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Playground
Playground | Richard Powers
9 posts | 8 read | 1 reading | 8 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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review
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 😀 3d
squirrelbrain I just finished it about half an hour ago….need time to process it now. 3d
Suet624 Sounds wonderful. 3d
29 likes1 stack add3 comments
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Writeme
Playground | Richard Powers
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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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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. 🤷‍♀️ 3w
BarbaraBB Tempting review. Stacking! 3w
sarahbarnes Great review! 3w
quietlycuriouskate Ooh, my library hold for this has finally come in! ☺️ 3w
31 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! 4w
46 likes1 stack add1 comment
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TorieStorieS
Playground | Richard Powers
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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 ❤️❤️❤️ 1mo
MommyOfTwo I was about to ask how you have snow but I realized it‘s just black and white 🤣🤦🏻‍♀️ 1mo
Eggs Perfect 👌🏼 1mo
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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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! 🤪 2mo
49 likes1 comment