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A review by saarahnina
The Cold Pools by Chris Ward
5.0
Unique and Imaginative
Ward successfully portrays a future, where everything is to be manufactured, and I mean everything: glaciers, the air...it all. A future so bleak and artificial, where the bigger problems have still not been resolved: global warming, cancer, the end of the world. A world which is nothing short of an illusion.
It's almost as if everyone is concerned with making life the way it used to be- as real as possible- but not necessarily better.
The two characters: Karen and Louis have come to realise this and Karen, a cancer sufferer, cannot accept it. Whilst, Louis, a man unwilling to move on, has come to terms with the fact that he will soon fade from this life. Their relationship is heart breaking, and moving in that it
The writing was devastatingly descriptive and emotive, and presented the concept of a future, brilliantly. I appreciated that this novel was different, a world I have thought about often, but could never have explored in such a way. The question of a future is something that hits all of at various points in our lives and for me, when you have such big choices to make, it becomes something which you obsess over. No one wishes to waste time, yet we d so anyway. We can't always utilise time efficiently. But that is a subject best left for another time.
What I mean to say is that when someone is asked such a poignant question of their future, they tend to think short term and in regard to their position in a chosen career. We tend to think it in terms of what we mean to achieve, gain or become, frequently we overlook the wider picture. No one would ever delve into the subject with such intensity and reflection as Ward. This novel served me as a slap in the face. A wake up call. A much needed reminder. We should solve our issues today, rather than pass them off for another day. That other day may not come and if it does, it may prove too late.
Please note that this is my own interpretation of the novel, I have in no way been influenced by other reviews.
Ward successfully portrays a future, where everything is to be manufactured, and I mean everything: glaciers, the air...it all. A future so bleak and artificial, where the bigger problems have still not been resolved: global warming, cancer, the end of the world. A world which is nothing short of an illusion.
It's almost as if everyone is concerned with making life the way it used to be- as real as possible- but not necessarily better.
The two characters: Karen and Louis have come to realise this and Karen, a cancer sufferer, cannot accept it. Whilst, Louis, a man unwilling to move on, has come to terms with the fact that he will soon fade from this life. Their relationship is heart breaking, and moving in that it
The writing was devastatingly descriptive and emotive, and presented the concept of a future, brilliantly. I appreciated that this novel was different, a world I have thought about often, but could never have explored in such a way. The question of a future is something that hits all of at various points in our lives and for me, when you have such big choices to make, it becomes something which you obsess over. No one wishes to waste time, yet we d so anyway. We can't always utilise time efficiently. But that is a subject best left for another time.
What I mean to say is that when someone is asked such a poignant question of their future, they tend to think short term and in regard to their position in a chosen career. We tend to think it in terms of what we mean to achieve, gain or become, frequently we overlook the wider picture. No one would ever delve into the subject with such intensity and reflection as Ward. This novel served me as a slap in the face. A wake up call. A much needed reminder. We should solve our issues today, rather than pass them off for another day. That other day may not come and if it does, it may prove too late.
Please note that this is my own interpretation of the novel, I have in no way been influenced by other reviews.