The Fortunate Fall by Raphael Carter
Tor Books, 1996
Overview: In the
Russian Historical Nation of the future, people don’t just use the Net, they
become part of it by wiring and enhancing their bodies. Maya Andreyeva is one
such wirehead, a person known as a camera who broadcasts images, thoughts and
even memories to viewers at home. While broadcasting a seemingly dry historical
story, Maya stumbles upon a dark secret that her government has been hiding. As
she pursues the story, she discovers that she has her own secrets hidden in
suppressed memories.
My Reaction: The
Fortunate Fall is a morally ambiguous story about a future where real life
is the Net and not the flesh. Because there is no life outside the Net, or very
little at least, people are at the will of the government or any other entity
that seeks to control them. I will spill the beans here and let you know that
part of the secret that Maya is hiding (or more properly, doesn’t even know she
is hiding), is that she is a lesbian, but that doesn’t even touch the surface
of this richly complex story. The story is ultimately one of Maya’s growing
autonomy, both from the forces of history and the forces of technology.
I enjoyed
this book for many reasons, though I think it spoke to me most deeply as a
cautionary tale about what can happen when a population cedes control of independent thought. The Net makes everything easy, but also is a tool for governments to
shape reality however they see fit. If you are into machines, computer science
or just interested in the power of virtual reality, this book has lots of great
detail that moves the story along. The flavor was reminiscent of Margaret
Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale, though with
omnipresent technology that can make thought crimes easily punishable. I was a
little confused by the dense technical jargon at the beginning, but after the
first few chapters, I hardly noticed it anymore. Though this is a story about a
wired future, it’s also a story about what it means to be human.
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