Playground

Playground by Richard Powers
9/24/24; 400 pages
W. W. Norton & Co

Playground by Richard Powers is a highly recommended literary eco-drama of AI and oceanography that follows four different personal perspectives over decades. Opening on the French Polynesian island of Makatea the creation myth of Ta'aroa cracking out of his eggshell, and uses the shards to make the world is told.  On Makatea, which was once mined for the deposits of phosphorus on the island, the residents must now vote on whether they want to approve a seasteading project on and off their shores.

Jumping back in time, twelve-year-old Evie Beaulieu tests one of the first aqualungs and goes on to become a celebrated Canadian marine biologist and one of the world's best divers. She is now in her nineties and lives on the island. Rafi Young and Todd Keane meet at an elite Chicago high school and bond over a three-thousand-year-old board game called Go. The two are roommates in college where Rafi focuses on literature while Todd works toward a breakthrough in AI. Ina Aroita grows up on naval bases across the Pacific with art as her only home. At college Rafi falls in love with Ina whose mother is Tahitian.

The lives of these four people all converge on Makatea. Evie, Rafi, and Ina all live on the island. Todd is behind the seasteading project to create artificial islands that will be launch to float on the sea. Todd tells part the story of the past involving Rafi in retrospect at age 57, while he is dealing with his diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies. He is not always a reliable narrator. The main characters are all well-developed, but also feel a bit idealized or symbolic.

As expected, Powers writes eloquently, with wonderfully descriptive passages. There are parts that soar and will totally hold your complete attention. He writes with reverence about the natural world. Many of the underwater passages are spellbinding. He explores friendship, AI, and play. On the other hand, many of the complex passages require great patience to read, which makes the flow and pace of the novel feel uneven. Parts felt incomplete, unrealized and the final denouement felt too open ended. Thanks to W. W. Norton & Company for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.