Trafik
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
From the singularly inventive mind of Rikki Ducornet, Trafik is a buoyant voyage through outer space and inner longing, transposing human experiences of passion, loss, and identity into a post-Earth universe.
Quiver, a mostly-human astronaut, takes refuge from the monotony of harvesting minerals on remote asteroids by running through a virtual reality called the Lights, chasing visions of an elusive red-haired beauty. Her high-strung robot partner, Mic, pilots their Wobble and entertains himself by surfing records of the obliterated planet Earth stored on his Swift Wheel for Al Pacino trivia, recipes for reconstituted sushi, and high fashion trends. But when an accident destroys their cargo, Quiver and Mic go rogue, setting off on a madcap journey through outer space toward an idyllic destination: the planet Trafik.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ducournet (Brightfellow) dazzles with this whirlwind jaunt through a far-future universe, told in jargon-studded prose that turns gonzo science into gleeful lyricism. Mineral miner Quiver and her robot companion, Mic, "a deeply thoughtful gizmo" designed to keep Quiver from losing her mind in the lonely expanse of space, have only each other for company as they travel between jobs. When not cycling through fights and reconciliations over their human and robot foibles, Mic studies what little knowledge remains of a long-since destroyed Earth reverently researching Al Pacino, Nikki Minaj, and Japanese culture while Quiver escapes into a virtual reality that allows her to experience the wonders of nature and where she keeps glimpsing a mysterious redhead. When their latest job goes awry, the pair flee and head to the planet Trafik. But to get there, they must brave a series of surreal worlds. The trek itself is delightfully absurd, but it's in Quiver and Mic's bittersweet, and often incomplete, remembrances of an Earth they never experienced that the novel finds its emotional center. Though the ending is abrupt and a hair too tidy and some of Quiver and Mic's exchanges can be twee, overall their relationship is affecting, and each sentence is finely tuned. Ducournet remains a fantastic stylist.
