Spin (Robert Charles Wilson)
I’ve haven’t reviewed many books on the blog that I’ve not read with my eyes — in other words, those I’ve “read” as audiobooks — but I’m beginning to think that practice is prejudicial. I didn’t review The Pillars of the Earth, my first download from Audible, and it’s been too long since I finished hearing it to try now. However, I will henceforth make no such distinctions between the written and the recorded book, to find a place where all books are created equal. Audiobooks are stories, too, Man! If you tear them, do they not … Oh wait, that doesn’t quite work, but you see my absurd logic point.
I can’t, however, stop myself from thinking that certain books are more audio-y. I wouldn’t want to hear something dense or intellectual through my earbuds, because I’m usually exercising, painting, sewing or otherwise physically engaged while listening, unable to give it my full attention. So audiobooks are my vacation stories: historical fiction, westerns, sci fi, chick lit. My version of a summer blockbuster movie — pure entertainment and a gripping tale.
This work of science fiction didn’t disappoint. It’s the story of three modern-age childhood friends who experience a unique era of the Earth, when some sort of field thingy blots out the stars and places the planet in a static time-warp thingy. (For descriptions of the plot that don’t involve the word “thingy,” pick up the book. HE makes it all make sense.) In other words, while only minutes go by on Earth, thousands of years pass in the outside universe. Suddenly, the fact that the sun will go supernova in a few billion years becomes vitally important, and human culture reacts in such interesting ways when they know their days are numbered and they’re powerless to stop it.
“Or are they?” says the blockbuster movie announcer man in his booming voice. The three main characters march toward their doom, each doing their own thing to change the world’s destiny, and a terrific suspense (and suspense of disbelief) builds. It was really a fun story, a tale that ended in a nice sequence opp that I might just download next time around.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars - Book club vacation reading
Fiction |