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Playground
Playground | Richard Powers
12 posts | 10 read | 9 to read
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2024 BOOKER PRIZE From the Pulitzer Prize-winning and #1 internationally bestselling author of The Overstory comes an epic tale of love, friendship and humanitys next great adventure. When two brilliant misfits bond at an elite Chicago private schoolone a white legacy kid named Todd Keane and the other, Rafi Young, a Black scholarship student from the South Sidetheir friendship seems as boundary-breaking and limitless as the 3,000-year-old board game that brings them together. For a time, not even simultaneously falling in love with Ina Aroita, who grew up in naval bases across the Pacific, shakes them. Until finally it does, with a betrayal that launches all three of them on radically different paths. Rafi disappears into literature, and Ina into art. Todd, who once dreamed of escape into the world beneath the surface of the ocean, revealed to him by the legendary Canadian diver and marine biologist Evie Beaulieu, becomes instead one of the most powerful tech billionaires on the planet whose social media empire, Playground, is remaking the global order with its AI breakthroughs. But not even wild success can insulate Todd from mortality. As illness eats away at the brain that built it all, he dreams of the life that couldve been and the relationships he should never have let go. Before Todds final act is up, past loves and present ambitions collide on the ravaged Polynesian island of Makatea, where an unnamed corporation hopes to build the first floating, autonomous city on the open sea. Traversing borders and oceans, connection and loss, ingenuity and transcendence, Playground brings to light the systems of competition, cooperation, commerce, exploration and love that tie the fates of unlikely humans together, in Richard Powers most transporting work of fiction yet.
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Ddzmini
Playground | Richard Powers
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So my hubby had to drive to Bend, OR. For work and I tagged along… so he took me to two book stores and this was Dudley‘s Bookshop … so cute and I found the book I wanted and a few more 🤣📚

Texreader Yay!! Roadtrip to bookstores! 1w
Ddzmini @Texreader yep I‘m so glad I did I only have one other book I brought with me …. So now I have more options 🤗📚 1w
MemoirsForMe What a roadtrip! 👏🏻👏🏻📚📚 1w
Ddzmini @MemoirsForMe it is he had to work but I read a lot… over 600 pgs into the way of kings now I had just hit the 150-160 mark but definitely making progress 😊📖 6d
40 likes4 comments
review
squirrelbrain
Playground | Richard Powers
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Pickpick

I started this on audio and struggled to connect so switched to physical. However, whilst I really enjoyed the book overall, I think the lack of human connection might have been the issue rather than audio.

Neither of the two male MCs was very relatable and there was too much distance between all of the stories - they sort of came together at the end but I didn‘t feel emotionally connected.

It would still have made my #booker shortlist.

BarbaraBB I have this one waiting on my shelves 2w
quietlycuriouskate I loved it but, yes, there was an emotional coolness to it. 2w
Hooked_on_books I‘m glad you finally got to read it! I liked both storylines but I didn‘t really want them in the same book. 1w
71 likes3 comments
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Graywacke
Playground | Richard Powers
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Pickpick

My pup is out of this lion costume collar now. Surgery went well, recovering largely done.

Powers is an author determined to make quality fiction out of pertinent science. Here he tosses us a red herring, when a social media leader, author of AI-based Playground, suffering from a disease that affects his mind, looks at the oceans. I was waiting for the environmental hammer, but his focus is different. Thought-provoking. Not subtle.

Ddzmini I saw this book at the book fair and almost bought it now I‘ll have to get it 🤗📚 2w
AllDebooks Beautiful pup 😍 2w
See All 14 Comments
Ruthiella ❤️🐶❤️🐶❤️ 2w
DogMomIrene Glad your pup is healing. Those soft collars are such a great alternative to the cone. 2w
AlaMich I‘ve never seen a collar like that! It‘s adorable! However, my pencil-neck greyhound would probably be able to worm his way out of it. 2w
Leftcoastzen Awww , cute !🐶 2w
squirrelbrain Aw, such a cute collar - glad pup is feeling better. As for the book, I enjoyed it but also felt it was rather heavy-handed in places. 2w
ShelleyBooksie What a cutie! So glad that surgery went well and that recovery is going well ♡♡♡ 2w
dabbe Such a beauty! So glad surgery went well and that she's healing! 🖤🐾🖤 2w
Graywacke @AllDebooks @Ruthiella @DogMomIrene @Leftcoastzen @squirrelbrain @ShelleyBooksie @dabbe she says thanks to each of you. And she wants you to that she‘s much better looking without the pillow. Her words. 🐕 2w
Graywacke @Ddzmini hope you can get a copy of 2w
Graywacke @DogMomIrene @AlaMich that pillow collar was a huge hit it doesn‘t get in the way of her eating or getting up on couches. It‘s clearly much more comfortable. And she like to use it as a pillow 🙂 They come in different sizes 2w
Graywacke @squirrelbrain yeah, heavy handed 😇 2w
63 likes1 stack add14 comments
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quietlycuriouskate
Playground | Richard Powers
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Pickpick

#bookerprizelonglist

I loved it! I thought it followed a similar pattern to The Overstory, but focused on the ocean rather than trees. And, again, it's not so much about the plot as what it *means*. In short, it's a gorgeous "thinky" book that appeals to the heart (my favourite kind?). I'm disappointed it wasn't shortlisted.

BarbaraBB Wow what a great review. I have a copy so just need some time to read it 😀 3w
squirrelbrain I just finished it about half an hour ago….need time to process it now. 3w
Suet624 Sounds wonderful. 3w
31 likes1 stack add3 comments
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Writeme
Playground | Richard Powers
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Pickpick

Richard Powers is amazing. This story explores the inspection of AI and climate change; tech bros and poets. Lovely , fallible characters and lots of deep thinking. A very accessible read, despite all of the weight of the premise.

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Twocougs
Playground | Richard Powers
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Pickpick

It‘s a complicated story that all rolls together. Richard Powers is a master of writing.

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ClairesReads
Playground | Richard Powers
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In Playground, Powers turns his attentions to the magnificent, mysterious, absorbing world that are our oceans. Through this medium, he tells a story about big issues and ideas like technological development, AI, capitalism and its environmental impact, and the tentacles of colonialism. Where it could be didactic, it never feels it, because it‘s a story with a living, breathing heart.

squirrelbrain Great review - I think I might have to get the print version of this. I have it on audio but the narrator is strangely muffled and I struggle to hear it when driving. 🤷‍♀️ 1mo
BarbaraBB Tempting review. Stacking! 1mo
sarahbarnes Great review! 1mo
quietlycuriouskate Ooh, my library hold for this has finally come in! ☺️ 1mo
32 likes1 stack add4 comments
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Graywacke
Playground | Richard Powers
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Another book i started last week. Slowly making way through. Joy of discovery mixed with drama of the characters lives. Fun stuff so far. #booker #booker2024 #longlist

BarbaraBB Looking forward to your review and to this book! 1mo
46 likes1 stack add1 comment
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TorieStorieS
Playground | Richard Powers
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Pickpick

This marks my first experience with Powers‘ writing & I really enjoyed the theme & concepts. The focus on the magic of the ocean, particularly in Evie‘s sections were the best parts of the story. Her passion, the performance of her accent & palpable love of the ocean & its amazing creatures really carried me through some of the (to me) duller moments between the competitive boys & their own love of game play from chess to go. Begs for discussion!

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Kshakal
Playground | Richard Powers
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Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks ❤️❤️❤️ 2mo
MommyOfTwo I was about to ask how you have snow but I realized it‘s just black and white 🤣🤦🏻‍♀️ 2mo
Eggs Perfect 👌🏼 2mo
27 likes3 comments
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jlhammar
Playground: A Novel | Richard Powers
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Not quite a love for me the way Bewilderment and The Overstory were, but I liked it very much. Wouldn‘t be sad if we see this on the shortlist tomorrow! #Booker2024

Graywacke Cool that you got it. I‘m waiting for Sep 24. 2mo
JenP I did love it. Thought it was very clever but I do like his books. Agree that overstory was better but I also loved this one 2mo
jlhammar @Graywacke I got lucky - ordered it from B&N and they sent it early (pre-pub date)! 2mo
BarbaraBB Lucky you to have got a copy! I hope to read it soon too. 2mo
squirrelbrain I wondered how you managed to get a copy! 2mo
81 likes1 stack add5 comments
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Hooked_on_books
Playground: A Novel | Richard Powers
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Pickpick

Playground winds together the story of pioneering female diver Evelyn and the friendship of over achievers Rafi and Todd. Both storylines are compelling, particularly the rapturous passages about the ocean with Evelyn (whom I adored), but I‘m not sure I liked these two together. And I have questions about the ending. I liked it, but not my favorite from Powers.

squirrelbrain Gah! I‘m jealous! I keep checking, just in case! 🤪 3mo
49 likes1 comment