Review: PLAYGROUND: A NOVEL

I just finished reading Playground by Richard Powers. The book is both brilliant and perplexing at the same time. I've reread the ending three times and I still don't think I know what happened. I;ve even visited a few websites which say they will explain the conclusion but after reading what they wrote I still don't "get it." so, with that in mind, I've decided to give this review over to others (you know, the more qualified folks than me) to tell you what is so wonderful and mystifying about Playground.

First a summary --

Playground is a least partially set on a tiny island, Makatea, part of French Polynesia, in the South Pacific. The island was once ravaged for its abundant stores of phosphate causing great environmental degradation. Now only a handful of people still reside on the island, many barely surviving on the limited resources. When a California-based company expresses interest in creating a seasteading community off their coast, the citizens are rightly skeptical that all the promised infrastructure will end up degrading the environment of their island and reef even further. 

The story revolves around the stories of three characters: Todd Keane, Rafi Young, and Evelyne Beaulieu.

Evelyne, who is 90 by the end of the story, falls in love with deep-sea diving at a very young age. She becomes a marine biologist who is dedicated to studying life in the oceans. Over her long life she has witnessed the effects that climate change has had on sea life and she is very worried about the future.

Todd and Rafi meet in high school and become friends over their love of games -- first chess and later GO. Both boys are brilliant. They room together in college where Todd studies computing and code-writing eventually developing the very popular online game, Playground. Rafi gets his degree in the humanities with a focus on literature and poetry. The boys, now men, still enjoy playing Go together and bouncing ideas of each other. When Rafi meets a girl who is a talented artist, he knows he wants to marry her someday. As Rafi and Ina get closer to each other they get further away from Todd. Eventually the friends split up due to clashes over their differing worldviews. 

Todd's "Playground" becomes wildly popular and he makes a lot of money. Later he works on cutting-edge technology related to AI. When Todd is 57, however, he is diagnosed with Lewy-body dementia. He learns that the disease is progressive and he will eventually lose all memory and ability to care for himself. At this point he decides to write down his story and create what he hopes will be his legacy. The narrator in the portion of the book whose text is italicized is Todd's story.

Or is it?

Now let's see what I can figure out from other reviewers --

First from the New York Times, this headline about the author Richard Powers with a reference to his Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Overstory and trees:

The reviewer talks a lot about Powers' brilliance at writing about environmental topics but it also gives more details about the plot. However this is all that is said about the confusing conclusion:

Powers, who published early on artificial intelligence with “Galatea 2.2” (1995) reintroduces it here with an all-knowing tool, a collaborative “nanny app” called Profunda, which ostensibly will help the skeptical islanders. And the late twist this device enables, whorled as a seashell, may leave even the highest VO2 max reader gasping a little for air.

Clearly the reviewer doesn't want to give away any spoilers but this paragraph is about as clear as mud and didn't enlighten me at all.

I like this review better that Y. Dawoor wrote for The Guardian, starting with this description of the book:

AI thriller is for sure and one hardly sees it coming. At least this time the review acknowledges that the conclusion has a plot twist, but doesn't want to spoil things for you, the potential reader:

The novel’s most disquieting inquiries are concerned with AI and its fast-evolving capabilities. Will it lead to human extinction? What leverage will it give to good and evil? Could it resurrect the dead? Is it the future of storytelling?...That Powers is an outstanding writer is hardly news. But with Playground, he proves himself a wizard. This novel is one long, clever magic trick. You approach the end thinking you have everything figured out. But then the author does something quite extraordinary – a move it would be criminal of me to give away. Let’s just say the reader is left reeling as the book’s conceit is revealed and the novel ascends to the plane of true, indisputable greatness.

My favorite parts of the story were the scenes described by Evelyne of what she witnessed during her dives. Dawoor agrees with me, saying, "Some of the underwater scenes are so limpid and sensorially rich, it’s like watching an oceanic feature in Imax; throughout, there’s a quasi-spiritual appreciation for the wonders and mysteries of marine life."

The theme of  value of "play" is apparent throughout the book. Todd and Rafi play chess and Go. Todd makes a killing on his online game "Playground". Even sea creatures like to play, as Helen McAlpin highlights in her review for NPR:

"If you want to make something smarter, teach it to play," remarks a trailblazing oceanographer in Richard Powers' Playground. Evelyne Beaulieu is one of several brilliant characters in the novel who eagerly approach their work every day with the excitement of "a babe in Toyland." During decades exploring the ocean floor and playing "hide-and-seek with octopuses and tag with pygmy seahorses," the Montreal-born diver feels as if she's been "set loose in the greatest playground any child had ever seen." But she is also concerned by the changes she's witnessed over the years — including reefs and species that have been decimated.

McAlpin concludes her review by stating that Powers does a masterful job weaving the three strands of the stories together but he "still, he manages to pull off a sly — and disturbing — twist in the novel's profoundly affecting climax."

I give up. No one is going to explain the conclusion to me and I'm not going to spoil the ending for you. Guess you'll have to read the book and find out for yourself!

-Anne