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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
A piecemeal narrative about the various individuals and cultures that reside around Central Station, a spaceport in Tel Aviv. The chapters were originally written as independently published short stories, and that origin shows: interconnecting characters and threads run through the novel, but each chapter its own experiment. Although the Middle Eastern setting is vivid and alive, the worldbuilding is never convincing--but I'm not sure it's intended to be. This is Science Fiction by the way of New Weird or Magical Realism: creative, even whimsical, big ideas in experimental arrangement, fueled by culture and desire more than logic. The characters are unremarkable in comparison, and their small dramas underwhelm. This an idea novel, an experiment of form and concept; perhaps not successful as a finished work, but certainly engaging.
Tidhar creates believable, eloquent, beautiful, and tawdry future worlds in just a few pages. There's not much of a story to this book, but his future solar system is a fun place to live for a few hundred pages.
helpful for my thesis, but i probably wouldn't recommend for casual reading
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
Set in the future (fine with that), different species, different technology, all interesting. And then a third of the way through a book that was finally establishing a plot, they bring in vampire? I give up.
This book is a great example of speculative fiction. It's science fiction, but the future Lavie Tidhar imagines is so innovative and extraordinary. It reminded me of the Matrix films as well as something I heard on public radio this week, an interview with Yuval Noah Harari about his book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, on the eventual disappearance of Homo sapiens.
I didn't fully connect with the story, however. While there's a lot of worldbuilding and character development, I felt a lack of cohesion, a sense of what was at stake, throughout the story. I wonder if that's due in part to the fact that many of the chapters in Central Station were previously published as short stories. There's a theme that connects everyone's stories, but I ultimately didn't care greatly for any of the characters.
I didn't fully connect with the story, however. While there's a lot of worldbuilding and character development, I felt a lack of cohesion, a sense of what was at stake, throughout the story. I wonder if that's due in part to the fact that many of the chapters in Central Station were previously published as short stories. There's a theme that connects everyone's stories, but I ultimately didn't care greatly for any of the characters.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
slow-paced