2030 (novel)

2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America is the (2010) first novel written by American actor and comedian Albert Brooks.

2030
First edition cover
AuthorAlbert Brooks
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreDystopian fiction[1]
PublisherSt. Martin's Press
Publication date
May 1, 2011
Media typePrint (hardback)
Pages375
ISBN978-0-312-58372-9

Synopsis

The story follows a diverse cast of characters in the year 2030, by which (hypothetical) time

  • cancer will have been cured
  • generational tension between the young and the old will have escalated, and
  • a "half-Jewish" president of the United States will have been elected
    (hamstrung by massive federal debt)
  also will be challenged by:
  • a high-profile kidnapping of senior citizens
  • massive reconstruction of earthquake-devastated Los Angeles in partnership with China, and
  • a constitutional amendment which could lead to a foreign-born president.[2]

Development

According to Brooks, he "did an earlier version of the book as a script" but felt it would be too expensive to produce it as a futuristic film.[3] The novel "is meant to be very plausible [...] I almost wanted the book to read like a news story. This is not a faraway America."[3]

Brooks had already written "substantial portions of 2030" before pitching it to Elizabeth Beier, Brooks’s editor at St. Martin’s Press.[1]

Reception

The book has received mostly positive reviews. Janet Maslin of The New York Times remarked that Brooks "made the nervy move of transposing his worrywart sensibility from film to book. Two things are immediately apparent about his debut novel: that it’s as purposeful as it is funny, and that Mr. Brooks has immersed himself deeply in its creation." Asking why Brooks' take should be taken seriously, Maslin answers, "his prognostications are not so farfetched for futuristic fiction; that he has worked them into a real novel, not a tricked-up movie treatment; and that a little humor goes a long way in this often bleak genre". But about the ending, "some events seem abrupt and artificial", and Brooks "doesn’t have the pitilessness it requires."[4]

Kirkus Reviews summarized, "Actor Albert Brooks has fun imagining a world in the future—though not too far in the future to be wholly implausible" and "the tone is satiric, something Brooks usually does with a light touch, though occasionally he loses the playfulness and shows too heavy a hand."[2]

Publishers Weekly called the novel a "smart and surprisingly serious debut", noted its "sweeping narrative", and classified it as "a novel as entertaining as it is thought provoking, like something from the imagination of a borscht belt H.G. Wells."[5]

gollark: <@516397045704294435> stop it.
gollark: Is it just me or is starboard spontaneously and wrongly generating new message notifications?
gollark: Fascinating.
gollark: Greetings, human.
gollark: It would probably be absolutely no fun teaching people who aren't really interested in the subject.

References
  1. Itzkoff, Dave (May 3, 2011). "A Comedian Laughs All the Way to Dystopia". The New York Times. p. 2.
  2. Kirkus (March 15, 2011). "2030". kirkusreviews.com. Kirkus Reviews.
  3. Goldstein, Patrick (May 6, 2011). "Albert Brooks on his new futuristic novel: I wanted it to read like a news story". The Big Picture. The Los Angeles Times blogs.
  4. Maslin, Janet (May 1, 2011). "A Wry Eye on Problems of the Future". The New York Times.
  5. "2030". publishersweekly.com. Publishers Weekly. March 28, 2011.
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