HIGHLY Recommended Book: "The Immortal King Rao"

[ancianita]

Last edited Sat Jul 2, 2022, 04:13 PM - Edit history (1)

The New York Times book review says it better than I can.

The author, Vauhini Vara, is a former tech reporter for The Wall Street Journal and business editor for The New Yorker. (Published by W.W. Norton)

The premise of Vauhini Vara’s debut novel, “The Immortal King Rao,” is as simple as could be: A young woman named Athena, raised in secret on an island in the Puget Sound by an aging father who has injected her with genetic code that allows her to access the entire internet and also all his memories, finds herself in a prison named after her mother, awaiting judgment by algorithm for a crime she insists she did not commit. While she waits, she writes a lengthy self-defense addressed to the Shareholders of the mega-corporation that has replaced the U.S. government, indeed all governments, just as “Shareholder” with a capital “s” has replaced the word “citizen.”

Let me try that again. The premise of “The Immortal King Rao” is as simple as could be: A boy named King Rao is born into a large Dalit Indian family that has gained a foothold in the middle class through shrewd investment in a coconut farm. King is sent to study engineering in the United States, where he becomes the lead programmer and public face of an early computer company turned lifestyle brand turned global superpower, eclipsing Gates, Jobs et al. After falling spectacularly from grace, King retreats to a small island where his daughter, Athena, plays Miranda to his Prospero: ward, caretaker, secret sharer. He hopes for a day when he might right the wrongs he committed, as well as those he feels were committed against him.

Once more, with feeling. The premise of “The Immortal King Rao” is as simple as could be: A phenomenon called Hothouse Earth, the endgame of climate collapse, is gradually extinguishing human civilization and probably all life on the planet. But this idea is too big and scary for anyone to deal with, so they don’t. The Shareholder Government continues to use Social Capital ratings to keep its Shareholders working, consuming and posting. Meanwhile, in the Blanklands — formally recognized autonomous zones outside of Shareholder control — people who call themselves Exes have achieved something like functional anarcho-communism à la Proudhon’s workers’ collectives. The Exes believe that as the contradictions inherent in the Shareholder system become harder to ignore, more people will embrace their model. Unfortunately, by the time everyone turns toward their city on a hill, there’s a good chance that hill will be underwater.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/30/books/review/immortal-king-rao-vauhini-vara.html

Though one could start in Chapter 4, because the rest of the book will bring back its India origin story of the first three chapters, one will be stunned throughout.

I had to put it down and recover several times, just to think about what it means for our human future. Two days later, I still can't get its meaning out of my head and heart (and I read at least two books a week). It should be nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, if not the Nobel Prize. I haven't said that about any book since Stephen Greenblatt's The Swerve -- How The World Became Modern.

As is always the case, this story is much greater than this well organized review shows.
The Immortal King Rao asks: what will humans have to show for their existence,
once they and their meaning-making go extinct.

[Cheezoholic]

1. Friend loaned it to me

Brought it home. Went to start reading it the next day, couldn't find it. Turned the house upside down looking for it. Asked my partner if she'd seen it, nope. Thought maybe the dogs ate it, but no evidence. Had to go out of town to work for a couple days. Came home, THERE IT WAS ON THE BAR! with a note from my partner "OMG, you have to read this!" Really? arghhhhhhhh! She said she picked it up and was just browsing through some pages and couldn't stop lol.

You are right it is a great book, likewise one of the best Ive read in a very long time.

[ancianita]

2. Great story! Thanks for sharing.