Feb 7, 2008

The Years of Rice and Salt

by Kim Stanley Robinson

Is this going to be the week of abandoned books? I really made an effort to finish this one. I got to page 354 before it became tedious and I couldn't continue. The Years of Rice and Salt is an alternative history, covering over 600 years. It starts in the 1400's, when the Black Plague wipes out over 90% of the European population. Thus, in the chapters that follow, Christianity is a small minority, Chinese and Muslim powers dominate the world and discover the Americas. The story is told through several characters who are continually re-incarnated through the centuries, always having the same basic personality: one is a revolutionary prone to violent action, one a philosophical nurturing-type, one an inquiring intellectual... If anything, this book gave me a much better picture of the concept of reincarnation than The Reincarnationist did. There was also a strong sense of rebellion against the gods, which I found curious (it made me think of the His Dark Materials books). Unfortunately, I am unfamiliar with all the various religions represented in the book: Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, etc. There were so many cultural and religious terms I didn't recognize that I lost much of the meaning. Similarly, I'm not too strong on history, and this book covers so much that I couldn't appreciate the subtle differences between reality and invented historical events.

Having recently read Pastwatch, I found the sections dealing with discovery of the Americas an interesting comparative. I also like another part where one of the characters was reincarnated as a tiger. But by the time I got through those 350 pages, the plot was really dragging and I had lost interest in what any of the characters were experiencing.

Abandoned               Published: 2002, 658 pages

7 comments:

  1. You lasted longer than me at this one! I'll have to look into Pastwatch-your review made it sound so intriguing. :)

    I hope you enjoy Zen and...I loved it in high school, but I haven't opened it in over five years! It has one of my favourite quotes of all time: "But there are human forces stronger than logic."

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  2. Eva- I am enjoying Zen and the Art... very much. It's my second time reading it, but it's been so long (high school too, I think) that I remember very little, so it's like an entirely new book!

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  3. I just finished "The Pilgrim's Progress". It was extremely difficult. You need to know alot about the religous history of England. My copy had end notes and footnotes out the ear.

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  4. Kimmie- Well, I wish Years of Rice and Salt had such notes! It really could have used a glossary, in particular.

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  5. I feel so bad that you got that far and it kicked your butt instead of the other way around. Sending sympathy -- here's an ice pack.

    I shy away from KSR partly because my ex-husband is a really huge fan of his, and our tastes in literature have never matched up except for Sinclair Lewis.

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  6. Anonymous2/08/2008

    I hate it when you get that far in a book and you just have to put it down. It seems like such a waste of time, yet who wants to continue reading what you don't enjoy?

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  7. Bybee- well, I don't really feel injured, just disapopinted! Tired of it, no hard feelings. But an author I probably won't try again.

    Stephanie- Yes, pretty dismaying. I usually figure out enough to quit before I hit 100 pages. O well. Time to move on!

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