Forty Signs of Rain
In anticipation of Kim Stanley Robinson’s upcoming FIFTY DEGREES BELOW (due in October; look for our review then), I decided to read that book’s predecessor, FORTY SIGNS OF RAIN, the first of the author’s “Science in the Capital” trilogy of brainy eco-thrillers.
As the title hints at (and the book jacket confirms), a major storm is about to hit Washington, D.C., the result of global warming. In most fiction, that storm would account for a majority of the action, but in FORTY SIGNS, it’s only the last 10 percent of the book. Everything before is all setup and characterization, which is what really sets this novel apart and makes it different from anything I’ve ever read. Instead of using the threat of the storm to create suspense, Robinson wrings it out of the seemingly mundane, from grant proposals to policy making.
There are three main characters through which this ambitious story is told. Anna Quibler works for the National Science Foundation, where she is frustrated by budgetary shortfalls that do not allow her organization to fund the projects that will not only make a difference, but potentially save the world. Agreeing with her is her work-from-home husband (aka Mr. Mom) Charlie, a senator’s aide and vocal advocate of global warming issues. Frank Vanderwal is a colleague of Anna’s at NSF, also trying to cut through red tape in order to secure funding for projects that matter. (Another recent book, Michael Crichton’s STATE OF FEAR, also centered around global warming, but this novel takes the opposite position.)
Granted, I’ll be the first to say that FORTY SIGNS sounds boring, but in truth, it’s seductively intriguing, a purposely paced, hard-science melding of weather and politics, like a thinking man’s DAY AFTER TOMORROW. I really got caught up in the characters and their daily lives – even the description of breast-pumping was interesting – to where I forgot a storm was even going to figure into it. It’s to Robinson’s credit that the story would remain absorbing even without it, but its sudden appearance suggests FIFTY DEGREES BELOW will be even better.
This is the first Robinson novel I’ve ever read, but by no means will it be the last.
[...] • Finally, FIFTY DEGREES OF RAIN is the middle chapter in Kim Stanley Robinson’s “Science in the Capital” trilogy, which kicked off last year with the impressive FORTY SIGNS OF RAIN, which we reviewed here. We’d love to say this book is every bit as impressive – perhaps even more so – but our review copy has yet to arrive. (Hint hint, Bantam.) [...]
[...] 3. FIFTY DEGREES BELOW by Kim Stanley Robinson FORTY SIGNS OF RAIN was one of the best science fiction books I’ve read since his previous effort, THE YEARS OF RICE AND SALT. Climate change enthusiasts who got put off by Michael Crichton’s FOX News-style STATE OF FEAR should give it a try. [...]
[...] Following the rainstorm that flooded Washington, D.C. in his FORTY SIGNS OF RAIN, Kim Stanley Robinson continues his “Science in the Capital” trilogy with a most cruel winter in FIFTY DEGREES BELOW. [...]
[...] SIXTY DAYS AND COUNTING by Kim Stanley Robinson – The thinking man’s science-fiction thriller trilogy concludes, with Washington, D.C. presumably under some kind of heat wave, following FIFTY DEGREES BELOW’s snowstorm and FORTY SIGNS OF RAIN’s torrential floods. I never thought a mixture of extreme weather and environmental politics would make for good reading, but Lordy, does it ever. (Feb. 27) [...]
[...] than ever, it’s a lackluster end to an otherwise strangely satisfying series. Beginning with FORTY SIGNS OF RAIN, Robinson always has made the action and the weather on equal ground with the politics, but [...]