num_pages: 224
description: Is it possible to live in the future? -- to embrace the transformations created by every new thing, and at the same time to escape the depressing discrepancy between events that only happen and those which actually might? For Valeria Florescu, the desirable pathway would lead through 'a subtly coherent twining of adventures' in a personal quest for the 'extraordinary.' But when Valeria quits her job as research chemist at a large industrial laboratory, she discovers first that uncertainty is more than a law of particle physics. Almost immediately she encounters the contradictory allures of two attractive men: Liam Lenehan, whose mad passion for order takes the curious form of repairing obsolescence; and Humberto Vilanescu, alchemical entrepreneur and impressario of futurism. Against the claustrophobic inertia of well-meaning family members, Valeria is propelled by the magnetic promise of self-realization (and bizarre encounters with the inexplicable) into adventures that send her through supercharged Manhattan parties, orgies in postmodern condos, and the decrepit wilderness of exurban slums. And then, as the ruins of reality slip behind, she journeys toward the fulfillment of the ambitious yearnings of the electronic generation. The Other Planet is a brilliant decoding of the agenda for the future, as well as an acutely penetrating observation of the present. With its compelling sensation of deja vu -- and delirious soliloquies on scientific imperialism, enforced stupidity, movies and movie stars, the nature of magic, and millennial lust -- this breakthrough novel presents an uncommon and challenging experience.
language: English
title: The Other Planet
titlecomplete: The Other Planet
ratings_count: 6
publisher: McPherson