576 pages
English language
Published April 27, 2020
The Ministry for the Future is a cli-fi novel by American science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson published in 2020. Set in the near future, the novel follows a subsidiary body, established under the Paris Agreement, whose mission is to advocate for the world's future generations of citizens as if their rights are as valid as the present generation's. While they pursue various ambitious projects, the effects of climate change are determined to be the most consequential. The plot primarily follows Mary Murphy, the head of the titular Ministry for the Future, and Frank May, an American aid worker traumatized by experiencing a deadly heat wave in India. Many chapters are devoted to other (mostly anonymous) characters' accounts of future events, as well as their ideas about ecology, economics, and other subjects. With its emphasis on scientific accuracy and non-fiction descriptions of history and social science, the novel is classified …
The Ministry for the Future is a cli-fi novel by American science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson published in 2020. Set in the near future, the novel follows a subsidiary body, established under the Paris Agreement, whose mission is to advocate for the world's future generations of citizens as if their rights are as valid as the present generation's. While they pursue various ambitious projects, the effects of climate change are determined to be the most consequential. The plot primarily follows Mary Murphy, the head of the titular Ministry for the Future, and Frank May, an American aid worker traumatized by experiencing a deadly heat wave in India. Many chapters are devoted to other (mostly anonymous) characters' accounts of future events, as well as their ideas about ecology, economics, and other subjects. With its emphasis on scientific accuracy and non-fiction descriptions of history and social science, the novel is classified as hard science fiction. It is also a part of the growing body of climate fiction. Robinson had previously written other climate fiction novels, such as 2312 and New York 2140. The Ministry for the Future also includes elements of utopian fiction, as it portrays society addressing a problem, and elements of horror fiction, as climate change threatens characters.
A climate crisis novel with a positive twist is nice for a change. And there is a plot. However, the story is too often interrupted not only by technical explanations, which could have been presented in a more integrated manner, but also by quasi-philosophical passages which generally do not contribute anything of value. Would have been 3 stars, but one extra for the good idea.
Une exploration intéressante du futur climatique de l'humanité, à la fois brutale et utopique.
J'ai été un peu rebuté par le style particulier d'écriture par contre.
Hier geht um die großen Themen unserer Zeit geht: Klimawandel, Korruption, politisches Versagen, Demokratieuntergang, Hang zur Gewalt als Ausdrucks- und Gestaltungsmittel. Alles drin, alles dran.
Aber wie. Einen nachvollziehbaren Erzählstrang gibt es nicht. Einen Plot? Gibt es nicht. Statt dessen gibt es viel meinungsschwangeren Info-Dump. Dieser wird so unstrukturiert dargeboten wie ein Manuskriptentwurf. Es fühlt sich beim Umblättern an wie eine Sammlung von Schulaufsätzen.
Dieses Buch wollte mal eine gut erzählte Geschichte in Romanform werden, hat aber leider die entscheidenden Überarbeitungsschritte nicht bekommen.
Das ist kurz vor unlesbar. Leider. Es ist sehr schade um die Themen.
Das Buch fängt aufrüttelnd an, verliert sich dann aber schnell zwischen Versatzstücken einer Welt in der Klimakatastrophe und einem Reiseführer für Zürich.
Viele Aspekte und Sichtweisen werden kurz aufgegriffen, dann aber einfach wieder fallengelassen. Stattdessen liegt der Fokus auf der endlosen Beschreibung eines Projektes in der Antarktis, unfruchtbaren Besprechungen mit Notenbanken und Beschreibungen der Schweiz.
Inhaltlich hätten es vermutlich auch 250 Seiten oder eine Sammlung von Kurzgeschichten aus einer Welt am Abgrund getan.
Von Barack Obama empfohlen!Indien, 2025. Das Land wird von einer gnadenlosen Hitzewelle heimgesucht, die Temperaturen erreichen mancherorts über 50 Grad. Hunderttausende Menschen sterben, manchmal werden ganze Stadtviertel ausgelöscht. Erschreckend nahe an der Wirklichkeit mit einem gnadenlos realistischen Ausblick auf unsere Zukunft.
Well-researched vignettes and story lines portray some of the likelyhoods and possibilities the changing climate could dish out. The thorough research doesn't always equal plausibility for me, but I found it educating and probably a much healthier rumination than I can manage on my own. Don't mistake hopeful for utopian, there is no denial that if there going to be hope humanity is going to get it's ass kicked on the way.
