the end of his life. Holywelkin is the genius who gave science its greatest gift...a unified theory of everything -- from the vast superclusters of galaxies down to the sub-subatomic, Arthur Holywelkin linked them all mathematically.

Now Johannes Wright sets off on his first Grand Tour of the Solar System. A series of concerts with Holywelkin's Orchestra as the star of the show. Starting off on Pluto, Wright and his companions (the crew that sets up the concerts) work their way toward the inner Solar System. But as they do, it becomes apparent that several groups may be twisting Wright's journey amongst the planets for their own, ulterior purposes.....

The Memory of Whiteness is pure Kim Stanley Robinson from the start. Robinson deftly weaves a tale that is not only well written but really gets you thinking. In our world, music is capable of so many things...breaking people down, building people up; music somehow has the ability to strip away peoples' facades, the false faces people put up to the world to protect themselves from being hurt by that world. But with this tale, Robinson takes the ideas of what music can do to a cosmic level. In Robinson's world, music is the window to the fundamental mathematics of the universe. In Robinson's world, not only does music strip away a world of disguises and veneers, it allows his characters to meld with a universe that is, like the real world, often cold and unceasingly distant. The Memory of Whiteness is ultimately about how Johannes Wright, the 9th Master of Holywelkin's Orchestra, learns to adapt to an entirely new way of conceiving the universe...and how his music is his (and others') guide to understanding the universe.

The only real flaw with this novel (and indeed with Robinson's novels in general) is that, despite the fact that it is generally well written, the prose at times can be just a bit too clunky. So it is sometimes necessary to stop, take a breath, reread a sentence or two...and then continue on with an amazing story.

Ultimately, The Memory of Whiteness is worth reading...period.

The astonishing concatenation of physics, philosophy and music with an engaging set of characters and fast-moving plot enthralled this lifelong, passionate enthusiast of speculative fiction. In my opinion, the finest work of this very talented author.

I really adore Robinson's work in general, so am not surprised that I also enjoyed this book. It's definitely not his strongest work, but in a SF field filled with putrid tripe, this book is like a glorious orange blossom.

It does tend toward the science more than the characters, which seems unusual in comparison to Robinson's other work, but the science is engaging, and the sociological facets of the book (always Robinson's strong suit) are riveting (the wide variety of cultures represented throughout the Solar System ring incredibly true).

One caveat: As a caucasian male with a shaved head, it's rather uncomfortable to read a book entitled "The Memory of Whiteness" in public; I often felt as if others were pegging me as a neo-Nazi due to the ambiguous title. But maybe I'm just being overly PC.

Having read a lot of KSR it was very refreshing to read Memory of Whiteness. The reason for 4 stars is the beautiful description of the combination of music and 10 dimensional superstring theory. Once you read it, it becomes obvious that it must be so. What I miss is the realistic touch that KSR masters so well in both the Mars triology and the Orange County triology. You really belive those, but MOW is a bit more far fetched. All in all a very good Sci-fi which I enjoyed a lot.

I felt that this book was very impressive and the richness of it's concepts is extraordinary. The first part of the book is the best, but the second half of the book becomes redundant and the plot is delayed. I recommend the Mars series that Kim Stanley wrote earlier, they are much more interesting.