Wow what a tough book to read. In the end I am glad I persevered, but I think the book would have had more impact if there was more of a narrative. Some refer to it as nonlinear, and that it is, but also the various threads don't really converge. Along the way are some amazing expositions of the continued devolution of how race works in America. The summary I find misleading. Yes the main characters in the book are stackers, collecting bricks for souvenirs for whites who have fled earth, but most of the focus is on what the work does to their bodies, combined with the enforced toxicity of the environment. The extended diversion in the third book gives another view of America in this time, but if it actually connects back to the main line I don't know where.
A narrative did start to come out for me as I worked through the book and thought about it. There is a path that is sequenced in time, and on it the space colonists seem to get tired of being away, particularly after some progress is made in how to live on a toxic Earth. They begin to return and commit the same crimes they did in order to leave. There are pieces of the book that really bring the message home, but they aren't separable from the whole thing, which challenges the reader and sometimes does not reward perseverance. Recognizing the authors and events described as history will make you feel good about other work you have read. Did I like it? No, not really. Did I appreciate it? In the end, yes.
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