Something New Under the Sun
A Novel
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2.9 • 11 Ratings
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • A novelist discovers the dark side of Hollywood and reckons with ambition, corruption, and environmental collapse in “a darkly satirical reflection of ecological reality” (Time)
LONGLISTED FOR THE JOYCE CAROL OATES PRIZE • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, Time, Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Vulture, Thrillist, Literary Hub
“An urgent novel about our very near future, and a deeply addictive pleasure.”—Katie Kitamura, author of Intimacies
Novelist Patrick Hamlin has come to Los Angeles to oversee the film adaptation of one of his books and try to impress his wife and daughter back home with this last-ditch attempt at professional success. But California is not as he imagined. Drought, wildfire, and corporate corruption are everywhere, and the company behind a mysterious new brand of synthetic water seems to be at the root of it all. Patrick finds an unlikely partner in Cassidy Carter—the cynical starlet of his film—and the two investigate the sun-scorched city, where they discover the darker side of all that glitters in Hollywood.
Something New Under the Sun is an unmissable novel for our present moment—a bold exploration of environmental catastrophe in the age of alternative facts, and “a ghost story not of the past but of the near future” (The New York Times).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kleeman's ranging and ambitious latest (after Intimations) imagines a climate-ravaged near-future California. Novelist Patrick Hamlin has just arrived in Los Angeles to assist with the adaptation of his melancholy novel Elsinore Lane, based on his father's death. Hollywood calculations, though, quickly distort the story beyond recognition. Worse, the producers have cast in the leading role unpredictable former child star Cassidy Carter, whose career is on the downturn. Even worse yet, Patrick is made a production assistant and tasked with chauffeuring the unpredictable Cassidy to and from set. Meanwhile, Patrick's wife, Alison, who previously suffered a breakdown, takes her daughter to an Upstate New York eco-retreat; California has recently converted to using WAT-R, a synthetic water product; and green vans make rounds to pick up sufferers of a mysterious new dementia. Cassidy and Patrick are then drawn in by conspiracy theories involving a supposed link between WAT-R and Cassidy's old show, Kassi Keene: Kid Detective, and Patrick streams episodes looking for clues. While a few plot twists are telegraphed, the action is propulsive and entertaining even as the horrors of climate change smolder around every corner. Readers will be captivated by this intelligent, rip-roaring story.
Customer Reviews
Disappointed
I agree with the previous review. This is fairly predictable and a little pretentious. The characters aren’t developed in a way where the reader really gets to know them, all we see is their actions but their reasoning remains obscure. And since their actions are often strange or clearly the wrong choice, it makes them difficult to like. This is especially this case with side characters who engage in very artificial and inartful dialogue. The dual settings and premise are interesting, but it ended up being more enjoyable to imagine a different story with this set up than to read the one that was written. The final half was quite difficult to get through because the conspiracy was clear from the start and the character’s investigations didn’t really tell us anything we wouldn’t already have guessed.
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Very disappointed- beautiful writing but…pretentious
I’m sorry to have not liked this book, the author is clearly an excellent writer but I felt the characters were massively underdeveloped and the dialogue excessive pretentious and drifting…..it seemed like the entire narrative got lost in the final third of the book, as if the author was undecided about the direction the storyline was headed and went somewhere else but somehow a huge chunk of that story went missing...then it ended, I thought the story had great potential until this point.
Sadly the book did not deliver- I feel I should have stopped reading after the 2/3 mark, the ending was too obvious, too preachy and weak leaving me feeling nothing but disappointed.