New York 2140
| Author | Kim Stanley Robinson |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Orbit |
Publication date | 2017 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 624 pages |
| ISBN | 978-0-316-26234-7 |
New York 2140 is a 2017 "climate fiction" novel by American science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson. The novel is set in a New York City that has been flooded and altered by rising water. The novel received positive reviews.
Setting
The novel is mostly set in New York City, which has been flooded due to two major rises in seawater levels caused by climate change.[1] All of the boroughs beside Manhattan are permanently underwater, and much of Manhattan below 46th Street is also flooded, and has earned the nickname "SuperVenice". Denver has replaced New York as the center of American finance.[2]
Several of the book's characters live in the MetLife Tower. Robinson chose the building as was designed to resemble the St Mark's Campanile in Venice.[3]
Scientific accuracy
The book is set in a New York City suffering from a fifty-foot rise in seawater. However, scientists suggest a rise between three and fifteen-feet rise is more likely by 2140, not a fifty-foot one.[4][5] Such a rise would likely mean some flooding in portions of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, but not on the same scale as featured in the novel.[5]
Themes
The novel is critical of capitalism, unregulated financial systems, and market economies.[6] Many of the citizens of the city live in communes and rely on organizations that pool resources, while the wealthy live in former office buildings and newly-built skyscrapers above 125th street and in Yonkers.
References
- ↑ Valentine, Genevieve (19 March 2017). "In '2140,' New York May Be Underwater, But It's Still Home". NPR. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
- ↑ Canavan, Gerry (11 March 2017). "Utopia in the Time of Trump". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
- ↑ Swearingen, Jake (27 March 2017). "Kim Stanley Robinson’s New York 2140: To Save the City, We Had to Drown It". NYMag. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
- ↑ Kopp, Robert (12 March 2017). "New York 2140: A novelist’s vision of a drowned city that still never sleeps". Salon. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
- 1 2 Rutkoff, Aaron (8 March 2017). "Only Sci-Fi Can Drown Manhattan and Make You Want to Live There". Bloomberg. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
- ↑ Rothman, Joshua (27 April 2017). "Kim Stanley Robinson’s Latest Novel Imagines Life in an Underwater New York". The New Yorker. Retrieved 5 May 2017.