Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson

1 review

samdalefox's review

Go to review page

adventurous informative slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Books this long need a reason to be this long. Lord of the Rings and Dune are epic stories barely contained within their tombs and their readers would still love to read more. Most long books (500+ pages) I've read this year definitely do not earn the time spent reading their length. The ends do not justify the means. The length is simply unecessary. Termination Shock is one of these books. I'm now put-off reading Stephenson's other book that I have sitting ready on my shelf; 'Seveneves' weighing in at a whopping 880 pages. Although I think this Termination Shock covers some new and important aspects to the climate crisis (geoengineering and capitalism), it was too long, not focused enough in its critiques, and overall is paints a sympathetic and optimistic view of this hideous future which I think is counter productive to the conflicting subtler messages conveyed throughout.

I'll bullet point out the themes below. Mostly I was confused because the themes seemed to point in one direction, a warning against geoengineering and the system/people that facilitated the climate crisis (capitalism - specifically where the power to bring about change sits and with whom, such as ex-colonial monarchs and extremely wealthy people, capitalist politicians, capitalist land owning giants and  the destructive technological extraction of natural resources) yet the story almost exclusively revolves around these people and shows them in a positive light. Maybe the 'happy ending' was meant to be cautionary tale saying that this is how things will go down, power imbalances will remain the same and the ones at the top will continue to determine our future and won't even notice or care? Maybe, but it didn't feel like that as a reader. I felt like the message could have been clearer and honestly that I've just wasted 23 hours of my life listening mostly to geopolitics regurgitation and an attempt to make me sympathise with a fucking Queen. 

Themes throughout
  • There was an explicit discussion about someone (globally, a people) will 'lose out' no matter what the method is to combat climate change. e.g the green rewilding approach or technological intervention geoengineering approach. The question was who/how to decide which are the right areas and people ot 'lose out' e.g. flooding or drought.
  • The book did highlight the devastating changes already happened to the enviornment and the related technological advances (unbearable heat and the use of 'Earthsuits' for example, extensive flooding etc.) but it glossed over the hardship and suffering of millions. Even Red's story with the feral pig felt far removed from the climate crisis.
  • There was a whole chapter confirming that the sulphur gun could never produce the same power of effect as volcano Mount Pinatubo that it is modelled off. Is this not commentary that the most powerful actor is always nature, not human intervention? It gives credibility to the green approach of rewilding (trees, peat bogs, ocean protection) rather than building machines to artifically do these tasks. There's another clear example of this later in the book where Eagles are demosntrated as superior to drones. Yet another example of organic nature being superior to man made imitations.
  • The book illustrated the pervasiveness of the industrial military complex through Lachs and Red. Using working class bodies, usually directionless men, for the motivations of higher powers.
  • Through describing the carnarge that deploying a pinch (EMP device) the book showcased the drastic limitations of depending upon interconnected technology (chips, internet). It demonstrated that over-reliantness on technology could lull people into a dangerous sense of complacency.
  • There was a pretty explicit criticism of current neoliberal American culture through Red's monologue about how Komanchis are now all Americans e.g. now they're out of control, crazy, love individualism othering others and violence. "This country's a mess"
  • There was an interesting philosophical question that wasn't explored. "Should you do the thing even if you can't keep control of it?" e.g. when TR asked should his grandfather have built the mine or not? The answer could be yes or no, perhaps the detail is in the method? I would have liked to have seen this discussed properly. 
  • There was an excellent scene where Saskia (trapped safe underground in the sulphur gun) light candles as an illustration of the direct threat of CO2 emissions in the climate emergency (the candles would burn up all of the CO2 in the room and they would suffocate so requires cooperation and agreement of the entire group to not burn the candles). Whilst at the same time, there were people above ground taking direct action though acting in their national or personal interests (India, America, individuals).
  • There was a huge amount of blurb on geopolitics and history. Boiled down, it comes to colonialism, and global communications (human cooperation) problems. 
  • Other forms of pollution were briefly touched upon such as noise pollution from the donic boom of the sulphur gun
  • Darinda touched upon the racism and classism that military uses for expendable people, such as Sikhs (Lachs) I found it sad that
    he died from radiation
    . Did he really believe in this cause? Did he do the right thing by his 5ks? Probably yes, since he did least harm to the lives he knew he had the ability to have an impact upon. I think we could have beenfitted from more insight into Lachs and less into Saskia. 
  • Bonus! I actually liked learning about performative warfare 



Expand filter menu Content Warnings
More...