Air: Or, Have Not Have

This is a beautiful, elegant and enigmatic story. Its heroine is Chong Mae, a self-styled fashion consultant in what may be the remotest village in Kyrgyzstan in the year 2020. The book is concerned with what happens to Mae and the other people in her village when an attempt is made to test a new form of communications system, Air, which will link all of the people in the world in a kind of mental internet.Although Air is the speculative fiction device that seems to drive the novel, the book is really about sociological phenomena including social organization, the place of the individual in society, the acceptance and rejection of technological change, rural versus urban society, the elements in society that are first to capitalize on technological change, and the role of early adapters. That broad range sounds quite daunting. But when told from the perspective of Mae, it is also about more basic human elements like family, love, friendship and responsibility.By incorporating forces unleashed by the test of Air, we are also able to examine the relationship of the past to the present and the present to the future.With all these elements one might expect Air to be a gigantic sprawling novel, but in fact it operates on an intimate scale, following Mae around while she performs her daily activities, aimed at furthering her own life as well as preparing her village for inevitable technological change. Some of the elements are exceedingly simple and commonplace, yet reflect larger social forces. For example, Mae is attuned to the traditional activities of her village, and, as her vision of the world becomes expanded, can see how there might be a market for the decorative collars handmade by the women in her village. She ends up in internet contact with a fashionista in New York, who helps to make the collars a cutting-edge fashion and political statement. At the same time, Mae develops a relationship with her New York contact that will eventually allow one of her neighbors to preserve her oppositional beliefs to the national government. And yet, this political scale develops in an organic way so naturally from village life that one scarcely notices the transition to national politics.Two elements make the book enigmatic. The first is the appearance of unexpected phenomena that we might find easier to accept in a more technologically developed world at a later date. The second is the author's reason for introducing these phenomena. One expects that they have some purpose in the author's scheme, especially since the author explores a society substantially different from the reader's, to illuminate our understanding. And yet the author is so skillful in his writing that even though we may not immediately understand his purpose, we accept the phenomena. Finally, even the secondary title "Have Not Have" remains an enigma.Don't read this book if you are looking for high adventure amidst titanic events. But if you are looking for an examination of the life of a dynamic individual in a small society, you are sure to enjoy this book.

Not as good as "The Child Garden".Different feel and writing style. That one included an imaginary (and quite possibly real) concept of a cancer/longevity tradeoff. I didn't like the part with her not caring about disturbing sick people with light and sound, then having the same problem when she was ill. But that's what good storytelling is about; you don't want to only write happy thoughts :--) What I did find interesting was the idea of people transforming their own and other's nature, even their mind and souls and destiny Like turning bee-like, or altering your digestion or maybe eliminating the need to breath. But that's what good storytelling is about; you don't want to only write happy thoughts :--)I don't remember levels of violence and sex in Air, but I know they were far less than in The Child Garden.Oh dear, I seem to have spent the review talking about a different book (only for the sake of comparison, honestly ;--)I'll try Air, but it's just not memorable. The characters (in both books) are interesting, and the situations--it's hard to explain, but Ryman has the strangest gift for takng the strangest situations and making them seem matter-of-fact and everyday. Every science fiction author seems to think they have that gift, but I've never seen it like this. You can tell by how you just accept the descriptions. I don;t notice this so much while reading them, but it is strongly apparent after yoou finish reading.On the other hand, I was dissapointed by the plot. Other reviews will tell you the details of the plot...I'll just tell you that there isn't much of one.

This book was very interesting, it was nice to read a book with a story from a part of the world that is rarely ever mentioned in pop culture or even sci fi. It felt very close to realistic science fiction, even with some of the outlandish ideas such as Air and a talking dog. However at some points the plot kind of seemed tired, like the author had issues holding our attention on each and every page. However, I loved several passages in the book and I loved how Kuei was described on several occasions.

It was original and creative to use the (fictional) central Asian village as his setting, but I think that the superficial exoticism of that one device has overshadowed a lot of other flaws in the book. Since the entire setting was an made-up mashup of Asiatic impressions, it could have been moved to an alien planet or a Hobbit village with no change at all to the book. But that would have cost it literary props.The story would have done better to stay mostly in the village, as the visit to the lab and the email exchanges with the outside world were unimaginative, clumsy exposition, and ultimately turns out to be a pointless distracting detour from what should have been the heroine's moment of triumph. (Or I don't know, maybe what I thought was supposed to be her triumph was actually distraction from a better denouement that never got written.) The mysticism afterwards was unearned and unnecessary. It also made a joke out of the rest the novel by throwing away almost everything interesting that we had up to that point learned about Air.The worst contrivance was the nonsense involving the (unborn) baby. That was pointless and disturbing whenever it popped up in the earlier parts of the book, but it was even worse, both shallow and disgusting, when it finally closed out.

Air is a parable for change. In 2020, it's the latest communications technology, which enables users to access the internet via their own minds. It's being tested by the UN in a simple peasant village in Karzistan, an under-developed country between Russia & China. The villagers are mistrustful of changes to their ancient lifestyle, their only web access being via the one communal television, which is only used for watching kung-fu movies & sporting events. But Mae is ahead of the curve; the village 'fashion consultant', she regularly travels to the nearest city to learn about the latest fashions & uses that info to sell dresses to her neighbours. But once everyone has access to fashion info, what use will she be? Thus she has to learn more about this new technology to find a way to use it for her advantage. But matters are complicated when the Air test goes wrong & she inherits her 90 year-old neighbours' memories, personality & mistrust of the modern world. It also becomes increasingly clear that even Air's inventors have seriously underestimated the implications of this new technology & the potentially massive impact it could have on the entire human race.Air is predominantly marketed as a 'sci-fi' novel but as with all good books, it crosses many genres & is ultimately about what it means to be human in a rapidly changing world. Much of it concerns Mae contesting with her rival fashion experts in their muddy village like a low-budget  Sex And The City  with rice paddies & chickens, which as unglamorous as it sounds, Ryman's gregarious writing ensures is still fascinating. There is much depth here; rather than offering a simplistic analogy of romanticised rural life at one with the environment being threatened by evil corporations, Ryman shows us that the peasants' harsh existence of backbreaking work & repressive values is far from idyllic. Despite the peasants' perceptions, it has also been in a state of constant change, the traditions they try to cling to mutable - rather than being unchanged for hundreds of years, they were affected by the spread of Communism in surrounding countries, for instance. The villagers' values are, ironically, borne of other places & cultures, the people being an ethnic mix of Chinese & Russian, a cultural melting-pot of Muslim, Buddhist, Christian & Communist. Thus their 'ancient traditions' are second-hand imports which also differ slightly from household to household.Air is incredibly well thought-out, very well written & astonishingly moving with engaging, thoroughly well-rounded characters. There is much to ponder in this fascinating novel, which I look forward to re-reading in years to come. Sex And The City

A couple of years ago "New Scientist" magazine had an article on contemporary British SF, saying it was going through a golden age. I read quite a few of the featured books and have really enjoyed the experience. What I have noticed though is a trend towards near-future books with little speculative science, often set in a rapidly developing country. This one fits the pattern, and while it's pretty good I didn't think it was one of the best. Indeed, having read another of his books since (The Child Garden) I wouldn't say it's even the best Geoff Ryman. I couldn't give it four stars as I am rather stingy with my stars and give four to books I enjoy more than this, but I would have loved to have given it three and a half.

A completely new idea. Very well written and enjoyable to read.Some books stay with you for ever, this one of them.

Au vu de certaines critiques dythirambiques, je m'attendais à bien mieux. Le départ est accrocheur, avec cet Internet directement dans les esprits qui cause chaos et confusion. Mais ensuite, à part un court passage à la Matrix (légère distortion de la réalité, mouaif) et un chien qui parle, il n'y a pas grand chose de plus qu'un village de paysans qui découvre Internet et essaie de s'adapter au monde moderne en vendant online leurs vêtements folkoriques. Les intéractions humaines et les chamboulements apportés par le "progrès" sont intéressants, mais sans plus.

This book tells you how the survival of old and new technology is gonna take place. It's an amazing novel that everyone should read.