The Wild Shore: Three Californias [Paperback]

Kim Stanley Robinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1995 | Series: Three Californias (Book 1)

2047: For the small Pacific Coast community of San Onofre, life in the aftermath of a devastating nuclear attack is a matter of survival, a day-to-day struggle to stay alive. But young Hank Fletcher dreams of the world that might have been, and might yet be--and dreams of playing a crucial role in America's rebirth.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Robinson's science fiction triology set in Orange County, California, offers three different futures: the aftermath of nuclear war; a city of uncontrollable urban development; and life in a total, environmentally-conscious society.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"There's a fresh wind blowing in The Wild Shore." --Ursula K. Le Guin

"Part Huck Finn and part Our Town....A well-written, engaging rite of passage." --Publishers Weekly

"Beautifully written...with a vivid depth rarely encountered in science fiction." --The Washington Post

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Orb Books; Reprint edition (March 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312890362
• ISBN-13: 978-0312890360
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #473,087 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kim Stanley Robinson is a winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards. He is the author of eleven previous books, including the bestselling Mars trilogy and the critically acclaimed Fifty Degrees Below, Forty Signs of Rain, The Years of Rice and Salt, and Antarctica--for which he was sent to the Antarctic by the U.S. National Science Foundation as part of their Antarctic Artists and Writers' Program. He lives in Davis, California.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#88 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction

#88 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A WILD BUT BELIEVABLE TALE November 21, 2000

By Denise Bentley

Format:Paperback

This book takes place in the year 2047, after 3,000 nuclear bombs are strategically placed in major cities all over the USA. The detonation of these nuclear weapons leaves the country in an age where Scavengers are set against those people trying to pull their family and world back to something that hardly resembles the past greatness of America. In this book the Russians are the culprits and they give several other countries the backing to help with the initial destruction. The countries of the world have ganged up on the USA for being greedy and using up most of the world's resources.

It is many years later and history is at times comically rewritten by the elders who have lived through the nuclear attack. The aged Tom spends much of his time teaching the younger adults about the world as he remembers it from days gone by. Books are rare and trade is a major source for goods.

I found this book completely believable. The borders of the USA are being watched and the Japanese are patrolling the west coast from a base set up on Catalina. It has been decided by the United Nation that the borders will be secured and America will stand alone for 100 years, what an incredible concept this author has come up with.

The characters are well developed and I shed a tear or two. Science fiction is a new genre to me and this author has opened up realms of possibilities. This book is the first in the trilogy followed by "The Gold Coast" and "The Pacific Edge". I will certainly enjoy more of this author's writings. Kelsana 11/21/00

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Right and Need to 'Matter' February 4, 2002

By Patrick Shepherd VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

The world of SF has been filled with apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic stories since its very beginning as a separately identifiable genre. Do we really need another one? In the case of this book, the answer to that is a resounding yes! Robinson has crafted a finely wrought work of character and theme that will resonate with readers, that is highly evocative of some of the other truly fine works within this sub-genre, from Pangborn's Davy to Stewart's Earth Abides, that delivers insights into societies and individual human motivations at a level rarely found in any fiction.

This book is part of Robinson's triptych (the other two pieces being The Gold Coast and Pacific Edge) that deals with various futures as seen from the perspective of Orange County, California. These books are related by theme only, and can all be read independently of the others. In this one the United States has effectively been destroyed by the use of about 3000 neutron bombs that were smuggled in by truck (the country of origin never provable but supposed to be Russia), turning almost every city into a waste land and wiping out the economic and industrial structure that allows today's Americans to enjoy a standard of living so very much higher than most of the rest of the world. The United States has now been placed in quarantine by the rest of the world, and any attempts to try to re-organize and re-build the country are ruthlessly disrupted. Orange County has returned to a fishing/agrarian level society with government by communal consensus. But this is the mere background to a remarkable tale of two young men, Henry and Steve, trying to find their own way and life answers within this community, underneath the strong influence of the town elder Tom, one of the last survivors who remembers what America was like before the bombs. Henry and Steve are close friends but are two very different personalities, and how each reacts to the opportunity to 'do something' to those who are maintaining the quarantine forms the main basis of the book.

The depth of characterization here is remarkable, and the portrayal of the society that grew under these imagined conditions is just as remarkable for its believability and economic viability. I found myself living and feeling right along with the main characters, could see myself in just the situations portrayed, facing the same moral dilemmas and wondering just how I would react, what I would do. The prose is smooth and with a nice balance between description, dialogue, and action, and a theme that is presented via 'show, not tell' methods.

All of the 'Three Californias' books are good, but this one is clearly the best, and should be put on everyone's 'must read' list.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Robinson shows great talen with first novel July 30, 1997

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Talk about bad luck. It was the year 1984 and science-fiction was booming once again, with authors such as Gibson, Banks, May, and Robinson coming to the forefront. Leading this pack was Kim Stanley Robinson, who published three books that year, all of which were acclaimed. Probably the most acclaimed was The Wild Shore, with looked to be the sure win for the Nebula awards that year and possibly the Hugo. However it came in second place, with William Gibson's Neuromancer taking the Hugo, Nebula and Philip K. Dick award for that year. Figures.

Excepting the fact that Gibson's novel protrayed a whole world that has only be touched upon briefly by other science-fiction writers, Kim Stanley Robinson's book is by far the superior one. It is a coming of age tale of a young man trying to survive in an America that has been torn apart by attacks from other countries. Told in the first person, Robinson vividly shows his beloved homeland of Orange County and its people as they struggle with life, never complaining, just going on as they had for years before and would for years after.

Upon reading it, it is hard for one to realize that one is reading a first novel. The Wild Shore reads better than some veteran writers' books, and the plot is never complex, the words stringing after each other in Robinson's distinct style. The last page has some of the best lines ever written in a novel and will remain with readers long after they finish the book.

Wait a minute. Great plot, fascinating characters, the depiction of a realistic future world . . . why didn't this book win?

Talk about bad luck