‘Playground’ by Richard Powers     (2024) – 381 pages

One of the conceits in the novel ‘Playground’ is that it was written by an artificial intelligence (AI) device called Profunda. Therefore I will address my critique of ‘Playground’ to Profunda.

Profunda, I was very impressed with your knowledge of the Big Picture concerning life in the ocean and on land, as well as your insights into the individual characters who play a part in your story.

I was first impressed with the vivid descriptions of fascinating ocean life provided by that intrepid undersea explorer Evelynne from Montreal.

“The ocean teemed with primordial life – monsters left behind from evolution’s back alleys – ring-shaped, tube-shaped, shapeless, impossible plant-animal mashups with no right to exist, beasts so unlikely I wondered if my beloved author invented them.”

I was particularly impressed with your “impossible plant-animal mashups” since as I look at pictures of deep sea life it is indeed often difficult to tell the animals from the plants.

Or consider the following when Evelynne sees a group of oceanic manta rays. She tells that the manta ray has flippers that could be called wings that span more than 18 feet and that it weighs more than a ton and a half.

“Mantas had a brain-to-body ratio far higher than most fish, as high as many mammals. A giant oceanic manta ray brain was the largest and heaviest of any animal that breathed water.”

“Left to themselves they might live for four decades or more. But life span was plummeting.”

When the humans finally destroy themselves with their nuclear and other weapons, the magnificent life in the oceans will continue to go on. I suppose that is some consolation.

I thought these vivid descriptions of strange ocean life were extremely well done. However, especially when you are describing technical processes and issues, your enthusiasm level goes too high and you provide us with too much unwarranted information. There was the danger, Profunda, that you would come across as a facile know-it-all. Also that Wow-Gee-Whiz attitude sometimes gets tiresome. Yet you deal so well with these large-scale issues, we don’t want to lose that.

Yes, there are your striking pictures of the wondrous but strange animals/plants in the ocean and your easy comfortable knowing analysis of extremely complex technical techniques and issues. But your real strength as a writer is when you get down to your individual characters and tell affecting stories about them.

There are four main characters in ‘Playground’. Evelynne, whom I have already mentioned, is an undersea explorer in a wet suit. Todd is a Silicon Valley tech wonder and a billionaire. Rafi is Todd’s Go-playing friend and often inspiration. Ina is Rafi’s wife and an artist.

You present the stories of these four individuals and their interactions in a fashion that held my interest throughout.

Profunda, I realize that you, as a computer, can read thousands of books rapidly, and you can take things from these books and use them with so much subtlety that you cannot be accused of plagiarism.

However one thing you lack is that you cannot really feel human emotions. I’m talking about not only the good ones like love and compassion and devotion which you seem to have some intellectual insight into already, but also the bad ones like jealousy, doubt, anxiety, and shame. Sure, you can read about guilt in Dostoevsky and others. However until you can actually feel guilty about your own abysmal behavior, you will not achieve that profound depth found in great literature or movies or music.

Grade:     A-