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Recursion 6: More questions and discussion
I'm interested in hearing from everyone about what questions and thoughts reading the book provoked. So this is a space for more questions or thoughts. Also, fell free to start more threads if you feel that would be helpful.
Comments
I'll come back to this one: meanwhile commenting to I get to see other replies
I have one thought. The novel was about people, but they seemed more collections of experiences than personalities, especially for the major ones. For example, with the cop, I had a great sense for what he went through, but not what he was like.
I don't know if this is a weakness, or something very on the nose and deliberate considering the theme of the book.
There wasn't much space in the book for us to explore the characters' personalities: they were generally driven by events to move quickly through decisions. But I think that's pretty standard for thriller type books.
Another issue was the idea of "psychic disintegration" for people who've lived multiple lives, especially when they're living much the same events over and over. Is there a limit to how much one personality can absorb? What happens when people cross that threshold?
Is the cop character a cipher for the author?
http://sboydtaylor.com/2010/10/05/a-new-on-writing-one-of-my-best-o/
To be fair, SF has a long tradition of stories with lots of big ideas and dull, unengaging characters. But yes, I think in the interview that @BarnerCobblewood mentioned, the author said that the cop was in a similar emotional/life-experience place to the author.
(BTW, the link should be http://sboydtaylor.com/2010/10/05/a-new-on-writing-one-of-my-best-o/: there's an extra "http://" in the original post)
Somewhat relevant to the link, I didn't find the book unemotional; there was a strong emotional core and drive to it. It's more that it read to me as "everyman" type characters reacting to extreme situations - which as @NeilNjae says is a staple of the thriller genre.
I liked the characters and had no problem accepting their thought processes and actions.