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https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built.aspx.https://www.litalist.com/book/9781250236210.https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built.aspx.https://www.litalist.com/book/9781250236210.https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built.aspx.https://www.litalist.com/book/9781250236210.https://www.litalist.com/book/9781250236210.https://www.litalist.com/book/9781250236210.https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built.aspx.https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built.aspx.https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built.aspx.https://bookshop.org/a/102303/9781250236210.https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built.aspx.https://bookshop.org/a/102303/9781250236210.https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built.aspx.https://www.ebooks.com/en-ca/book/210110608/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built/becky-chambers/.https://bookshop.org/a/102303/9781250236210.https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built.aspx.https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built.aspx.https://bookshop.org/a/102303/9781250236210.https://www.ebooks.com/en-ca/book/210110608/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built/becky-chambers/.https://www.ebooks.com/en-ca/book/210110608/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built/becky-chambers/.It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend.
One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered.
But the answer to that question depends on who you …
It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend.
One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered.
But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how.
They're going to need to ask it a lot.
Becky Chambers's new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?
hardcover, 160 pages
English language
Published July 12, 2021 by Tordotcom.
This is exactly what I needed to read at this point in my life. It's so beautiful, and I cried my way through the entire second half. Perhaps it isn't anything groundbreaking, but it has the same "vibes" as a Studio Ghibli film or the video game, Celeste. It's no wonder that this book is so loved.
I'm still digesting this one, but I massively enjoyed reading it. The characterization and worldbuilding are top-notch and done with an exceedingly deft hand.
Kirjan maailmassa ihmiset elävät vehreissä kestävän teknologian kaupungeissa ja puolet planeetasta (tai siis kuusta) on rauhoitettu ihmiskunnalta. Ihmiskunnan muinoin rakentamat ja sitten omille teilleen lähteneet robotit ovat jo melkein unohdettua historiaa. Päähenkilö, kiertävänä "teemunkkina" toimiva Dex, lähtee etsimään merkityksen tunnetta ja törmää robottiin, joka on lähtenyt tutustumaan ihmisten yhteiskuntaan.
Eli siis jonkinlaista tekno-optimistista ja utopistista skifiä on tämä lyhytromaani. Mulle melko uutta "solarpunk"-termiä on myös käytetty teosta kuvaamaan. Ihan kivasti kirjoitettu ja sympaattinen tarina elämän merkityksen etsimisestä, jotenkin liiankin kiva ja mukava. Ehkä kaipaan skifiltäni enemmän konfliktia ja säröä.
What a joy this book was! It's a fairly light adventure, but with an emotional journey, some relatable characters, and a setting that feels like a relatively positive future with some unspecified dark times in its past.
This was the #SFFBookClub April pick
As other reviewers have already said: it is a truly gentle, hopeful, beautiful story about connection and self discovery and communication. It's got a post capitalist, solarpunk vibe of a world I'd love to inhabit, an appreciation for little pleasures and little deals, loveable characters, and it's also insightful and wise. Plus the main character rides a bicycle as their main form of transportation!
I now want to leave it all and become a wandering tea monk with a bike. That's how perfect this book is. Loved it.
A compelling yet soothing tale about a non-binary monk having a midlife crisis.
Topics: finding purpose in life, wilderness, the nature of consciousness, and more.
No violence, no struggle apart from that of a person against the pressures of exertion and survival outside of human civilization, and yet it is a page-turner.
It gets the "solarpunk" label because the setting is a human society which fits the bill: non-capitalist, low-impact technology. Main transport method: "ox-bikes," apparently the author's neologism to refer to electronically assisted bicycles that pull carts around. Personal computers are computers that last a person's entire life. Half of the available land is set aside for wilderness. Etc.
100% recommend. It would probably be a good introduction to science fiction for someone who's not familiar with the genre as it exists in the 21st century.
Content warning Spoilers
The prose is powerful. The attention to detail, opens up our imaginations towards the possibilities of a solarpunk world. High tech only when needed. We're not the center of the cosmos.
This is the kind of science fiction that makes me hopeful. Makes me sad as well. Sad that I will not live to see this world, but it could have been different, if history were to take a different course.
I wish the book was longer. I want to become a tea monk. I want to be a robot that stares at stalagmites for 30 years in a row.
There's a sequel, I know. But I wish there were a thousand sequels.
I can see now why this is a genre defining book, not because it has a solarpunk setting, but because, by existing, it is bringing those ideals and feelings into the real world. This book is a much needed respite for anyone feeling restless, tired or adrift. If you are trying to read something but don't have the effort, this is the book you are looking for
Utopian futures are not usually my thing (dystopia any day), but this was thoughtfully crafted and heart-warmimg so I enjoyed it. The only thing that bothered me a little was the gender pronoun usage. The main character is referred to as "they" throughout, which of course is fine but a little distracting for me.
Content warning minor spoilers
Having the #SFFBookClub pick this book for this month was a good excuse to read this book for the third time. My bias here is that I have deeply enjoyed everything I've read from Becky Chambers, so take from that what you will.
This is a slow-moving, character-focused novella that is more focused on existential questions and feelings than on plot. It's got some very funny moments, comfy world-building, and has incredibly endearing vibes. I love the idea of Allalae, god of small comforts so so much. (Also, yay non-binary protagonist, you love to see it.)
The short plot summary is that tea monk Sibling Dex struggles with finding satisfaction with their life and takes a jaunt off the beaten path to find it. On the way, they befriend inquisitive robot Mosscap who is trying to learn about how humans are doing and what they need. This novella is definitely the friends you make along the way. In a strict plot sense, the book ends the journey almost as it is getting started (setting up nicely for the next novella), but the emotional arc is amazingly crafted to deliver a gut punch.
In some ways, Sibling Dex feels like a stand-in for the reader themselves where Mosscap the robot as an outsider is positioned to be able to interrogate Dex about humanity itself and its self-perceptions. Mosscap's quest is to ask humans and find out "what they need", and ultimately this is the same question Dex struggles with themself. Dex feels like they need to get out of the city, or listen to crickets, or become a tea monk, or get away from their routine, or or or
I think it could be easy for this story to feel like it's about something very far from our world. Everybody's basic needs are taken care of. Capitalism seems to be in the past. The environment is being respected and rewilded. The autonomy of rebellious robot workers to stop working and fuck off is respected by all of humanity. All together it's a lovely and hopeful worldview that is hard to hold onto these days. But, the fact that Sibling Dex does not have any easy answers to pin their internal dissatisfaction on some obvious material lack makes their existential struggle and their worries about wasting their life that much more poignant.
I think I keep coming back to this book because it's an extremely hopeful view of the future that I want to hold onto, but also because the message is one I very personally need to keep hearing at this point in my life. It hasn't sunk in yet, but maybe on the next reread...
My first Becky Chambers book, and I think I finally understand the enthusiasm. Wonderful developing relationship between Dex and Mosscap, lots of nature, and woven throughout the story, and increasing towards the end, the struggle to find meaning in life.
TBH, I was about halfway through this before I even knew if I was enjoying it or not. But I did enjoy it, and I'm looking forward to reading the next Monk and Robot book.
Despite living in a utopia, a dissatisfied monk embarks upon a journey of self-discovery, illuminated by a charmingly inquisitive robot. Felt like a perfect cup of tea, served by a best friend with a warm embrace. This is #solarpunk.
sweet, beautiful, simple and short. this story came to me on the heels of a hard year, which itself was following a couple more hard years. sibling dex and mosscap were precisely the guides i needed to recenter at the end of this year and think about how to bring a little bit of tea monk energy into the next chapters of my life. i'll be rereading this one.
A wonderful, thought-provoking journey of self-discovery and celebration of the simple wonder of being, of existing. Highly recommended.
