Book Rec: The Years of Rice and Salt
Apr. 14th, 2006 01:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhA brief summary of the book, from a conversation I had today:
Me: I just finished this really amazing book! It's called 'The Years of Rice and Salt', by Kim Stanley Robinson. Have you heard of it?
Racist Guy: Yeah, I think. Is that the one where all the whites get killed off by the Bubonic plague?
Me: That's it.
Racist Guy: I'd rather read the book where everyone else gets killed off and only the whites are left, ha ha.
Me: ...
Me: ...
Me: ...
Me: Right. Anyway. It's a really amazing book!
The premise of the book, indeed, asks what would happen if the plague had been much more devastating, killing off nearly all of Europe's population in the early 1400s. How would the history of the world be different? It's this idea that the blurbs on the back of my copy all announce, and this was everything I'd heard about it before reading it myself.
But, well, that's not really the point. At all. Because the history barely changes from our own. Some of its inevitable- of course someone would have eventually discovered America, even if Columbus hadn't- but as the book goes on, the similarities build: the same discoveries happen, the same scientific resolutions and theories, the wars and their consequences are all close parallels to our history; and if World War One was fought between the Muslims and the Chinese instead of the Allies and the Central Powers, what difference does that make to the people who died in the trenches? Who cares if gravity is first described in English or Arabic- it's still the same idea. (Randomly, in case anyone else has read it, I went looking for reviews online right after I finished it, and the stupidity of some people astounds me. WTF, Nsara is not a metaphor for 60s America, it's pre-WWII Germany. What the hell did you think the rampant inflation and military takeover were about?)
The interesting thing about the book isn't a new history- because it's not very new- but it's insistence that history isn't about the big sweeping movements, but the ordinary lives who do what little they can to make things better, even if it takes a thousand lives to make a difference. The book covers 700 years of history by telling the stories of one small group as they reincarnate over and over, but so much stuff is included. I lost counts of times I thought, "Man, I'm sure glad I just read that book on Persian mythology/traditional Chinese women/Buddhism/Indian history/Isaac Newton/Native American social systems, otherwise I would have no idea what was going on". It was like the book was designed specifically with me in mind, and set out to fit as many things I have an interest in as possible. At one point, a character reincarnates as an archaeologist! And goes to a conference to talk about new archeology theories! Characters quote Rumi to each other! Over multiple lives, even, as obviously the love of a good poem transcends death. We have long discussions on the nature of religion and history and story and god and death! I! Am! In! Love! With! This! Book!
The main characters are part of a jati, a group of souls who continually reincarnate together (I can't believe this word apparently exists and yet has not been adopted by Saiyuki fandom). The first is Bold- the problem with characters who go through 20 lives within a book is that it's hard to pick a name to use; I'm just going with the ones they use the first time- who is also Monkey from Journey to the West. See what I mean about this book being designed for me? Bold is sweet, if often a little stupid and gullible; s/he often focuses on love, and life, and living every day aware of it. A lot of my favorite passages come from his/her POV, particularly the bits in Tibet, which choked me up with their beauty and sadness. Here's a different, shorter one I loved: "Storm sunlight cast a silver sheen on the wet street. Burdur felt happy. The world was beautiful. She was so hungry that the milk in her coffee was like a meal inside her. The storm's light was a meal. She thought: now is beautiful. These old Persians are beautiful; their Persian accents are beautiful. Kirana's rare serenity is beautiful. Throw away the past and the future."
Kyu is the other main character. S/he isSanzo my favorite. S/he is angry and cynical and violent; over multiple lives Kyu has a reoccurring tendency to kill anyone who hurts Bold. If Bold tries to change things by loving them, Kyu rages and fights against injustice, leads revolutions and battles, even when they're in the afterlife and arguing against the gods and the universe itself:
"My impression is that any improvement in the tenor of existence will have to be anthropogenic."
"What?" Bistami cried.
"It's up to us. No one will help us."
"I'm not saying they will. Although God always helps if you ask. But it is up to us, that's what I've been saying all along, and we are doing what we can, we are making progress."
Katima was not at all convinced. "We'll see," she said. "Time will tell. For now, I myself withhold judgment." She faced the white tomb, drew herself up queenlike, spoke with a tigerish curl of the lip: "And no one judges me."
Also there's a scene where she attacks the goddess Kali with a sword, but it's too long for me to type out.
Some other characters are I-li, who is fascinated by the world, and usually ends up as a scientist or mathematician, and Shastri, who is an idiot and an asshole, but unfortunately tends to get in a position of power and then ruins things for the others.
I adored this book. I feel like I need to reread it right away, to look for the things I didn't catch on to until near the end. I want to say a million other things, but I don't want to spoil any of the details, because an even better solution would be to convince some of you to read it, so we can talk about it.
Me: I just finished this really amazing book! It's called 'The Years of Rice and Salt', by Kim Stanley Robinson. Have you heard of it?
Racist Guy: Yeah, I think. Is that the one where all the whites get killed off by the Bubonic plague?
Me: That's it.
Racist Guy: I'd rather read the book where everyone else gets killed off and only the whites are left, ha ha.
Me: ...
Me: ...
Me: ...
Me: Right. Anyway. It's a really amazing book!
The premise of the book, indeed, asks what would happen if the plague had been much more devastating, killing off nearly all of Europe's population in the early 1400s. How would the history of the world be different? It's this idea that the blurbs on the back of my copy all announce, and this was everything I'd heard about it before reading it myself.
But, well, that's not really the point. At all. Because the history barely changes from our own. Some of its inevitable- of course someone would have eventually discovered America, even if Columbus hadn't- but as the book goes on, the similarities build: the same discoveries happen, the same scientific resolutions and theories, the wars and their consequences are all close parallels to our history; and if World War One was fought between the Muslims and the Chinese instead of the Allies and the Central Powers, what difference does that make to the people who died in the trenches? Who cares if gravity is first described in English or Arabic- it's still the same idea. (Randomly, in case anyone else has read it, I went looking for reviews online right after I finished it, and the stupidity of some people astounds me. WTF, Nsara is not a metaphor for 60s America, it's pre-WWII Germany. What the hell did you think the rampant inflation and military takeover were about?)
The interesting thing about the book isn't a new history- because it's not very new- but it's insistence that history isn't about the big sweeping movements, but the ordinary lives who do what little they can to make things better, even if it takes a thousand lives to make a difference. The book covers 700 years of history by telling the stories of one small group as they reincarnate over and over, but so much stuff is included. I lost counts of times I thought, "Man, I'm sure glad I just read that book on Persian mythology/traditional Chinese women/Buddhism/Indian history/Isaac Newton/Native American social systems, otherwise I would have no idea what was going on". It was like the book was designed specifically with me in mind, and set out to fit as many things I have an interest in as possible. At one point, a character reincarnates as an archaeologist! And goes to a conference to talk about new archeology theories! Characters quote Rumi to each other! Over multiple lives, even, as obviously the love of a good poem transcends death. We have long discussions on the nature of religion and history and story and god and death! I! Am! In! Love! With! This! Book!
The main characters are part of a jati, a group of souls who continually reincarnate together (I can't believe this word apparently exists and yet has not been adopted by Saiyuki fandom). The first is Bold- the problem with characters who go through 20 lives within a book is that it's hard to pick a name to use; I'm just going with the ones they use the first time- who is also Monkey from Journey to the West. See what I mean about this book being designed for me? Bold is sweet, if often a little stupid and gullible; s/he often focuses on love, and life, and living every day aware of it. A lot of my favorite passages come from his/her POV, particularly the bits in Tibet, which choked me up with their beauty and sadness. Here's a different, shorter one I loved: "Storm sunlight cast a silver sheen on the wet street. Burdur felt happy. The world was beautiful. She was so hungry that the milk in her coffee was like a meal inside her. The storm's light was a meal. She thought: now is beautiful. These old Persians are beautiful; their Persian accents are beautiful. Kirana's rare serenity is beautiful. Throw away the past and the future."
Kyu is the other main character. S/he is
"My impression is that any improvement in the tenor of existence will have to be anthropogenic."
"What?" Bistami cried.
"It's up to us. No one will help us."
"I'm not saying they will. Although God always helps if you ask. But it is up to us, that's what I've been saying all along, and we are doing what we can, we are making progress."
Katima was not at all convinced. "We'll see," she said. "Time will tell. For now, I myself withhold judgment." She faced the white tomb, drew herself up queenlike, spoke with a tigerish curl of the lip: "And no one judges me."
Also there's a scene where she attacks the goddess Kali with a sword, but it's too long for me to type out.
Some other characters are I-li, who is fascinated by the world, and usually ends up as a scientist or mathematician, and Shastri, who is an idiot and an asshole, but unfortunately tends to get in a position of power and then ruins things for the others.
I adored this book. I feel like I need to reread it right away, to look for the things I didn't catch on to until near the end. I want to say a million other things, but I don't want to spoil any of the details, because an even better solution would be to convince some of you to read it, so we can talk about it.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-04-14 03:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-14 09:59 pm (UTC)He's in a student group with me, so I see him at least once a week. So far we've fought over it, screamed at each other, and gotten into a fistfight, none of which seems to make any difference to his willingness to bring it up the next time we meet, so at this point I'm going with the "ignore and steer the conversation in other directions" mode of dealing.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-14 10:02 pm (UTC)Hmmm, I don't remember where I first saw it, but it's been one of those books that you always see in stores and keep meaning to read because it looks cool for the last few years. And then I picked up a used copy for a couple dollars a little while ago.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-17 11:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-15 01:14 am (UTC)Dude, I will buy it just for that. Well, also the reincarnation, I am a sucker for reincarnation. :D
So, er, given that I know little to nothing of Persian mythology, just how lost will I be when I read it? *feels woefully uncultured*
no subject
Date: 2006-04-15 02:57 am (UTC)Yeah. That's, like, my favorite character type boiled down to a single phrase.
So, er, given that I know little to nothing of Persian mythology
The Persian mythology book just let me know what was going on when they kept arguing about various hadiths in one of the lives where they were Muslim. Hadiths are sayings attributed to Muhammad or various other famous people, and have these complex genealogies about how they made it to the current day (Muhammad told this guy, and he told this other guy, and he told that guy, and that guy told my teacher, and my teacher told me, etc).
Most of the time, though, I feel like it really wouldn't make a difference if you knew the references, so don't worry about it. They were fun to catch, but not necessary to understand the plot.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-15 08:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-15 10:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-17 03:20 pm (UTC)It is odd to have a recommendation without having read the book, I know, but I do: Apparently this and David Mitchell's novel Cloud Atlas were very much influenced by Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel; so you might want to check out the other two for comparison's sake. (And also because Cloud Atlas is very cool and because I hear Guns, Germs, and Steel is, too.)
no subject
Date: 2006-04-17 11:28 pm (UTC)I'll have to check out Cloud Atlas, though.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-17 05:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-17 11:18 pm (UTC)