I am always in search of novels about climate change, which should have a great deal more literature about it than is in fact the case. Please recommend me any you find! In 'The Lamentations of Zeno', I was disappointed to find strong echoes of McEwan’s [b:Solar|7140754|Solar|Ian McEwan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320510358l/7140754._SY75_.jpg|7404751], which I attempted to read then abandoned in annoyance. Once again, a man uses climate change as window dressing for his midlife crisis. It is a potentially civilisation-ending threat, so really deserves better than that. Just as with [b:Solar|7140754|Solar|Ian McEwan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320510358l/7140754._SY75_.jpg|7404751], I was left wondering why I should give a damn about this man’s tedious love-life when the stability of the earth’s climate is at stake. Neither McEwan nor Trojanow managed to make me care about their narrator, or even believe that they actually studied climate change. Moreover, said narrators seemed very unlikely to be meaningfully affected by climate-related disaster. Basically, I don’t want literature that drapes climate change around flimsily as a backdrop for stories about middle aged men’s marital difficulties. I want books that explore the meanings and consequences of climate change for people’s lived experience. Examples I’ve come across are [b:Flight Behaviour|15705026|Flight Behaviour|Barbara Kingsolver|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1345180767l/15705026._SY75_.jpg|18945788] (which manages to have a marital difficulties sub-plot without it dominating) and [b:The Carbon Diaries 2015|4935015|The Carbon Diaries 2015 (Carbon Diaries, #1)|Saci Lloyd|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1273722854l/4935015._SY75_.jpg|5000676] (which remains a great climate change novel despite the title being overtaken by time).

I am willing to concede that ‘The Lamentations of Zeno’ quite possibly loses something in translation, especially the metatextual interludes at the end of each chapter. These didn’t really work for me; John Brunner did the same thing far better in [b:Stand on Zanzibar|41069|Stand on Zanzibar|John Brunner|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1360613921l/41069._SY75_.jpg|2184253]. (Actually, Brunner’s [b:The Sheep Look Up|41074|The Sheep Look Up|John Brunner|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386924437l/41074._SY75_.jpg|900514] is a brilliant, devastating novel about environmental pollution. As it was written 1972, however, climate change is not mentioned.) Although the setup of a jaded glaciologist leading an Antarctic cruise for the very rich seemed ideally suited to interesting environmental commentary, not much materialised. The odd incident stood out, generally involving penguins, but the narrative was weighed down by awkward, pointless sex scenes and digressive anecdotes. The blurb claims it, ‘recalls the experimentation of high-modernist fiction without compromising a limpid sense of place or the pace of its narrative’. I’m afraid I must disagree on all fronts. As a novel it felt conventional rather than experimental to me, had very little sense of place, and the narrative pace was glacial (sorry, couldn’t resist). Quite possibly this is a great work of literature that merely failed to be what I expected and wanted. If you weren't bored by Ian McEwan's [b:Solar|7140754|Solar|Ian McEwan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320510358l/7140754._SY75_.jpg|7404751], perhaps you might like it. Just don’t expect to find anything meaningful about climate change within. ( )

Here's a little book, both funny and sobering (certainly entertaining), that tackles the big issues of global warming and climate change. Zeno Hintermeier is a scientist, a glaciologist, working as a tour guide aboard a vessel headed for Antarctica. The book chronicles his attempts to get the wealthy tourists to marvel at the landscape and see the world as he does. He "bemoans" the loss of his beloved glaciers and desperately wants others to understand what is happening to this world. Zeno is not the most likeable fellow, he's a bit angry and whiny, but, oh, when he talks about the icy world he loves....he clearly is a romantic, and is almost impossible not to like. ( )