Naomi Alderman is a British novelist and game writer who received a lot of praise for her 2017 novel The Power, which won the Women's Prize for Fiction that year and was then adapted for TV by Amazon. The beginning and end of The Power were indeed very good, the middle not so much. And Alderman's latest offering, The Future, suffers from not dissimilar issues in that a good third of it could have been chopped out by a brave editor without affecting it in the slightest.
The near future of The Future, as you might expect, sucks. The world ends on page one. Humanity lives in a climate change technodystopia just clinging on, presided over by three tech-magnates: Lenk Sketlish, the survivalist founder of social media platform Fantail; Zimri Nommik, philandering CEO of logistics/online shopping global giant Anvil; and Ellen Bywater, who is the head of PC manufacturer Medlar Technologies and has imaginary conversations with her dead husband.
THE FUTURE
by Naomi Alderman (HarperCollins, $35)
Denne historien er fra November 18-24 2023-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.
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Denne historien er fra November 18-24 2023-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.
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First-world problem
Harrowing tales of migrants attempting to enter the US highlight the political failure to fully tackle the problem.
Applying intelligence to AI
I call it the 'Terminator Effect', based on the premise that thinking machines took over the world.
Nazism rears its head
Smirky Höcke, with his penchant for waving with a suspiciously straight elbow and an open palm, won't get to be boss of either state.
Staying ahead of the game
Will the brave new world of bipartisanship that seems to be on offer with an Infrastructure Commission come to fruition?
Grasping the nettle
Broccoli is horrible. It smells, when being cooked, like cat pee.
Hangry? Eat breakfast
People who don't break their fast first thing in the morning report the least life satisfaction.
Chemical reaction
Nitrates in processed meats are well known to cause harm, but consumed from plant sources, their effect is quite different.
Me and my guitar
Australian guitarist Karin Schaupp sticks to the familiar for her Dunedin concerts.
Time is on my side
Age does not weary some of our much-loved musicians but what keeps them on the road?
The kids are not alright
Nuanced account details how China's blessed generation has been replaced by one consumed by fear and hopelessness.
