Customer Reviews

Remaking History and Other Stories

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I like Stan's writing, even when I'm totally unsure of what it is I'm reading. He's one of the few writers I don't mind re-reading; if anything, I get more of what I like in his writing during a re-reading, since I then tend to forget about trying to follow the "plot" or "meaning" of the story, and instead just watch the way the words flow. However, even given the above, I tend to like Stan best when I can enjoy the prose and the story.

In this collection, the stories I thought fulfilled both promises were:

* "The Translator"--A perfect bit about being caught in the middle of a culture clash, with only your wits to fall onto. Reminiscent of Stanley Weinbaum (in a good way).
* "Before I Wake"--A truly Dickian story about consciousness and unconsciousness, in that classic "am I or am I not," except to show that it's both.
* "Remaking History"--Actually metafiction, as it is a story about alternate histories, while being an alternate history itself. Simplistic, yet clever.
* "A Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions"--Not really a story, but a philosophical essay about choices as view through scientific ideas. Stan is reviewing the theme of his earlier story "Lucky Strike," with a more mature outlook on the problem. The last line, repeated through the story like a chorus, sends a chill down your spine (in a good way).

The following I enjoyed to a lesser extent:

* "The Part of Us That Loves"--Liked the modernization of the Bible, but didn't follow the overall story (or, on the other hand, didn't see that it came to a conclusion).
* "A History of the Twentieth Century, with Illustrations"--Liked the condensation of the history, but wasn't affected personally by the character change.
* "Vinland the Dream"--Loved the construction of the story (as if it were a scientific journal article), but the story itself didn't move me.
* "Rainbow Bridge"--Or "Stan Robinson Tries His Hand at Native American Magical Realism." Some wonderful bits, but the overall story failed to reach me.
* "Muir on Shasta"--Nice description, but too short (length and plot) for a complete story.
* "Glacier"--A textbook example of Kessel's Humanist theory of SF. The character reacts to the SF concept, and "changes," yet affects the concept in no way. The old school hates this sort of stuff. I don't mind it, but here the change didn't "touch" me, so I wasn't affected by it intellectually or emotionally, and was thus disappointed.
* "Down and Out in the Year 2000"--I missed the point of this story when I originally read it in Asimov's, because at the time I was (and still am, to some extent) enamoured of cyberpunk. This story is Stan's rebuttal to Neuromancer (and its high-tech/low-life ilk), in which he says low-life can't afford high-tech, not only to be able to own it, but to have the education necessary to be able to use it, or the mind-set. Entirely valid point and interestingly accomplished in the story; however, I'm not sure that the story holds up by itself, instead requiring a knowledge of the background of its criticism for its true punch.
* "Our Town"--Too short, and felt very similar to other stories of elites (like Silverberg's "Sailing to Byzantium"). Given a longer story, with more plot/description/substance, I might have been more impressed.
* "A Transect"--Reminded me of Bishop's "Apartheid, Superstrings, and Mordecai Thubana," which I feel conveys the same point, but done better.
* "The Lunatics"--Another story that I didn't quite get on the first reading. Followed it better this time, but still had a sense of uncomprehension at the ending.
* "Zurich"--Heavily autobiographical; once the story moves from the obsessive cleaning to the metaphysical "you won't be here again," it lost its appeal for me.

This book might be subtitled "A Future History of Earth" because of Robinson's speculation about where our civilization is headed. He explores alternate histories as well as possible (and plausible) futures. My favourite story was the one where the Viking discovery of North America was all an elaborate 19th-century hoax!

Robinson is one of those authors whose novels are nearly always first-rate -- especially the award-winning "Mars" trilogy -- but whose short stories don't always repay the effort of reading them. This collection is typical in that respect. It's also not true to say he's necessarily a science fiction writer, even though that's how he, and this volume in particular, are marketed. One of the best in the lot, for instance, is the very first one: "The Part of Us that Loves," which is about daily events in the existence of the community orchestra in a small town near Chicago whose origins were evangelical and utopian. And that's it. Excellent writing and interesting characters and a nice little plot-turn -- but not an alien nor a rocket ship in the bunch. "The Translator" is more what one might expect, about a human on a distant world trying to act as go-between for two other species, and also pretty good. "Before I Wake," on the hand, goes nowhere and ends a bit strangely. The same is true of "A History of the Twentieth Century, with Illustrations," though it has some interesting things to say about how long people have been hanging around this planet. "Vinland the Dream" (about the Vikings who never were in Newfoundland, dammit) and "Rainbow Bridge" (about the difference of the Navajos) and "Muir on Shasta" (about John Muir and a vision of the future) are all well-written stories that could have easily appeared in NEW YORKER as in ASIMOV'S. "Glacier" is pure science fiction, though, about the coming again of the ice and its effect on everyday life. Then there's "A Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions," an amazing and marvelous essay on the nature of historical causation and explanation that draws on Stan's famous earlier story, "The Lucky Strike"; it ought to be required reading for first-semester grad students in history programs. The remaining several stories, unfortunately, are thoroughly forgettable. When he's good, he's really good, but when he's not, . . . well, you can always hope for better the next time.

Kim Stanley Robinson has justly been praised for the fact that his work, which ably combines science fiction and historical research, has broken new ground in fiction writing. Unfortunately, some of the stories in this collection prove that breaking new ground doesn't necessarily mean your stories are readable or believable. Robinson sometimes has trouble encouraging you to care about the point or the moral in his offbeat ideas. The worst example of this problem here is the ridiculous "Zurich" in which a man gets too much bleach on his fingers and finds that he can turn anything white - an interesting premise but Robinson's attempt to transform this into a treatise on social consciousness is a failure. Other offenders are the sappy "The Part of Us That Loves" and "Glacier" which are very awkward attempts to mix morality and speculative fiction. However, I would recommend some of these stories, like the intriguing historical fiction/sci-fi tales "Muir on Shasta" and "Vinland the Dream". And this entire book is almost saved by the terrifying and disturbing "Before I Wake", a nightmarish tale about nightmares.