Book Review: Artemis

Artemis, by Andy Weir

I really wanted to like this book -- it's written by the same guy who wrote The Martian, a brilliant novel of science and space. But this time, the setting is in the first colony on the moon, where people live in bubbles built into the dirt near the Apollo landing.

The name of the colony is Artemis -- goddess of the moon and sister to Apollo -- so it fits right into the mythology.

Weir's second novel has some of the same attributes as his first. It's well written; the science is explained well and correctly, without being overbearing, and it has several strong and diverse characters, including the lead -- a woman of color who is young, resilient, and stunningly real. Weir sets up a recognizable, yet unique, lunar culture, society, and economy.

But the book has problems. And those result from the story, which mutates from a wondrous start into a average, normal, and typical (three words meaning the same thing) tale of crime and adventure. Sure, it's enough to keep you reading, but if the novel wasn't set on the moon, it would be a lot less compelling.

Weir introduces us to Jazz, a young woman from Saudi Arabia who grew up mostly on the moon, and considers it her home. She enjoys the freedom she has, but dreams of becoming wealthy in the free-for-all that is the lunar economy. When we meet her, however, she is a poor, petty criminal with lots of intelligence and flaws. Her desire to move ahead often is thwarted by her penchant to break the rules and flout authority.

She soon meets up a customer from her smuggling business -- like Red in  Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, she's the one who can get you anything -- who is one of the wealthiest men on the moon. He has a proposition for her that could help her achieve her dreams. Of course, it's illegal -- that is, if Artemis had an enforceable legal code.

It's here where the book gets more into its action-adventure mode. But the moon is the star, and the story, while tedious in parts, remains readable.

Review: The Obama Inheritance

The Obama Inheritance, by Gary Phillips


When I started looking for this book, which takes a light-hearted, fictional look at the conspiracy theories surrounding President Obama, I began to think that maybe, just maybe, it was another crazy dream.

I had heard a review on NPR, praising the book. But then, that's a well-known liberal station that deals in what our current president calls fake news. Still, it sounded good, so I plugged it into my books-to-buy app. But mysteriously, the app could not find the book. And when I visited my local Barnes & Noble, it was not in stock. Moreover, the clerk told me the B&N website had it as "unavailable."

Hmmm.

Three other local bookstores -- one chain, two independents -- also didn't have it. No one at any of those stores had heard of it.

Double hmmm.

So, I finally traveled 800 miles from home, on my Thanksgiving trip to New York. And there, in the Oblong Books and Music store in Millerton, N.Y., I found it. I had to ask, but the clerk knew it and took me directly to it. It exists!

Seriously. It exists.

By the way, have I mentioned how much I love this bookstore? If you're ever in upstate New York, plan a visit.

Anyway. Here's the review.

This book is good, if uneven. But that's to be expected with a short story collection written by different writers. Some you will love. Some are just OK. Others you will deem unreadable, and move on. That's what I did.

But here are three I really liked:

One portrays Michelle Obama as the leader of a group of women officials who have second lives as a group of vigilantes, attacking pharmaceutical executives who blatantly raise prices on live-saving drugs. Obama's Book Club persuades the men to reverse position.

The second is a Star Trek takeoff, with Bah'rack playing the role of the logical Vulcan, and Dr. Joe Biden as the ship's high-strung doctor. Sometime in the future, the ship's captain notices an incursion in the space-time continuum, and concludes that Klingons have travelled back in time to the mid-20th Century. So the Vulcan and the doctor are sent to earth to fix the problem. Biden has to drop the doctor, since his knowledge is too advanced for this world. Bah'rack -- whom you will note is neither American nor even Earthling -- takes the Anglican version of his name. And the rest is history. OK, alternative history.

The third story is about the Second Amendment supporters who attack a hospital seeking the identity and location of the Obama Death Panels. Good characters and finely written.

Review: Wild Ducks Flying Backwards

Wild Ducks Flying Backwards, by Tom Robbins

This book really is front-loaded.

Unlike Robbins' previous works, it's not a curiously eccentric full-length novel. Rather, it's odd collection of journalism and fiction -- travel articles, profiles, short stories, poems, and meanderings on life and politics.

The best stories are the ones in the beginning, the articles in which he describes exploring places as diverse as Nevada and East Africa. Robbins captures the spirit of the places, taking them as they are, and explaining them as only a great writer can, willing to let the story go to wherever the adventure takes him. He does so in articles that are witty and daft, and, like many of his novels, confusing until you find yourself in the world he is exploring.

The profiles are OK, except here Robbins seems to start dropping his opinions in as if they are fact. But later on, they increasingly seem mired in sexism and thoughtlessness, surrounded by a libertarian philosophy that exhibits all the selfish flaws inherent in that viewpoint.

Still, it's a book I'd recommend for the wonderful writing Robbins is known for. And for showing us how to write a decent travel article.

Just skip over the bad parts.