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A review by linwin
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
2.0
Mixed feelings about this book. Some parts of it were great, while others felt unnecessary and tedious.
Personally, I would have skipped pretty much everything about the ministry and the character of Mary, even though I realise that is the title of the book and the main protagonist of the story.
The chapters describing the changes taking place in different areas of the world and the "testimonials" from the perspective of different characters affected personally by it all were wonderful and captivating. I wish the whole book was made out of only these. Maybe expanding on the experiences of several of the characters instead of Mary and Frank (although Frank was interesting until he only became a plot device for Mary) would have made in a better read for me.
I also found it hard to make myself believe in the fact that all of these changes could be connected so directly to the ministry and that they where such a driving force behind them (like basically inventing the new internet!) while still feeling quite incompetent for those tasks (Mary didn't even know who the defence minister/presidents of the country where she's lived for 14 years were. I mean what?).
It's a really interesting thought piece on environmental challenges and possible ways to solve them and in a way reminded me alot of some of the non fiction books from my poli-sci classes at uni. It's definitely full of interesting ideas that I would love to sit at a seminar to discuss, but I'm not sure it worked as fiction in this particular way.
Personally, I would have skipped pretty much everything about the ministry and the character of Mary, even though I realise that is the title of the book and the main protagonist of the story.
The chapters describing the changes taking place in different areas of the world and the "testimonials" from the perspective of different characters affected personally by it all were wonderful and captivating. I wish the whole book was made out of only these. Maybe expanding on the experiences of several of the characters instead of Mary and Frank (although Frank was interesting until he only became a plot device for Mary) would have made in a better read for me.
I also found it hard to make myself believe in the fact that all of these changes could be connected so directly to the ministry and that they where such a driving force behind them (like basically inventing the new internet!) while still feeling quite incompetent for those tasks (Mary didn't even know who the defence minister/presidents of the country where she's lived for 14 years were. I mean what?).
It's a really interesting thought piece on environmental challenges and possible ways to solve them and in a way reminded me alot of some of the non fiction books from my poli-sci classes at uni. It's definitely full of interesting ideas that I would love to sit at a seminar to discuss, but I'm not sure it worked as fiction in this particular way.