Buckner, M.M.: War Surf
War Surf (2005)
Written by: M.M. Buckner
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 375
A while back, and by a while I mean a couple of years ago, I was browsing through a website that listed the Philip K. Dick award nominees and winners per year. I was doing this because between all of the major awards, the PKD seems to nominate and award books that tickle my fancy more often than not, which makes me pay attention to what's getting nominated. War Surf was the 2005 winner (as announced in 2006), and it got my attention for a couple of reasons, least of all that the author, M.M. Buckner was a woman and she lives in Tennessee. You know how I am about "local" (the whole state of TN is local to me, in case you didn't know) writers, let alone women writers, so I had to give this a shot.
It's been sitting on my shelf a while though, and I can't tell you why. I pulled it down now because I needed something very different and something very portable from Dan Simmons's Drood, and this fit the bill.
The premise: Nasir Deepra is a 248 year old execute whose one of the select few who rule 23 century Earth. He looks and acts nothing like an old man, and in order to make life actually INTERESTING after so many years, and he and friends "war surf," which means they sneak into a war zone, get involved in the scuffle and broadcast all of the footage on the net. But things change when Nasir becomes obsessed with a twenty-something year old woman named Sheeba. Just being around her makes him push all his limits and break all his rules, and soon he's going to break the biggest rule of all: to surf the orbiting satellite called Heaven, which is the most dangerous war surf of all, and where all of his secrets will be revealed if he isn't careful.
Spoilers ahead.
There's a lot of interesting facets to this book. One of the first things that struck me, especially during the actual war surfing, was how the scenes and the action seemed to be hugely influenced by gaming. I'm no gamer, but my husband is addicted to his PS3 and the Killzone games, and so I get stuck watching him play. More than once, the surfing reminded me of a kind of game, which is certainly what it is to Nasir and his friends, and more than once I had to remind myself that Nasir was actually IN THE REAL WORLD and not acting how some VR/gaming war zone fantasy. Because Nasir and his friends are so rich, even if they get hurt, it's easy to get themselves put back together. This creates a disconnect between what's happening and what's really at stake for the REAL parties involved in the war. Casualties aren't considered loss of life by Nasir and his fellow execs or anyone else who's viewing the footage. That's because the people in the war are protes (well, the agitators are protes, and those are the people the execs look down upon because they have a natural lifespan), and so when one of them goes down in a ball of searing flame, it's not real life, it's "Reel," which is really popular on the Net. The violence is nothing but a game to Nasir and his people, and it shows more than once during the course of the book, especially at the end.
Another really interesting facet to this book is the POV and voice. It becomes really clear, really fast that these people who now populate Earth, the execs anyway, are nothing but empty-headed idiots who go through the rote motions of life because there's nothing they're really fighting against. I think that's the primary reason Nasir and his friends war surf, because they're not only trying to be a part of something real, but they're also trying to push the envelope as far as it'll go, just to see how far is too far before their bodies can't be repaired anymore.
But I digress: Nashir is probably one of the most unreliable narrators I've encountered in a long time. At first, I was a little fascinated by his voice, but as I kept reading, the more irritated and frustrated I got with this character who is so selfish and so out of touch with everyone and everything else that he makes EVERYTHING to be about him.
For example: take his obsession with Sheeba. She's a physical therapist who's literally only twenty-something, who spouts off new-age-ish sounding gibberish and would be completely derided by Nasir if she wasn't so beautiful and if he wasn't trying so hard to get into her pants. Clearly, there's a relationship here, and sometimes we see it go farther than it should based on the fact they aren't lovers, but it's hysterical, frustrating, and kind of sad to see Nasir misinterpret nearly EVERYTHING Sheba says and nearly ALL of her actions. His obsession and his narration remind me, however intentional, of Nabokov's Lolita, though in this book, we don't get the consummation of a much older man with a much younger woman (let's face it, 248 versus 20-something is HUGE), but so much is similar that the comparison stayed fresh in my mind. The difference, aside from the obvious fact that this is SF, is that Nabokov's voice charmed me from the start, and the reader could really see things from the character's POV and sympathize with him to an extent, whereas here, Nasir is unworthy of sympathy because he's so lost in his own dillusions, even when the truth is right in front of his face.
There's something to be said for Nasir's ability to be so damned blind to the truth: we learn that, once he gets cut off from the Net, his NEMs, which carry out all the important functions to keep his ancient body healthy, start acting outside of doctor's orders to keep Nasir going, and one of the things they're capable of doing is suppressing his memory, especially at his own orders. So when Nasir wants to forget something, he can and he DOES. And when he wants to remember something, he can and he does.
This is not immediately obvious. Hell, we really don't get this important piece of info until the last hundred pages, and trust me, Nasir's a hard character to deal with during that time. I'm not saying the willful suppression of memory makes him sympathetic by any means, but it gives us a new level of understanding. After all, can you IMAGINE being that old and being literally hampered by all the horror of the past and haunted by all of the mistakes you've made? Memory repression is not only a survival mechanism, but it prevents you from learning from your mistakes. In some ways, it keeps you young, because you aren't weighed down by time.
Every chapter has a quote, all related to memory, age, and youth, and one thing that's proven over and over is that physical age has nothing to do with maturity or mental age. Nasir and his friends have regressed to teenage mentalities while carrying the prejudices against the younger generation for not understanding what THEY had to do to save the world. It's hard to believe, at times, that Nasir could be so old but yet so lacking in any kind of wisdom or maturity, but having finished the novel and considering all the bits and pieces I've gleaned from the book, it makes sense. Nasir, the oldest, acts like the biggest child, while the youngest characters of the novel carry the most weight because their experiences are so different that they're much older by comparison. Their experiences are the kind that Nasir and his friends are just sampling by war surfing, but by keeping themselves disconnected from the motivators behind the war, by hiding behind money and privilege, they're unable to truly understand what life has to offer. For them, it's all a game.
The book's about Nasir's disillusionment with that game, though it's really not obvious until the very end. His motivation for everything is simple, it's Sheeba, even though it takes the whole book for him to realize his obsession will never turn to true love, or rather--what he wants--sex. She falls in love with one of the protes on Heaven, and while all of Nasir's actions to save Heaven are to make Sheeba happy and to win her back, he never gets it, not even truly at the end, even though he knows the truth.
His sacrifice at the end isn't entirely selfless either. Sure, I think it's clear that Heaven and its problems have gotten to him, and he wants to protect Heaven's inhabitants and make Sheeba happy, but the truth is, what else can he do to make up for the horrors that he authorized? Sacrificing himself so that his NEMs can evolve and protect the life in Heaven is the very least he can do to make amends, and I think he knows it. He's got nothing left to live for, and as he mentions at one point, his time is over.
I've been interested in reading the Amazon reviews for this book, and they irk me a bit for different reasons. One reader was annoyed as hell by the obvious religious/Christian symbolism with Heaven, the garden, the blood, and the immortality, and while the symbolism is there, I think the truth at what Buckner was getting at was a little more, well, natural. Let's face it: death provides life. When the living die, their bodies go to the ground, they decompose, and the soil creates new life. It's a cycle. The truth is the book is about what happens to the Earth when that cycle is interrupted, and Heaven, the station/factory, is a kick in the pants reminder for Nasir (and Sheeba and anyone else who's willing to learn the lesson) that life is meant to be a cycle, not eternal. While Nasir in some way will attain a kind of immortality through his NEMs, it's no more immortality than what any normal person provides in death, or in passing on their genes, you know? There is no resurrection, there is no innocent sacrifice, there is no afterlife. I think the point is meant to be more environmental and natural than it is meant to be religious. You can read it as the latter, but I think you're missing the overall point of the kind of society that's been created on Earth versus the kind of society that's been created in Heaven.
Another review that got my goat was from someone who gave up after thirty pages. That in and of itself is understandable: these characters are not sympathetic at all. They're annoying as hell, and when it becomes clear that Nasir is narcissistic and kidding himself, the only reason to really keep reading is to see whether or not he gets the wake-up call he deserves. So that doesn't bug me. This did:
My second problem is that there wasn't a single idea in the first thirty pages. Science fiction is supposed to have some science in it. Really good science fiction brings in new ideas and technologies and shows how humanity and their societies are changed, influenced or formed by ideas, science and technologies. I didn't see one idea here that said "sci-fi" to me. There is some awesome sci-fi out there right now, chock-full of ideas on every page, brimming with action, and containing interesting, complex characters. I suggest Neal Asher (especially for action), Richard K. Morgan, Peter F. Hamilton, and Alastair Reynolds for starters. These guys write books that make you wish you could give them six stars.
Admittedly, this is a pet peeve of mine, this narrowing of science fiction to be about a certain TYPE of SF, how the story should be driven by the science. Why yes, that sounds like a logical expectation for SCIENCE fiction, but let's be honest: in reality, there's two kinds of SF: SF that uses science as a major part of the plot, and then the SF that uses science and technology as a backdrop. Both are perfectly legitimate definitions of SF, and this book starts out as a backdrop and becomes, I think, the major part of the plot. I should also note that if you want to take the definition of SF as a story that wouldn't exist if the SF element were taken out, then yeah, this book is totally SF. You just don't realize that in the FIRST THIRTY PAGES.
30 pages. There's plenty of SF backdrop to absorb, and frankly, if that kind of story bothers you, I think it'd be obvious by the back cover blurb that SF backdrop is the kind of SF this is. I guess I'm baffled because in the first thirty pages, I saw a lot of SF influence and a lot of commentary, especially in regards to the aging, and yet, it seemed this reviewer didn't. Admittedly, the reviewer hated the characters and I don't fault the reviewer for that all, but the notion that good SF must be chock-full of ideas that brim off every pages, well. Let me just say this: Neal Asher was one of those nominees that Buckner beat out, and we all know how I felt about Cowl. Buckner's book is better.
That's not to say it's perfect, and if someone can't finish this because they hate the voice and the characters, I don't blame them at all. It tries your patience, it really does. It's not a book I couldn't put down, and it's going to be a book I forget about, to be honest. But when I do remember it, I'm going to remember some very vivid elements, and I'll remember this character, and I'll remember Buckner's underlying commentary about life and death and the necessity of it. Oh, sure, that's all spiritual/religious/mystic crap that doesn't belong in SF, I know, I know. But when I see Buckner's name, I'll remember it and the circumstances she used to get the message across. And you know what? I'm more than happy to give her work another shot, especially to see what she can do with a completely different type of story and a completely different cast of characters.
Moving on, as I have a nitpick: I'm wondering just how much research Buckner did into blood types, or if at this time in the future, the positive and negatives attached to the blood type just don't mean anything. Because O is NOT the universal donor. O NEGATIVE is. As an A negative blood type, giving me O positive would kill me, which means that all O blood types ARE NOT UNIVERSAL. That irked me to no end, especially since I'm been researching blood types and donations for my own work and have all of that research fresh on my brain. But hey, at least she got the "wait 56 days between donations" part right.
My Rating
Give It Away: which isn't an entirely fair rating, but I can't sit back and say it's worth the cash either. It's somewhere in the middle. I think it's because the story, in the end, is worth the time you put into the book: it's a fast read (sometimes the voice reminded me of Palahniuk, but that's sometimes, not often) and has some interesting ideas once you get to the meat of the plot, which is what's REALLY going on in the orbiting satellite of Heaven and how the narrator is involved. However, you've got your work cut out for you. Nasir's no picnic of a person, and he gets really annoying, really fast. Most of the characters do, but I find that's because the characters are all products of their world, rather than the "fault" of the author (though, I've not read anything else by the author, so maybe she DOES have characterization issues). This book also has a splash of Lolita which is evident in the voice and the narrator's obsession with Sheeba, but there's more to the book than that. It does take a while to get there though, so that's why a rating for this sucker really isn't clear-cut at all. I will, however, be more than happy to read more of Buckner's work, so that in and of itself should say something.
Cover Commentary: while the cover is eye-catching, it really doesn't capture the setting nor the type of story this book really is. Every time I see the cover I think the artist (Chris McGrath) used Hayden Christensen as a model, because DUDE. That's who the guy on the cover LOOKS LIKE. Especially with that outfit that could be part of Darth Vader's armor! Tell me you don't see it, I DARE YOU. Okay, wait, I take back the dare: it's hard to see unless you're actually LOOKING at the physical cover rather than a thumbnail image of it, but still. HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN. So if this book is ever made into a movie, I know who'd I'd cast as the lead (yes, I know Nasir is Indian, but that character has used technology to scrub away his ancestry, so it's not obvious that he's Indian based on his looks).
Next up:
The Love We Share Without Knowing by Christopher Barzak
Drood by Dan Simmons