Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... Flashback (original 2011; edition 2011)by Dan Simmons
Work InformationFlashback by Dan Simmons (2011)
to get (43) Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. This book was pretty scary because of its relevance to what could happen in the near future if things get worse rather than better. It makes the assumption that the economy never really recovers after the Obama presidency, and that we become overburdened with entitlement programs that we can't afford, and worse. Things get so bad that most people in the US use a drug called Flashback to dwell on the past instead of the present and future. Against that backdrop is a mystery that seems to be unsolvable, an old case that falls back into the lap of a former police investigator who only wants to use the flashback drug to remember the good times with his deceased wife, who has given up on his son and most everything else. Pretty bleak. I have read a lot of Dan Simmons, and this one did not disappoint me. I'm not American so I don't really understand why people are upset about a dystopian story because of politics. It's like being upset about P K Dicks dystopian visions because of drugs. If you think this particular future is implausible I recommend suspension of disbelief - with that the book is really enjoyable if a bit silly (how can you be upset about a book with a talking t-shirt with a portrait of Putin).
Reading all this left me with distinctly mixed feelings. I enjoyed much of the novel. Simmons provides a strong narrative and well-imagined characters — the man can write — and yet I thought his dystopian vision of political reality, however deeply felt, vacillated between the improbable and the ridiculous. Give him this: With any luck, Simmons could be the Tolstoy of the tea party; at the very least, he’s more fun than Ayn Rand. Marcel Proust, the great author of memory, gets a swift kick in the pants in Dan Simmons' latest novel of an apocalyptic future, "Flashback" (Reagan Arthur/Little, Brown: 560 pp., $27.99). Remember all that stuff Proust wrote about memories returning to him with the taste of a madeleine cookie? For Simmons, memories can be summoned and controlled far more easily, and reliably, with a few snorts of a drug called flashback. Set roughly two decades from now, the book centers on Nick Bottom, a disgraced Denver police detective haunted by the memory of his dead wife as well as the unsolved murder that ended his career. The PKD-like twist is that the drug Bottom is addicted to, flashback, lets its users relive moments from their past in vivid, immersive detail. That twist isn’t nearly enough to redeem Simmons’ leaden exposition, inconsistent voice, and histrionically ridiculous vision of a broken America—not to mention his moth-eaten bag of genre stereotypes. Is an expanded version ofAwards
America, 2036. Powerful magnate Hiroshi Nakamura needs ex-cop Nick Bottom's services, and, in particular, his memories. As head of the original investigation into the murder of Nakamura's son, Bottom's flashbacks hold the key to solving what was the toughest case of his career. But as Nick delves deeper, the harder it becomes to trust those around him. And when he uncovers a connection to his wife's death, it is not only Hiroshi Nakamura who wants answers. No library descriptions found.
|
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature American literature in English American fiction in English 1900-1999 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
Perhaps the reason for the negative reviews is that the author tells it like it and completely ignores political correctness. Reading this book made it easy for me to understand why it was one of the top best selling thrillers of 2011. ( )