2024 Booker longlist: Playground by Richard Powers

by jenp27 on September 13, 2024

Our final book for our panel is Richard Powers’ Playground which will be released on September 24th, 2024. Many thanks to W.W. Norton& Company for providing us with advanced reader copies of the book.

Cover blurb: Four lives are drawn together in a sweeping, panoramic new novel from Richard Powers, showcasing the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Overstory at the height of his skills. Twelve-year-old Evie Beaulieu sinks to the bottom of a swimming pool in Montreal strapped to one of the world’s first aqualungs. Ina Aroita grows up on naval bases across the Pacific with art as her only home. Two polar opposites at an elite Chicago high school bond over a three-thousand-year-old board game; Rafi Young will get lost in literature, while Todd Keane’s work will lead to a startling AI breakthrough.

They meet on the history-scarred island of Makatea in French Polynesia, whose deposits of phosphorus once helped to feed the world. Now the tiny atoll has been chosen for humanity’s next adventure: a plan to send floating, autonomous cities out onto the open sea. But first, the island’s residents must vote to greenlight the project or turn the seasteaders away.

Set in the world’s largest ocean, this awe-filled book explores that last wild place we have yet to colonize in a still-unfolding oceanic game, and interweaves beautiful writing, rich characterization, profound themes of technology and the environment, and a deep exploration of our shared humanity in a way only Richard Powers can.

You can purchase a copy of the book here.

Keep reading to find out how our panellists rated this book.

Jen’s Thoughts: I saved this book to my last one since I generally love Powers’ writing and I wanted to end on a high note after many not so captivating books on the list. There is certainly a formula that Powers has when writing and his books are very noticeably his books. My favorite types of books are books with interlocking storylines that keep the reader actively engaged in trying to piece together the various threads. Powers does this like the best of them.

Every time I read one of Powers’ books, I find the enthusiasm and passion for the natural world dazzling. I feel myself drawn in to the natural world, whether it be related to the lives of trees in Overstory or the underwater world in Playground. This book makes you long to put on scuba gear and go diving (and I am personally terrified of scuba diving). Playground, however is more than just a dazzling exploration of the sea, it is also a wonderfully human novel that mixes vivid descriptions of the natural world with meticulous character development.

Writing quality: 5/5
Originality: 4/5
Character development: 4/4
Plot development: 4/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Did it deserve a spot on the longlist? Yes, one of the best books I’ve read this year.
Total: 18/20

Tracy’s Thoughts: Oh WOW. That’s what I’ve said with pretty much every Powers novel I’ve read so far, but still. This man can move me to tears with descriptions of swimming cuttlefish!
I marvel at his characters, his reflections on issues like the oceans and interpersonal dynamics, the research he must do and his ability to use it without showing off how much research he did. (except for maybe some of the tech stuff, but that could just be that I don’t understand it.) This was another wonderful book from Powers.

Writing quality: 5/5
Originality: 3/5
Character development: 4/4
Plot development: 3/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Did it deserve a spot on the longlist? Yes. This is a story, not just musings.
Total: 18/20

Nicole’s Thoughts: If AI were to write a Richard Powers novel, it would be Playground. AI works on pattern recognition and it’s easy to spot the pattern with The Overstory subbing the ocean for trees. There were also a lot of times I couldn’t get Ready, Player One out of my head. I struggled the whole book with the originality aspect, but I’m choosing to believe in the meta of this novel and that the structure choice was deliberate.

Powers is such a …. you know what’s coming …. POWERFUL writer. This story shimmered and maneuvered like a cuttlefish. This whole paragraph is cringe. Moving on, haha.

I don’t think there’s another book on the longlist that even compares to the sophistication and complexity of this novel. It is so hard to imagine that the same people who gave us this, can even remotely imply that Headshot deserves to be on the same list, but here we are. A great read, filled with friendship, betrayal, manta rays, adventure, Lewy bodies and emotion. So glad I got an early read of this.

Writing quality: 5/5
Originality: 5/5
Character development: 4/4
Plot development: 4/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Did it deserve a spot on the longlist? Without question.
Total: 20/20

Have you read this one? Let us know what you thought.

Our panel’s final rankings