Vernor Vinge
Rainbows End (2006)
Author: Vernor Vinge
Genre: Science Fiction (Philosophical Focus)
Plot Summary:
World renown poet, Robert Gu is given life again after a medical breakthrough in Alzheimer's care, but he finds the world much changed since his last memories before dementia took over his faculties. Now reduced to the current intelligence of a middle schooler, he returns to school to learn how to exist in a new information age in which special contact lenses and movement sensitive clothing allow individuals to communicate with others and a world wide interface through slight gestures. As a new inhabitant of this information rich world, he begins to gain technological knowledge, but is distracted and dismayed at his seeming loss of poetic voice and his estrangement from his family due to a history of verbally abusive behavior toward others. Finding voice in a cause to save the libraries at the UCSD campus, Robert joins with others in a complicated rescue endeavor. Meanwhile, a conspirator entices him, promising a return of his writing abilities in exchange for a few minor favors during his rescue attempt. This conspiracy, unknown to Robert, is attempting to implement You-Gotta-Believe-Me technology, a form of brain control through the vise of a simple virus. As Robert, along with his tech-savvy granddaughter, Miri, and his fellow rescuers get deeper into the attempt, things go awry, and the simple procedure becomes much more complicated, with much more at stake. SPOILER: The conspiracy, led by Alfred Vaz, is more multifaceted than it first appears. At the primary level, accomplices, Braun and Mitsuri, believe they are outwitting a major superpower by exposing plans before implemented. What they don't know is that Vaz is the actual mastermind, and plans to use this position as a cover for releasing his mind-controlling substance, thereby saving the world from itself by controlling it. Unfortunately, he hires the Rabbit, a unknown entity that turns out to be far more sophisticated than the spy and networker commissioned. After seducing Robert and his colleagues into implementing Vaz's plan, the Rabbit realizes the complexity of the situation, and, turning on Vaz, feeds enough information to Robert and Miri to negate all of Vaz's work. They are able to do so, but not without cost. Still, the adventure enlightens Robert to the optimism of his condition, and he is able to reconcile peacefully with his family.
Geographic Setting: San Diego, California
Time Period: 2025
Appeal Characteristics:
Vinge paints complicated characters with realistic relationships in his novel. Robert Gu struggles with being made infantile in his abilities, though seventy five years old, as well as with the consequences of a life filled with anger and abusive behaviors. Secondary characters react to him in realistic ways while carrying developed personas, for example, Miri, confident and capable, but also overburdened with family frustrations and mounting responsibility for a young person. The pace is very measured, slowed by the complexity of the multidimensional conspiracy that moves the story. Explanation of technology and the environment in which it is used also serve to slow the plot. This interaction of technology and the environment also dictates the setting of the story. While it occurs in San Diego, these interactions build a specific world that is crucial to the story. The story is interesting, though very technical and complicated. It requires a close reading to manage the many plot facets, character relationships, and conspiracy levels. The tone is somewhat philosophical, asking the reader to question things such as the need for acquired knowledge in an ready-access information environment, and the need for physical books in a world where all is digitized, indexed, and keyword searchable. Such dilemmas are secondary to the driving plot, but necessary to the understanding of the character and overall picture. Vinge writes in such a manner, using little humor except that which is inherent in the ancestral technological understanding (all dialogue silent messages are written with an HTML opening and closing tag), but give the reader room to question both the things gained and the things lost in such an environment. It is clear that while Vinge imagines great technological advances that may greatly enhance many lives, he, too, questions what is lost amidst the gains.
Read-alikes: Glasshouse by Stross may intrigue those interested in the characterization of Robert Gu and a conspiratorial story line. Robin also loses much of his memory and joins an experiment, where he slowly begins to remember and must reinvent his identity amidst danger from unknown enemies. Another novel with strong characterization and similar familial conflict, as well as similar pace is Spin by Robert Charles Wilson. As a youth, Tyler Dupree experiences the extinguishing of the stars and moon. Spin follows Tyler and his friends as they make their own attempts to extend life in a world threatened with an apocalypse. For those interested in the interactions between technology and environment and setting, try Feed by M.T. Anderson, in which Titus controls his environment and communications via a feed, hardwired into his brain. Like Robert Gu, he meets someone who forces him to redefine himself, discovering what may be lost in the gains of technology in this philosophical, but satirical read. Though not technologically based, characters struggle with similar dilemmas in A Million Open Doors by John Barnes. Two alternate worlds developed to showcase various points of human history suddenly collide, forcing inhabitants to interact and question lifestyle, value, and behavior choices. Rich, yet complicated characters and a philosophical writing style make this a possible read for Vinge readers. Finally, one might try an earlier Vinge novel, The Peace War, published in 1984 before the extreme advances in technology. The protagnist, like Robert Gu, is hard edged, serious, and sick, though in a different way than Gu. The writing style is similar, but contains less jargon. In this novel, researchers have found a way to protect citizens from war and its consequences, but strip civil liberties away, leaving a totalitarian run society. Hoehler, a researcher as well, leads a revolt against this atrocity.
Red Flags: Complicated technology jargon
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