I am curious what people's thoughts were about the book.
Personally, I was expecting to like this a lot more. I am an avid scuba diver so I was super excited to see Powers give the ocean the same mystical awe he gave forests in Overstory. I also recognized some of the Polynesian stories having grown up in Hawaii, and was excited to hear about Ina’s life.
Ultimately, the descriptions of the ocean somewhat fell flat. One of my earliest dive memories was seeing a cuttlefish and although the performance Powers described was on paper everything I experienced and more, it still felt it somehow didn’t do it justice. I did read that Powers dove when he grew up, but the book didn't read as if it was written by someone who loved diving.
Here are some of my additional thoughts:
I also wished we could see more of the relationships between the characters, especially Ina and Rafi. I felt we mostly got to know them through Todd's story, but Todd is likely the most unreliable narrator in the book. I wanted to see why they fell in love with each other, hear their side of the (seemly quite significant) relationship they each had Todd, and then also know how the conflict unfolded in their eyes. Given that Ina gets all the money in the end, getting to know a bit more about what drives her would have made the ending feel more closed. I also wish we could have seen a bit into Evelyn's life after Limpet died since that seemed like a very transformational moment for her.
I am also curious what people thought of the end. It felt a bit like whiplash going from Todd having heard that Rafi was dead to him being on Maketea. Does this mean he really didn't sponsor the project because he had any feelings left about Rafi and his friendship? Everything at the end with Maketea feels almost like a fantasy where everyone wins. In some ways it felt almost too neat after all the conflict that Todd just finished telling us about. However, maybe this just says more about me and my cynicism to be skeptical of a happy ending.
I am diving into Galetea 2.2 now, and am very excited to contrast the two views of AI almost 30 years apart, so if anyone has read both and have thoughts I would love to hear them.
by dr_verm