Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach by Kelly RobsonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I'll say this, it's really different from A Human Stain. We go from a horror story to a corporate story. Our protagonist is a survivor of the collapse of civilization under the pressures of climate change and pollution, and subsequent plagues. Humans figured out how to live underground, and are just now re-emerging, so it's in a tough but hopeful universe. But highly corporatized--the progress is funded by very familiar looking banks, mostly state owned. Our protagonist, Minh, is a plague survivor project manager. I think that what some have complained of as unfamiliar language is corporate speak--we have work breakdown plans, dashboards, reviews, health and safety analysis as a plot driver, all very familiar to this veteran desk jockey. It really read kind of like a dramatic description of an oil company prospecting trip, except it was about ecology.
I really enjoyed the characters in the story. They are quite distinct, and bring out interesting parts of this future. I'm not as enamored of the plot--it makes sense but doesn't quite hang together, and the ending is kind of abrupt--it felt like a lot got tied together in a very few pages. Overall it was a fun book, and I felt a funny sort of nostalgia for old analysis and review grind reading it. Amusing.
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