Richard Powers: Playground (August 2026)

This multi-layered novel has two connected narratives with alternative chapters and is set in the very near future.

One is related in the first person and concerns Todd Keane, a tech billionaire recently diagnosed with dementia who recalls his life in Illinois, his childhood friend, Rafi and Ina, Rafi’s partner, a sculptor who they met at college.

Todd and Rafi had bonded over their mutual passion for Go but they fell out and were estranged because of a perceived betrayal when Todd was setting up his gamified social media site, Playground.

The other part of the story takes place on the Polynesian island of Makatea where Rafi and Ina live with their two adopted children. Also on Makatea and connected to Todd is Evie Beaulieu (based on Dr. Sylvia Earl) a Canadian marine biologist and aqualung pioneer, who wrote a book about underwater exploration for children that Todd had loved as a small boy.

The people of Makatea are offered a chance to become a base for the manufacturing of artificial floating islands and are torn between the opportunity of jobs and wealth creation and wanting to maintain a simple life which preserves nature. Their land is still scarred from phosphorus mining,and pollution, particularly plastic pollution, is an increasing problem.

Island life is vividly portrayed and we sympathised with all the characters,in particular Evie who we felt deserved a standalone novel.

Playground ends with a twist that provoked mixed reactions. Some found it fascinating while others were irritated and needed to go through the book again to make sense of it.

This work covers many topics: the environment, marine life, childhood trauma, guilt, dealing with death and the rapid growth of AI. This was thought-provoking and we discussed its probable impact on employment and the nature of human creativity versus the extrapolation of data.

Some enjoyed the book much more than others in our group and felt that it would stay with them.

We gave it 3.5/5