“Flashforward” Robert Sawyer

“As laser-bright moments; diamond-hard memories; crisp and clear. A future lived, a future savored, a future of moments so sharp and pointed that they would sometimes cut and sometimes glint so brightly it would hurt to contemplate them, but sometimes, too, would be joyous, an absolute, pure, unalloyed joy, the kind of joy he hadn't felt much if at all lo these twenty-one years.” 

― Robert J. Sawyer, Flashforward

I had seen two episodes from the middle of the television series “Flashforward,” and I found the premise and the questions raised interesting, but you would have to see this show from the beginning to know what is going on. Even though I lost interest in the television series, I decided to listen to the 1999 book that was the basis for the show. Techy books interest me to a certain extent, but my attraction to this book was to see how the author resolved the questions raised. I’m not sure I would have read the paper version of this book, but I find that I am willing to listen to books that I wouldn’t choose to read. Much of my listening is done in the car or on walks, and being distracted by a story, even a bad or poorly read one, is worth it to make the time in the car or on the trail seem shorter.

Almost immediately “Flashforward” opens with an unexplained disaster. Everyone in the world has blacked out and most people have had a realistic “dream.” Unfortunately, cars crashed, doctors blacked out in the middle of surgery, landing planes crashed, etc., and as a result many people died. After comparing “dreams,” it was discovered that everyone had a vision of their own life 21 years in the future. The visions are consistent in content, and life on earth two decades into the future are pieced together from the various accounts. These episodes are called flash forwards, and websites are created to help people share their flash forwards with others. Some people experienced nothing for the two minutes of the blackout and it is assumed that these people will die in the next 20 years.

I think this is an appropriate place to discuss spoilers. I would rather be late for a movie and risk missing the beginning in order to avoid the trailers. I prefer a very simple trailer that tells me practically nothing to a montage of images or scenes that make me feel as if I had seen the movie already. My intent is to provide the former and not the latter. The information I give in the second paragraph above comes very early in the book and is in any description of the text, so I am not spoiling anything there, but I want to talk about whether I enjoyed the book or not, and that in itself is a spoiler, especially in this case. I often read the reviews of books on Amazon or Audible before I choose a book, and I wonder how much the reviews influence my choices. My idea was that someone might read this blog looking for books to read, i.e., they would read what I have to say before they have read the book and not after. The people in “Flashforward” had mixed feelings about knowing their futures. A big question for them was whether they could change the future. I think the same is true about reading a review that tells you whether a book is good or bad. I have mixed feelings about putting the time into read a book that a review has told me is bad, and I wonder if my life experiences, tastes, beliefs and knowledge will “change the future” and I can enjoy a book that others did not. So, the question is if saying whether I enjoyed a book or not is as much a spoiler as telling the story.

Be that as it may, I found the end of “Flashforward” disappointing from a Hollywood viewpoint. The book raises many philosophical and scientific questions, and if you are interested in considering those questions, then this is a great book. On the other hand, if you are looking for strong character development and plot resolution, the book lacks that. I don’t understand physics beyond simple mechanics and electricity, so I don’t know if the science discussed, and there is a lot of physics in this book, was well presented or not. So, I could see this book being used in a course that analyzes science in literature. The philosophical questions of knowing and changing the future would be interesting to discuss in a class also, maybe for first-year college students.

I like to say something about the narration of books I listen to, and my first thought was that I had no thoughts about this reader. The reading by Mark Deakins was so natural that I was able to concentrate on the story with no distraction. I look forward to other books read by Mark Deakins.