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"the star we see is not the actual star"
2021-Oct-02, Saturday 11:49 amIt's been a long time since I read a book that made me lose sleep. I stayed up late at night or turned on a light early before dawn to continue reading "The Actual Star" by Monica Byrne. To call it simply a Mayan version of "Cloud Atlas" would be a disservice to both stories. In a sense, this story is simpler, involving only 3 time periods: the years 1012, 2012, and 3012 CE. The narrative cycles through past, present, and future in the same forward sequence repeatedly. Each millennium involves a cave in Belize, a holy site where the neighboring land seems to call for human visitors to walk its surface.
The past brings us a story of Mayan royalty, both horrifying and fascinating. The reality of the early American sports ball game (and world's oldest team sport) is... repulsive, even if you already know its deadly historical significance, as I did. Learning it new from this book will be brutal for some readers. The author doesn't shy from presenting its reality and psychological justifications, but without making us sympathetic (not exactly) to its instigators and audience. They, too, are part of this story of humanity across time.
The present starts here in Minnesota, then quickly shifts to Belize. We join some of the main characters as part of the local tourist industry focusing on that cave I mentioned. No less vicious or bloody than the earlier time period, perhaps, just a lot more familiar. As someone mentions elsewhere in the story, the gods of Xibalba require human blood, but the gods of capitalism require human time. Either way, you sacrifice a portion of your life. It is in this period, "The Age of Emergency" around 1945-2129, that the future is born. The glossary at the end of the book explains this age resulted in "mass extinction, catastrophic climate change, and human displacement on a global scale".
The future is the part that kept me hooked. Continuing that same glossary entry, the new age of humanity "was founded in reaction to the Age of Emergency: as the undoing of the conditions that led to it, and as a codification of a postcapitalist, extreme-weather, refugee-led world." And it is fascinating.
Language, though, does make it a bit hard to read some parts of the book. It includes some Spanish. I remember barely enough Spanish and Latin to understand a general idea of many sentences, and I resorted to Google Translate to nail down a precise meaning for a particularly important phrase when it appeared. There's also some Kriol mixed in. I had little luck understanding the written text, but when "sounding out" those words with an imagined heavy Jamaican accent, I almost always understood quickly. It's close enough to English for me to get it.
The reviews are excellent, and I gladly add my recommendation to this story. Very worthwhile.
The past brings us a story of Mayan royalty, both horrifying and fascinating. The reality of the early American sports ball game (and world's oldest team sport) is... repulsive, even if you already know its deadly historical significance, as I did. Learning it new from this book will be brutal for some readers. The author doesn't shy from presenting its reality and psychological justifications, but without making us sympathetic (not exactly) to its instigators and audience. They, too, are part of this story of humanity across time.
The present starts here in Minnesota, then quickly shifts to Belize. We join some of the main characters as part of the local tourist industry focusing on that cave I mentioned. No less vicious or bloody than the earlier time period, perhaps, just a lot more familiar. As someone mentions elsewhere in the story, the gods of Xibalba require human blood, but the gods of capitalism require human time. Either way, you sacrifice a portion of your life. It is in this period, "The Age of Emergency" around 1945-2129, that the future is born. The glossary at the end of the book explains this age resulted in "mass extinction, catastrophic climate change, and human displacement on a global scale".
The future is the part that kept me hooked. Continuing that same glossary entry, the new age of humanity "was founded in reaction to the Age of Emergency: as the undoing of the conditions that led to it, and as a codification of a postcapitalist, extreme-weather, refugee-led world." And it is fascinating.
- Sex. As a result of population collapse and the required nomadism of the age, humans bioengineered themselves so that each person was capable of reproduction, rather than just half of the population. All humans have all functional organs needed to breed and raise infants... and they do.
- Brain. Recognizing the cost of information overload in humans, they designed an otracortex. It's a directed brain growth that helps interface with the augmented reality provided by global computer networks. It's also used heavily in training sessions for specialized knowledge, like in Matrix. Somebody needs to know a skill? Absorb a torrent of information, then sleep a few days while the slower brain integrates that information. It also allows access to the history of any other human via the "documented anarchy" of the time, when all human activity is recorded and accessible... as well as the history of you accessing someone's history. This is very close to the technological telepathy that I've mentioned many times over the years.
- Skin. Human pelts are now a result of refugee technology ("fugitech") that permits photosynthesis, regeneration, temperature regulation, and so much more that's needed for nomads on a planet made hostile to old-style humans by climate change.
Language, though, does make it a bit hard to read some parts of the book. It includes some Spanish. I remember barely enough Spanish and Latin to understand a general idea of many sentences, and I resorted to Google Translate to nail down a precise meaning for a particularly important phrase when it appeared. There's also some Kriol mixed in. I had little luck understanding the written text, but when "sounding out" those words with an imagined heavy Jamaican accent, I almost always understood quickly. It's close enough to English for me to get it.
The reviews are excellent, and I gladly add my recommendation to this story. Very worthwhile.