eilonwyhan

A futurologist wakes up in 2039 and finds the human condition is everything we hoped for, and not all it's cracked up to be.

While attending the 8th Futurological Congress in war-torn Costa Rica, futurologist Ijon Tichy experiences first-hand the future to come. While staying in the gigantic hotel, Tichy feels emotions that are alien to him: a kind of brotherly love, especially for people he doesn’t particularly like. It disconcerts him because he knows that he really does not like a certain person, but can’t help but feel a deep benevolence toward him. Tichy discovers that the water and the air are tainted with pharmaceuticals to try to prevent revolution. Chaos and rioting break out in the streets, and Tichy is evacuated to the sewers underneath the hotel. There he is dosed with more gas, and is gifted with an unsettling vision of the future.

This book was part Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, part Candide, and part Brazil (yes, the Terry Gilliam movie!). It was extremely funny, trippy, and terrifying all at once. One of Tichy's colleagues, Dr. Trottelreiner, reminded me of Voltaire's character from Candide, Pangloss. He would show up just when Tichy's newest adventure was at its most extreme, and either offer explanation for the crazy circumstances, or show a way out. Trottelreiner never seemed surprised by the paths that he and Tichy took, much in the way that Pangloss always believed that things were exactly as they should be. Which is why Tichy was so angry when he understood the truth behind his beyond-perfect experience of the future.

I'm glad someone on i09 recommended this book a couple months ago. I would never have tried it.