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Kim Stanley Robinson's "Sixty Days and Counting"

One of these days, I'm going to figure out why I keep reading books by Kim Stanley Robinson. Okay, I enjoy reading his books. They're not very good novels though, in that the plot (if it exists) is not central to the book. The situations and characters of all his books are well constructed and described, but then the course of each book is more or less just a chain of things that happen. This book is the third 500 page volume of a trilogy, and I can't even tell which character delivers the last line of dialog. Yet, I will probably buy "The Galileans" (his work in progress) when it comes out.

His books, I guess, are like real life. Things happen, you can't tell what's good or bad, but you just make guesses and listen to what other people say. The plots (if they exist) are so much larger than the characters that you can only infer their existence from where they intersect the lives of the characters, and not directly observe them.

I guess I keep reading because I so desperately want to know if he's a bad writer who just rants and rambles, or a good writer who is simply too nuanced for me to understand. I find it difficult to recommend him to others, though.

2007.12.26 at 4:00pm EST

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