New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson

From Goodreads
It is 2140. 

The waters rose, submerging New York City. 

But the residents adapted and it remained the bustling, vibrant metropolis it had always been. Though changed forever.

Every street became a canal. Every skyscraper an island.

Through the eyes of the varied inhabitants of one building, Kim Stanley Robinson shows us how one of our great cities will change with the rising tides.

And how we too will change.

This is a climate change novel that knows what it's talking about.

In this book, Kim Stanley Robinson creates a realistic future New York City 130 years from now. Things are mostly the same as they are now. It's not a gritty, barren dystopia that creates the backdrop Quite the opposite; there is an underlying feeling of hope in this novel, and a feeling of inspiration to do better by the planet in regards to its ecologies, economies, policies, and societies. There is a clear agenda to create awareness for our collective and individual "footprint". 

This is my first Kim Stanley Robinson novel, and I quite enjoyed it. It is easy to read and follow, and unlike most futuristic "dystopian" novels that I read these days, it was easy to connect to the story, mainly because it follows something that is mostly tangible (I mean, look at what is happening in Texas right now). Kim Stanley Robinson creates a realistic, imaginative, and compelling future, one that is not so different from our present, which is what I think makes it so compelling.

Climate change or global warming or whatever it is you want to call it is a very real thing, and it could have been very easy for Robinson to become preachy, dense, and beating you over the head with his message, it hardly ever does, and when it does, it's simply to drive the point further. While some characters are less oblique in their references than others, Robinson's narrative never gets too self-indulgent or self-important. He tells his piece in a convincing, compelling way.

One of the many highlights of this book is the characterization. All of the characters bring something to the table in New York 2140. They come from all walks of life, so each character has a fresh, unique take at the subject at hand. While I did like some characters more than others, each character was well-developed, and was compelling. Not one of the characters detracted from the overall story or message that Robinson was putting forward. The neat thing about this book is how it is separated into different narrative section, each chapter being from a different perspective, yet all of the characters interact in each chapter. It was a neat way of telling the story, and you can see how these events can and do affect everyone. The storylines of the characters converge almost instantaneously to create one complex, layered storyline. 

New York 2140 is a very engaging, compelling read. Kim Stanley Robinson has created a very realistic vision of what the future could be like if climate change is not addressed. While there were some moments where the narrative got a bit too preachy, it was necessary for the narrative and the message to be properly conveyed. After hemming and hawing over what rating to give it, I decided to give New York 2140 5/5 - it should be required reading in 2017 and the years to come to avoid the future that Kim Stanley Robinson has envisioned.