The Future by Naomi Alderman

Being a huge fan of Alderman’s work, I was very excited for her new novel. It took me a moment to get into it, but once I did, I struggled to put it down. It’s a hefty volume, but then again, no one’s ever said the future would be light.
In fact, in Alderman’s vision, it is quite dark, basically apocalyptic. And the three mega-moguls who more or less own the world, do nothing to improve it, but are quite interested in saving their own skins and surviving no matter what. While those closest to them have a very different idea about …well, the future.
And so it goes. The epic power struggle. Who will win, morals or money? Read the book and find out.
Here’s the thing with this novel for me: it read long but amazingly well. One of the best books I’ve read all year, easily. Stupendously clever. Alderman is definitely carving out a niche for herself in science fiction/dystopian genre, first with the power and now this. I love clever books. There are enough dumb ones out there to make you appreciate it. Alderman has terrific ideas, and her writing is superb. The worlds she writes come to life three-dimensionally and stunningly.
But then, after the book is done there’s some distance/perspective, you realize that the grand concept here is actually rather simplistic or  at least reductive. It casts the general population as wildly dumb/gullible/malleable/manipulatable/etc. which …well, isn’t far from the truth. But the novel’s solution for it is … kind of basic. And the timeline for it isn’t all that realistic either.
It seems that for a novel so very clever with details and logic and rhetoric, it would come up with something a bit more sophisticated then “tweak the algorithm, tweak the people, save the world” sort of thing. And Alderman actually seems aware of it in the end, going by the very last chapter. It’s like a dark pessimistic/realistic cheery on top of a hugely optimistic, pro-environmental, pro-world message.
But the thing is, you are not really aware of any of that while you’re in the novel (and what you do notice, you don’t much mind), and that’s purely because of Alderman’s skill as a writer. So it is an enormously engaging, enjoyable reading experience. Albeit one with arguable logistics. As opposed to The Power, which was sense through and through. Either way, recommended. Thanks Netgalley.