Golden Age

Golden Age by Jane Smiley
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this installment the least of the Last Hundred Years Saga. Perhaps the family sprawl was just too big to really connect with any one character. But also there seemed to be less family loyalty and support and more backbiting, sniping, secrets, and manipulating. The background of politics and climate change that has been present throughout becomes part of the central issues, and none of it is encouraging--the fruitlessness of trying to right wrongs seems to pervade. I also thought it was interesting (weird?) that Smiley would have this novel of history morph into speculative fiction at the end, and write about years that haven't happened when the novel was written. The good news is the future is not quite as bleak as she fortold, but it did make the novel seem gloomy.

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