Circular Motion is a curious confection. It has at its heart a solid science fiction device: The world is spinning faster on its axis. Yet, that is not what the story is about. This is a book about life, self-confidence, technology, and taking opportunities.
What Is Circular Motion?
Our story is set in the nearish future. (It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when, because Earth in Circular Motion uses a new unified Calendar.) The key societal change is the establishment of the “Circumglobal Western Circuit,” essentially a giant apparatus that involves flinging travel pods high into the upper atmosphere and transporting them anywhere on the globe (with a station) in around an hour.
You can see how this would revolutionize transportation, travel, and the global economy.
The drawback is that the Earth’s day is speeding up. Almost imperceptibly at first, but over the course of the novel, it gets faster and faster, with night and day passing in a matter of hours. The Western Circuit is considered to be the major reason for this change.
Against this backdrop is the story of three people who began life in a small mining town in Alaska. A remote outpost disconnected from much of civilization. Circular Motion is about their journeys, pitched against a backdrop of an increasingly fraying world.
Why Read Circular Motion?
Circular Motion is an audacious debut. My review copy has pull quotes from Jonathan Safran Foer (whose novels I don’t like) and Gary Shteyngart (whose I do). Both wear their literary credentials loud in their prose. They write novels with big themes, filled with complicated language. So it is with Circular Motion.
The book is uneven. Whilst I’m all for rich use of language in books, sometimes, it felt like word choices were embellished for the sake of it. I’ll be honest, I lost the thread of what was happening at certain points and struggled to remember what had happened early in the book due to the dense nature of the prose.
Nevertheless, there is much to enjoy here. The plight of a town where its industry has collapsed. What that does to people and how bad-faith actors can exploit them. The lives of the three main characters in the book are heavily impacted by their upbringings. How they cope and move forward makes for an arresting story.
Circular Motion put me in mind of one of my favourite novels of recent times, The Appliance by J.O. Morgan. Both examine how we integrate life-changing technology into our daily lives and how we quickly become dependent on it. The Appliance has less other baggage, is about half the length of Circular Motion, and is the better book for it.
I was also reminded, when reading Circular Motion, of The Circle by Dave Eggers. Circular Motion is so much better. Eggers laid his message on so thick, his book became almost farcical; Alex Foster treats the development of technology far more subtly.
The Westward Circuit, and our use of it, mirrors the evolution of real-world technology. The subsequent attitudes to the discovery that the circuit is tearing the fabric of Earth’s existence felt entirely on point. Here, Circular Motion feels like it’s channeling global reactions to Climate Change, or the insistence that AI is going to save the world.
As I was putting the finishing touches to this review, I saw a post on BlueSky from science fiction author Tade Thompson. He said, “…humanity’s problems will be best solved with a philosophical rather than technological solution. We need better ways to live with each other and in harmony with Earth.”
This sentiment perfectly encapsulates the central theme of Circular Motion, and Alex Foster offers a compelling argument for pursuing the philosophical over the technological.
While I found Circular Motion and uneven read, it has much to say about contemporary culture, how parental relationships shape us as adults (admittedly, here, in mostly destructive ways), and humanity’s proclivity for avoiding taking difficult pathways. If you’re intrigued by the novel’s premise, then I recommend you give it a go.
If you would like to pick up a copy of Circular Motion, you can do so here in the US and here, in the UK. (Affiliate Links)
If you enjoyed this review, check out my other book reviews, here.
I received a copy of this book in order to write this review.
Fonte: GeekDad - Leia mais