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A review by bandysbooks
Playground by Richard Powers
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I have never previously read a book by Powers, despite owning a copy of The Overstory. I picked this particular book up in an effort to read the entire 2024 Booker Longlist. Upon finishing it, I’m not quite sure what to think.
Playground is a long, meandering journey. Nothing is straight to the point and at first everything seems disconnected, but the beauty is that as the story progresses everything seems to weave together through our 4 different main characters. It leaves the story feeling both fragmented and complete which is an odd combination.
For me, the best part of this story was Evelyne a forward thinking, deep sea scuba diver. I related very much to her for a multitude of reasons, but primarily in her breaking into the boys club attitude and her passion for the underwater world. As a scuba diver myself, I really loved the descriptions of the ocean.
I did struggle with following everything that was happening in the book. This is clearly really smart writing and I think it would be easy for the average reader to miss bits and pieces.
All in all, this was an interesting experience. I can’t say that I absolutely loved this book, but I didn’t hate it either. I appreciated a lot of its messaging around tech and nature in particular.
Playground is a long, meandering journey. Nothing is straight to the point and at first everything seems disconnected, but the beauty is that as the story progresses everything seems to weave together through our 4 different main characters. It leaves the story feeling both fragmented and complete which is an odd combination.
For me, the best part of this story was Evelyne a forward thinking, deep sea scuba diver. I related very much to her for a multitude of reasons, but primarily in her breaking into the boys club attitude and her passion for the underwater world. As a scuba diver myself, I really loved the descriptions of the ocean.
I did struggle with following everything that was happening in the book. This is clearly really smart writing and I think it would be easy for the average reader to miss bits and pieces.
All in all, this was an interesting experience. I can’t say that I absolutely loved this book, but I didn’t hate it either. I appreciated a lot of its messaging around tech and nature in particular.