Wirkus, “The Infinite Future” (Reviewed by David Harris)

Title: The Infinite Future
Author: Tim Wirkus
Publisher: Penguin Press
Novel. Year published: 2018

Reviewed by David Harris, Jan. 31, 2018

5 stars.
I really liked Wirkus’s first novel, City of Brick and Shadow, and his second novel (this one) is likewise very good. The adjectives ‘novel’ and ‘quirky’ are the best ones I can think of to describe it. It’s rare for me at this time in my life to find a book I just can’t put down, but this is such a book. And I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

I agree with Robert, another Goodreads reviewer, that the scope of the story Wirkus tells here is probably much larger than the 390 pages allotted to it here. Had it been more on the order of 800 pages long, though, that may well have adversely impacted the reading experience for me.

The book is an interesting mix of science fiction and sociology, and it’s fun to speculate on possible parallels between the two stories. Harriet Kimball, an excommunicated Mormon studies scholar, and Irina Sertôrian, a fictional spaceship captain and subject of religious devotion of the distant future, are perhaps the most obvious one in that they both find themselves trapped by authoritarian figures / organizations and both eventually escape. (Although one could perhaps argue about how successful Harriet’s escape actually was.)

The ending of this novel works a bit like that of a French art film in that it comes when you are least expecting it and leaves you feeling somewhat perplexed. I may read the book again sometime in the future to look for clues to illuminate it. (Déjà vu! It seems to me I wrote the same thing after having finished Wirkus’s first novel.) But I wouldn’t say that ruined the reading experience for me. I quite liked the book, and I highly recommend it.

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