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Pacific Edge (Three Californias)
 
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Pacific Edge (Three Californias) (Paperback)

by Kim Stanley Robinson (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Saint Martin's Press; 1st Orb Ed edition (Jun 1995)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0312890389
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312890384
  • Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 14 x 2.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 644,462 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #39 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > R > Robinson, Kim Stanley

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Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Utopian Gnats, 5 Nov 2003
By Patrick Shepherd "hyperpat" (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This book is part of Robinson’s 'Three Californias' triptych about alternate futures seen from the perspective of Orange County, California. Gold Coast is a dystopia, The Wild Shore is post-apocalyptic, and this book completes the thematic triangle as a utopia. Here we find a future that is a melding of socialism, capitalism, democracy, and strong ecological concerns. Personal income and business sizes have strict upper limits, everyone is required to devote some of their labor hours to community projects (usually involving some form of ecological cleanup), most people live as part of communal co-operatives, but at the same time people are free to chose their own jobs, live where they wish, have a voice in community affairs, and can say what they want.

Like most utopias, there are a few flies in the ointment, and it is around these that the story line is based. Here we find Alfredo, the town mayor, scheming a way to go beyond the personal income limit, and the company he is associated with has become involved in shady deals to try and sidestep the limits on company size. The object of the scheming is an undeveloped hill commanding a great aesthetic view of the town and valley it sits in, and the book starts with an attempt to rezone the hill for commercial development. The book’s protagonist, Kevin, something of an idealist and nature lover, not terribly politically astute but stubborn, stalls the attempt, but the battle is joined. As counterpoint to the political battle, Kevin becomes romantically involved with Alfredo’s long-time lover Ramona, who has just split up with Alfredo.

Unfortunately, these story threads are only mildly interesting. There is little work done to explore either the pluses or minuses of the envisioned society, Kevin’s personal problems are not strong enough, do not have enough angst, to make the reader become terribly involved in them, the basic object of the battle, the hill, does not seem deserving of all the energy devoted to it. This seems to be a typical problem with utopian novels – at their heart, utopias are necessarily dull, not having any strong points of contention on which to base a story. All of the actions of this book seem somewhat inconsequential, the object of contention is really a molehill, not a mountain.

The prose style is easy, the main characters are reasonably well developed, the plot line is coherent. But this is at best an average book, not nearly as good as The Wild Shore.

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5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent utopian novel, 2 Sep 2009
By D. BERRY (Edinburgh, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I disagree with Hyperpat's assessment of this novel, which I rate as the best in the triptych. The central point is the focus on the small decisions, the interpersonal relationships, that are needed to bring about a utopia.

Robinson explains some of his aims for the book via the ruse of a character from an earlier time making his own notes on the writing of a utopian novel. He wants to ensure that the society is embedded in the rest of the world and could believably be brought about. He also wants to show what would be needed to maintain it, and he makes the point that a utopia is a society in which people matter, regardless of the exact social structure. This expository strand is takes only a few pages and is expertly brought into the main narrative as the novel nears its close.

As in all three of Robinson's California novels, the characters are well drawn and the society clearly envisaged. The narrative focusses on Kevin, a thirty-five year old builder who is popular but rather naive. Part of the story deals with a threat to a small area of wilderness, which Kevin opposes via his role as a newly elected councillor, but of more interest to him is his burgeoning love affair with the ex-partner of the council's leader. Robinson neatly brings across both the nature of living in a small community and the actual priorities of an ordinary man.

A more cynical insight is provided by the alternate viewpoint, that of a lawyer who has just moved to the town from Chicago. Although sympathetic to the ideals of the town, he is shocked by their naivete and at first remains aloof from the debate.

The historical context is provided by an older man, who once worked to instigate the laws that restricted the size of corporations and brought this utopia about. He is gently persuaded to come out of retirement and help the youngsters in their own campaign.

The whole works very well. A utopia may be less exciting than the post-apocalyptic society of The Wild Shore, but Robinson makes it much more believable.
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