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Twenty Thirty: The Real Story of What Happens to America
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Humor (2011)Is this what's in store?
June 12, 2030 started out like any other day in memory―and by then, memories were long. Since cancer had been cured fifteen years before, America's population was aging rapidly. That sounds like good news, but consider this: millions of baby boomers, with a big natural predator picked off, were sucking dry benefits and resources that were never meant to hold them into their eighties and beyond. Young people around the country simmered with resentment toward "the olds" and anger at the treadmill they could never get off of just to maintain their parents' entitlement programs.
But on that June 12th, everything changed: a massive earthquake devastated Los Angeles, and the government, always teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, was unable to respond.
The fallout from the earthquake sets in motion a sweeping novel of ideas that pits national hope for the future against assurances from the past and is peopled by a memorable cast of refugees and billionaires, presidents and revolutionaries, all struggling to find their way. In 2030 , Albert Brooks' all-too-believable, dystopian imagining of where today's challenges could lead us tomorrow makes gripping and thought-provoking reading.
June 12, 2030 started out like any other day in memory―and by then, memories were long. Since cancer had been cured fifteen years before, America's population was aging rapidly. That sounds like good news, but consider this: millions of baby boomers, with a big natural predator picked off, were sucking dry benefits and resources that were never meant to hold them into their eighties and beyond. Young people around the country simmered with resentment toward "the olds" and anger at the treadmill they could never get off of just to maintain their parents' entitlement programs.
But on that June 12th, everything changed: a massive earthquake devastated Los Angeles, and the government, always teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, was unable to respond.
The fallout from the earthquake sets in motion a sweeping novel of ideas that pits national hope for the future against assurances from the past and is peopled by a memorable cast of refugees and billionaires, presidents and revolutionaries, all struggling to find their way. In 2030 , Albert Brooks' all-too-believable, dystopian imagining of where today's challenges could lead us tomorrow makes gripping and thought-provoking reading.
384 pages, Paperback
First published May 10, 2011
236 people are currently reading
3710 people want to read
About the author
Albert Brooks
12 books36 followersAlbert Lawrence Brooks (born Albert Lawrence Einstein; July 22, 1947) is an American actor, voice actor, writer, comedian, and director. He received an Academy Award nomination in 1987 for his role in Broadcast News. His voice acting credits include Marlin the clownfish in Finding Nemo, and recurring guest voices for the animated television series The Simpsons, including Russ Cargill in The Simpsons Movie.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 985 reviews
May 22, 2011
2030 is like an action flick version of the Daily Show meets West Wing meets the Lost Generation meets Coma & Cocoon except wait a minute . . . this book is just about, well, us; Americans today,right now: what we think about, what we do, what we fear, what motivates us. I gorged on this book.
Is it funny? Not particularly? Is it exciting? Not really. Does it present unique ideas in a new way? Sorta but not in a spectacular way. Then, what makes it so readable? THE PACE. It keeps on moving, like a train coming at you down the tracks. Time slows down right before the inevitable happens but that doesn't really detract.
For the past two nights I have read this book into the wee hours of the morning til my eyes were closing, then picked it up when I woke and opened it right back up and read a little more before I started my day. Then I'd sneak a few pages in at lunch and maybe at twilight.
It was like being kind of drunk at a party and meeting someone new who agrees with everything you say, someone who becomes your new best friend - at least for the evening! Talking with this person makes you tell people afterward that you had "a great time at the party" (even though you only talked to the same person the whole time and what they said wasn't particularly new, what you remember is that they were as enthusiastic as you were!)
Will you have lunch later? Maybe. Maybe Not. But it was a fun time anyway.
Is it funny? Not particularly? Is it exciting? Not really. Does it present unique ideas in a new way? Sorta but not in a spectacular way. Then, what makes it so readable? THE PACE. It keeps on moving, like a train coming at you down the tracks. Time slows down right before the inevitable happens but that doesn't really detract.
For the past two nights I have read this book into the wee hours of the morning til my eyes were closing, then picked it up when I woke and opened it right back up and read a little more before I started my day. Then I'd sneak a few pages in at lunch and maybe at twilight.
It was like being kind of drunk at a party and meeting someone new who agrees with everything you say, someone who becomes your new best friend - at least for the evening! Talking with this person makes you tell people afterward that you had "a great time at the party" (even though you only talked to the same person the whole time and what they said wasn't particularly new, what you remember is that they were as enthusiastic as you were!)
Will you have lunch later? Maybe. Maybe Not. But it was a fun time anyway.
June 21, 2011
This is one of those books that will give you the confidence to write one of your own. Simply take 30-40 minutes out of your day and scribble out several 2-page chapters where you exaggerate all the scare tactics you hear on the nightly news and voila!!! you'll have your very own dystopian novel before you know it! What you won't have is the promotional blitzkrieg that Mr. Brooks had to promote his novel on The Colbert Report, various NPR shows, including "Talk of the Nation," "All Things Considered," "Market Place" and enough other respected media outlets to dupe someone like me into reading this tepid tale. It's not that this book is hard to get through. It reminded me very much of the film "Greenberg," where a bunch of ultimately worthless characters pleasantly hold your attention for an extended period of time only to leave you wondering, "what was the fucking point?" And at the risk of sounding anti-Semitic, I must admit that I found it somewhat absurd for him to paint his president character as being persecuted for his Jewish heritage. His narrative makes no mention of any bigotry that exists 20 years from now towards African Americans, Hispanics, Asians or any other ethnic group other than that of his own ethnic background (as well as bigotry towards the elderly- which is the lone provocative theme of the novel.) To be fair, antisemitism may very well exist 20 years from now (especially if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not resolved.) My main beef with this book is that Brooks is just so short-sighted in his vision of the future. He merely amplifies his own personal fears and frustrations rather than imagine some more unique possibilities. Ironically, a Brooks author with a much more thoroughly thought-out vision of the future would be Max Brooks' "World War Z" and that has zombies in it!
July 11, 2011
This book is a scary and fascinating look at the future of the United States as imagined by Albert Brooks. Set in the year 2030, we find that the United States has not dealt with its debt problem. Cancer has been cured, people can take a pill to 'cure' obesity and the physical effects of aging have been drastically reduced. Ordinarily,these things would be fantastic news; however since the population is living much longer, our limited financial resources have been depleted putting enormous pressure on the younger generations. Faced with having to work so hard just to fulfill the obligations promised to the older generation, young people are feeling extremely angry and disenfranchised. Add a huge catastrophic, natural event and you have the ingredients of the 'perfect storm'.
I don't wish to give too much of the story away. What occurs is a gripping story full of foreboding which culminates in an ending, which to me, if possible would be totally unacceptable. Hopefully, our country can, in fact, learn to come together to solve our problems soon. If not, this story (although fictional) could be a very plausible description of what is to come.
I don't wish to give too much of the story away. What occurs is a gripping story full of foreboding which culminates in an ending, which to me, if possible would be totally unacceptable. Hopefully, our country can, in fact, learn to come together to solve our problems soon. If not, this story (although fictional) could be a very plausible description of what is to come.
November 21, 2012
Yet another dystopian future predicted for the United States, this one based largely on the faulty, misinformed, hysterical rantings of people like Paul Ryan. Brooks has swallowed the reigning conservative economic fallacy whole, that our indebtedness to China and other countries will somehow evolve into them taking over our country and that the aging population will somehow overwhelm our capacity to serve them. He also strays dangerously into an odd little utopia in which limits on human rights are justified in the name of a sort of constrained peace. Odd stuff.
I suppose this would be forgivable on some level if the book were well-plotted, but I found myself with a headache from the number of times I rolled my eyes in disbelief at the linear, uncomplicated little world he has invented. All is consensus (try counting the number of times there is unanimous agreement on something that in reality would create enormous and justified controversy). Because he wants to believe that this little world will come true (though it is more difficult to say if this is a cautionary tale or a world he would actually enjoy living in), Brooks becomes the puppet-master, pulling the strings of his cardboard-cutout characters to manipulate them into lining up in his Brave New World. None of these people have real lives or complex motives; rather, they conform dutifully to the author's dream world. And the president's love story is nothing short of ludicrous, not in the possibility of it, but in how conveniently it fits into the author's strange desire to derail a basically good man.
This book is most reminiscent of Ayn Rand, her of the paranoid fantasies and fantastic assumptions about human nature and the nature of the economic, social, and physical relationships among us. That she was wrong never stopped her from advocating her strange brand of essentially totalitarian libertarianism. Brooks seems cut from the same cloth. His hero, though Chinese, is one of the more John Galt-ish creations I have read this century. The author has an ax to grind and nothing as inconvenient as the facts will get in the way of his grinding away.
Which is not to say that the book is not in some ways well-written. He can certainly put a sentence together and has a knack for dialogue. But, please, spare me the uninformed predictive sociology he is far from being qualified to practice. That Brooks is a well-known anhedonic will come as no surprise to those who don't know him from his films, but those were always leavened with a certain sardonic humor that is entirely missing here.
I suppose this would be forgivable on some level if the book were well-plotted, but I found myself with a headache from the number of times I rolled my eyes in disbelief at the linear, uncomplicated little world he has invented. All is consensus (try counting the number of times there is unanimous agreement on something that in reality would create enormous and justified controversy). Because he wants to believe that this little world will come true (though it is more difficult to say if this is a cautionary tale or a world he would actually enjoy living in), Brooks becomes the puppet-master, pulling the strings of his cardboard-cutout characters to manipulate them into lining up in his Brave New World. None of these people have real lives or complex motives; rather, they conform dutifully to the author's dream world. And the president's love story is nothing short of ludicrous, not in the possibility of it, but in how conveniently it fits into the author's strange desire to derail a basically good man.
This book is most reminiscent of Ayn Rand, her of the paranoid fantasies and fantastic assumptions about human nature and the nature of the economic, social, and physical relationships among us. That she was wrong never stopped her from advocating her strange brand of essentially totalitarian libertarianism. Brooks seems cut from the same cloth. His hero, though Chinese, is one of the more John Galt-ish creations I have read this century. The author has an ax to grind and nothing as inconvenient as the facts will get in the way of his grinding away.
Which is not to say that the book is not in some ways well-written. He can certainly put a sentence together and has a knack for dialogue. But, please, spare me the uninformed predictive sociology he is far from being qualified to practice. That Brooks is a well-known anhedonic will come as no surprise to those who don't know him from his films, but those were always leavened with a certain sardonic humor that is entirely missing here.
February 24, 2011
It's 2030 and since cancer and other diseases don't exist anymore, the "olds" have taken control of the country and AARP is the most powerful voting bloc in america. Revolution is in the air as young people try to right the imbalance of money and power. In the midst of all this, California is hit with the "big one" that we've always been warned about, and our first Jewish (okay, only half Jewish) president has to somehow figure out a way to bail out the country before we tank for good.
This book is so dense with ideas, funny, dark and otherwise that being the cynic that I am, Brooks had me from the first page.
This book is so dense with ideas, funny, dark and otherwise that being the cynic that I am, Brooks had me from the first page.
April 26, 2011
1984 may have come and gone, but Orwell's chilling vision of the future made a lasting impact for decades. And the argument could be made that many of Orwell's visions came true: we have virtually no privacy these days, we are all slaves to our TVs, and Big Brother is most definitely watching.
In the same vein, Albert Brooks takes a look into the future of America, and produces a somber, yet highly plausible, outlook. The year is 2030, the first Jew has been elected to the U.S. presidency, the national debt has spiraled to insurmountable depths, and because cancer has been cured, the elderly are living longer, draining tax dollars and straining the health care system, which has created a civil war, of sorts, between the young and the "olds." And just when things could not possibly look more grim, a devastating earthquake rocks Los Angeles, reducing the city of angels to mere ash and dust. Oh, crap.
Not knowing which fire to put out first, Matthew Bernstein's presidency begins in the face of crisis -- a position in which no president wants to find themselves. Kathy Bernard, a young 20-something, and her father, Stewart, are faced with financial hardships, as Stewart has been forced to take low-paying jobs, after losing his job with GM. Dr. Sam Mueller is world famous for having cured cancer, but faces growing enemies in the younger generation, being vilified for extending life, the repercussions of which has caused the youth to shoulder the growing financial burden of the elderly. Brad Miller's condo is destroyed in the quake of Los Angeles, forcing him to live in a make-shift triage tent, not knowing if he'll be able to recoup the insurance money owed to him on the condo. And the Chinese, the only government with the resources to bail out the United States and help rebuild L.A., seem unwilling to loan even another dime to the U.S., as the U.S. is already indebted to the Chinese for trillions of dollars.
2030 starts off a little slow, as Brooks establishes the central characters, each of whom comprise a separate storyline. At first I thought, oh no, Brooks is pandering to a more base reading audience, writing in the Dan Brown "short chapter, multiple-narrative thriller" style. But it soon becomes evident Brooks knows how to tell a story -- and to great effect. The multiple story lines were each well-defined and engrossing, with just enough character development to make me care about what was going to happen to each.
Brooks' decades of experience in film and television are notably present in his use of dialog, which is smooth and natural. The dialog, in fact, is really what moves the story, rather than the story being driven by narrative exposition. Brooks also peppers in some of his trademark humor, to help offset the overtly tragic overtones of the story. This was a breath of fresh air.
In the end, the panache with which the story moved, wanes a little, not finishing quite as energetically as it could have, but the story does resolve naturally, without feeling forced.
2030 is a grand freshman effort by Albert Brooks, and should be read with careful consideration, as the picture Brooks paints is not so farfetched. I found myself engrossed in the vivid details of the chaos, not wanting the book to end. Sadly, if politicians do not take heed of Mr. Brooks' warnings, the events portrayed in the story may be realized, making 2030 this generation's 1984.
In the same vein, Albert Brooks takes a look into the future of America, and produces a somber, yet highly plausible, outlook. The year is 2030, the first Jew has been elected to the U.S. presidency, the national debt has spiraled to insurmountable depths, and because cancer has been cured, the elderly are living longer, draining tax dollars and straining the health care system, which has created a civil war, of sorts, between the young and the "olds." And just when things could not possibly look more grim, a devastating earthquake rocks Los Angeles, reducing the city of angels to mere ash and dust. Oh, crap.
Not knowing which fire to put out first, Matthew Bernstein's presidency begins in the face of crisis -- a position in which no president wants to find themselves. Kathy Bernard, a young 20-something, and her father, Stewart, are faced with financial hardships, as Stewart has been forced to take low-paying jobs, after losing his job with GM. Dr. Sam Mueller is world famous for having cured cancer, but faces growing enemies in the younger generation, being vilified for extending life, the repercussions of which has caused the youth to shoulder the growing financial burden of the elderly. Brad Miller's condo is destroyed in the quake of Los Angeles, forcing him to live in a make-shift triage tent, not knowing if he'll be able to recoup the insurance money owed to him on the condo. And the Chinese, the only government with the resources to bail out the United States and help rebuild L.A., seem unwilling to loan even another dime to the U.S., as the U.S. is already indebted to the Chinese for trillions of dollars.
2030 starts off a little slow, as Brooks establishes the central characters, each of whom comprise a separate storyline. At first I thought, oh no, Brooks is pandering to a more base reading audience, writing in the Dan Brown "short chapter, multiple-narrative thriller" style. But it soon becomes evident Brooks knows how to tell a story -- and to great effect. The multiple story lines were each well-defined and engrossing, with just enough character development to make me care about what was going to happen to each.
Brooks' decades of experience in film and television are notably present in his use of dialog, which is smooth and natural. The dialog, in fact, is really what moves the story, rather than the story being driven by narrative exposition. Brooks also peppers in some of his trademark humor, to help offset the overtly tragic overtones of the story. This was a breath of fresh air.
In the end, the panache with which the story moved, wanes a little, not finishing quite as energetically as it could have, but the story does resolve naturally, without feeling forced.
2030 is a grand freshman effort by Albert Brooks, and should be read with careful consideration, as the picture Brooks paints is not so farfetched. I found myself engrossed in the vivid details of the chaos, not wanting the book to end. Sadly, if politicians do not take heed of Mr. Brooks' warnings, the events portrayed in the story may be realized, making 2030 this generation's 1984.
September 22, 2012
sit down, my children, and let me larn you up on the world. for the entire book. because you're never going to get out of infodump territory, nay, not even unto the end of the book.
it's a tough dilemma for people writing future (or very historical) fiction: how do you world-build? how do you get across so much information, some of it fascinating, some of it mundane but necessary, without turning your novel into a lecture? Brooks didn't even try not to lecture us. once past the first 50 pages, the book becomes a looooong lecture with a few events thrown in.
to service the plot, Brooks trots out a large cast of characters who briefly threaten to become 3D and then retreat into cardboard cutouts. by the end of the book pretty much nobody even gets any dialogue any more; Brooks just tells us what they're thinking and moves on, perfunctorily wrapping up the loose ends. well, some of them.
the end of this book is something i've don't recall seeing in any other fictional work: a book that the author himself was so obviously sick of, that he just threw some it-is-to-be-hoped relevant words on the paper and walked away. the conclusion of this book is the single clumsiest i have ever, ever read. what on earth were the editors thinking? does publishing have any editors any more?
so, ya. read it if you want to be lectured for a few hundred pages and then have the author tell you to fuck off and leave him alone.
oh, and ps. the disaffected young call the greedy geezers "olds." yep, you read that right. if you know anybody under the age of 25 who could not come up with a 500% more cutting and witty epithet, it is only because that person has been lobotomized.
it's a tough dilemma for people writing future (or very historical) fiction: how do you world-build? how do you get across so much information, some of it fascinating, some of it mundane but necessary, without turning your novel into a lecture? Brooks didn't even try not to lecture us. once past the first 50 pages, the book becomes a looooong lecture with a few events thrown in.
to service the plot, Brooks trots out a large cast of characters who briefly threaten to become 3D and then retreat into cardboard cutouts. by the end of the book pretty much nobody even gets any dialogue any more; Brooks just tells us what they're thinking and moves on, perfunctorily wrapping up the loose ends. well, some of them.
the end of this book is something i've don't recall seeing in any other fictional work: a book that the author himself was so obviously sick of, that he just threw some it-is-to-be-hoped relevant words on the paper and walked away. the conclusion of this book is the single clumsiest i have ever, ever read. what on earth were the editors thinking? does publishing have any editors any more?
so, ya. read it if you want to be lectured for a few hundred pages and then have the author tell you to fuck off and leave him alone.
oh, and ps. the disaffected young call the greedy geezers "olds." yep, you read that right. if you know anybody under the age of 25 who could not come up with a 500% more cutting and witty epithet, it is only because that person has been lobotomized.
August 6, 2011
My daughter suggested this book so I got it from the library. I like Albert Brooks so it was not a real risk. After finishing (and btw, finishing is a strong word to use since the book just seemed to end and not be finished) 2030 I don't feel cheated. By that I mean that my time reading was not entirely wasted. I enjoyed the story. I really don't feel one way or the other about the writing, the characters or the story. I'm just done reading it. I ran out of pages. Brooks must have a very good imagination coupled with realism. Much of how he describes America in the year 2030 could actually happen. Some very good ideas and inventions that are not too far fetched. I do appreciate that about this book in that it was not sci-fi. No teleportation or aliens, just extrapolations of inventions or ideas that currently exist. Would I suggest this book? Well, not if you find something better. If you are looking for an easy read that doesn't invest too much of yourself this may be the book. Maybe you should wait til 2032 and buy it in a bookstore (if we even still have hard books then) and see how prophetic Brooks was.
September 9, 2011
The copy I read was left behind at a hotel without the jacket. I thought the author was just another guy with the same name as the actor and I guess I wasn't listening to NPR the day they reviewed 2030. So I had absolutely no preconceptions, there was only a plain black cover not even a sub-title to lure me in.
Spoiler Alert.
The main reason I kept reading this book was to find out what happened once China re-built LA. the author never got that far, it just stops too early with a newly elected naturalized Chinese President giving a rah-rah speech about populating planets with a "We are One. We are Earth" mantra. Kinda spooky.
I was expecting all kinds of unforeseen disasters, or even minor setbacks, consequences of some sort, to the Chinese/American business partners in rebuilding LA. No, Albert Brooks imagined the Chinese and the Americans living in Pleasant Valley Sunday apparently experiencing amnesia about things like Tienanmen Square, One Child Policy, Forced Abortions, and all the things in "Wild Swans" these things are never mentioned. It's all just honky-dory, a seamless transition. I just can't swallow that. Our two countries have pretty different cultures and history and outlook on the world, we value things differently, I don't see us meshing without some kind of hiccups.
I also thought the relationships and the characters were weird. The way they talked, the way they kissed, I thought Betty's motivation for a divorce and leaving the white house was thin. I thought Clyde and Brad were oddly selfish and I thought Brooks was doing that on purpose to show how the older generation had a strong sense of entitlement and were always expecting the government to jump in with cash to solve any problem, but maybe I misinterpreted it. I felt at least half of Clyde's motivation in helping Kathy (why such a generational-ly inappropriate name?) was just him putting money into a 4ok, a retirement fund.
And, according NY Times and others reviews this book was funny. Uh, what? When the animatronic Lincoln answers a question about John Booth by saying, "remember you're talking to me when I'm alive" was not funny. I was expecting something far more clever or at least, "Oh, yes he was a fantastic Hamlet."
Anyway, I wouldn't recommend it, I could just tell you about and it would be far more interesting.
Spoiler Alert.
The main reason I kept reading this book was to find out what happened once China re-built LA. the author never got that far, it just stops too early with a newly elected naturalized Chinese President giving a rah-rah speech about populating planets with a "We are One. We are Earth" mantra. Kinda spooky.
I was expecting all kinds of unforeseen disasters, or even minor setbacks, consequences of some sort, to the Chinese/American business partners in rebuilding LA. No, Albert Brooks imagined the Chinese and the Americans living in Pleasant Valley Sunday apparently experiencing amnesia about things like Tienanmen Square, One Child Policy, Forced Abortions, and all the things in "Wild Swans" these things are never mentioned. It's all just honky-dory, a seamless transition. I just can't swallow that. Our two countries have pretty different cultures and history and outlook on the world, we value things differently, I don't see us meshing without some kind of hiccups.
I also thought the relationships and the characters were weird. The way they talked, the way they kissed, I thought Betty's motivation for a divorce and leaving the white house was thin. I thought Clyde and Brad were oddly selfish and I thought Brooks was doing that on purpose to show how the older generation had a strong sense of entitlement and were always expecting the government to jump in with cash to solve any problem, but maybe I misinterpreted it. I felt at least half of Clyde's motivation in helping Kathy (why such a generational-ly inappropriate name?) was just him putting money into a 4ok, a retirement fund.
And, according NY Times and others reviews this book was funny. Uh, what? When the animatronic Lincoln answers a question about John Booth by saying, "remember you're talking to me when I'm alive" was not funny. I was expecting something far more clever or at least, "Oh, yes he was a fantastic Hamlet."
Anyway, I wouldn't recommend it, I could just tell you about and it would be far more interesting.
July 24, 2011
I started out loving "2030," believing it to be, as the jacket stated, a "sweeping novel of ideas." I wish Brooks had an idea of how to write a scene, at all. The book starts off strong - we're in the future, hyperinflation and overpopulation has placed incredible roadblocks in the way of the younger generations' path to happiness while baby boomers keep living longer. We have a charismatic President whose greatest strength is being just as likable as he appears. There's a handsome, wealthy revolutionary slowly spiraling into extremism, taking his hesitant yet beautiful girlfriend with him.
None of these characters have depth, at all. There is no mystery, no guessing, no sly cleverness AT ALL in this book. Nothing is left to the imagination because there's so much exposition. Brooks just comes right out and tells you that so-and-so feels this way and this is what it means. If I wanted to be spoon-fed a story I'd read "Twilight." But I don't, because I have a brain.
I'm really disappointed in this book. With a little more drafting and a heavier editorial hand it could have really been something. Truthfully, I didn't even finish it because I was bored to tears. I'm going to spend my time on other books that are worth my time, like Demetri Martin's "This Is a Book."
None of these characters have depth, at all. There is no mystery, no guessing, no sly cleverness AT ALL in this book. Nothing is left to the imagination because there's so much exposition. Brooks just comes right out and tells you that so-and-so feels this way and this is what it means. If I wanted to be spoon-fed a story I'd read "Twilight." But I don't, because I have a brain.
I'm really disappointed in this book. With a little more drafting and a heavier editorial hand it could have really been something. Truthfully, I didn't even finish it because I was bored to tears. I'm going to spend my time on other books that are worth my time, like Demetri Martin's "This Is a Book."
September 22, 2011
I listened to this book.
Genre: fiction, near-future, US politics
I've enjoyed Albert Brooks in film, especially Broadcast News and Lost in America. I was unsure of him as a novelist. But I found 2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America to be thought-provoking, terrifyingly plausible, and laced with humor. The ending left me wanting more of the story...
Dick Hill did an excellent job narrating.
Genre: fiction, near-future, US politics
I've enjoyed Albert Brooks in film, especially Broadcast News and Lost in America. I was unsure of him as a novelist. But I found 2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America to be thought-provoking, terrifyingly plausible, and laced with humor. The ending left me wanting more of the story...
Dick Hill did an excellent job narrating.
November 1, 2011
There are some interesting ideas about where we are going as a society and what technological advances we will see in the next two decades, but they are lost amid uninspired prose and shallow character development, along with some of the least plausible scientific/economic/political ideas I have ever encountered.
To be specific (some vague spoilers below):
- By following so many characters with opposing goals -- many of them unnecessarily -- it was hard to become invested in, or root for any of them, especially considering how unlikable, one-dimensional, and shallow they all were.
- Brooks' pseudo-explanation of how the cure for cancer worked (amino acids!) made my eyes roll. He wouldn't have lost anything by glossing over the cure without any explanation at all.
- It wasn't made clear enough how the "olds" were draining society to such a degree. Who was subsidizing them to live so lavishly? It seems like their only burden to the government was health care and social security, not programs to make or keep them rich at the expense of the younger generations. And if they were rich, their spending would have been good for the younger generation -- who would have been the recipient of their disposable incomes -- and they would have drained themselves, so I just don't understand this key argument of the book.
- The idea that the U.S. would welcome China as a partner on American soil with open arms and no resistance was even harder to swallow than the generational tension, regardless of the magnitude of disaster. Even if L.A. was clamoring for China's assistance after the earthquake, there is no way the Bible Belt or the AARP would have went along with it. It would have been believable for it to happen, but not without any objections at all.
- I was really looking forward to the civil war that seemed to be building throughout the book between the olds and the younger generation, which I falsely assumed would be the climax of the book. It never happened. Instead, we get the anti-climactic cruise ship scene. The resentment issue never really gets addressed again, as everyone is too busy being enamored with the Chinese -- whose healthcare and logistical solutions would not do anything to solve the generational divide, and hence, shouldn't have tempered the younger generations' rage.
- This was supposed to be a comedy, and I didn't find the book to be funny at all, and the resolution for almost every single character was beyond tragic. Specifically, .
To be specific (some vague spoilers below):
- By following so many characters with opposing goals -- many of them unnecessarily -- it was hard to become invested in, or root for any of them, especially considering how unlikable, one-dimensional, and shallow they all were.
- Brooks' pseudo-explanation of how the cure for cancer worked (amino acids!) made my eyes roll. He wouldn't have lost anything by glossing over the cure without any explanation at all.
- It wasn't made clear enough how the "olds" were draining society to such a degree. Who was subsidizing them to live so lavishly? It seems like their only burden to the government was health care and social security, not programs to make or keep them rich at the expense of the younger generations. And if they were rich, their spending would have been good for the younger generation -- who would have been the recipient of their disposable incomes -- and they would have drained themselves, so I just don't understand this key argument of the book.
- The idea that the U.S. would welcome China as a partner on American soil with open arms and no resistance was even harder to swallow than the generational tension, regardless of the magnitude of disaster. Even if L.A. was clamoring for China's assistance after the earthquake, there is no way the Bible Belt or the AARP would have went along with it. It would have been believable for it to happen, but not without any objections at all.
- I was really looking forward to the civil war that seemed to be building throughout the book between the olds and the younger generation, which I falsely assumed would be the climax of the book. It never happened. Instead, we get the anti-climactic cruise ship scene. The resentment issue never really gets addressed again, as everyone is too busy being enamored with the Chinese -- whose healthcare and logistical solutions would not do anything to solve the generational divide, and hence, shouldn't have tempered the younger generations' rage.
- This was supposed to be a comedy, and I didn't find the book to be funny at all, and the resolution for almost every single character was beyond tragic. Specifically, .
July 16, 2011
Disappointing. Coherent and relevant enough to hold your interest, but I expected more from Albert Brooks. Instead of real insight into the direction the country is heading, it seems like he just picked a few popular search categories from Google News from recent years (health care, national debt, China, social security) and just extended the most pessimistic assumptions of each out twenty years.
The book's not funny, by the way. That's not a deal-breaker, but a bit of a surprise. Moments of humor, but that's true of almost anything. But it's not the point here. More of a dystopian near-future political thriller, where the cure for cancer creates inter-generational warfare, and a deeply in debt United States can't afford to rebuild Los Angeles after the Big One. Having read the book, I'm not sure what the message is, or what course of action is advised. Don't cure cancer? If you'll forgive a small spoiler, it's the Chinese who come to the rescue after L.A. is leveled, and, we're assured, that works out fantastically. The portrayal of the Chinese and the U.S.'s relationship with them is probably the weakest part of the book, utterly unbelievable. So it's a shame that the anticlimactic ending leans so heavily on that aspect of the book.
I didn't hate it, but I found the book disappointing. But hey, if I could forgive him for The Muse, I can let this one slide.
The book's not funny, by the way. That's not a deal-breaker, but a bit of a surprise. Moments of humor, but that's true of almost anything. But it's not the point here. More of a dystopian near-future political thriller, where the cure for cancer creates inter-generational warfare, and a deeply in debt United States can't afford to rebuild Los Angeles after the Big One. Having read the book, I'm not sure what the message is, or what course of action is advised. Don't cure cancer? If you'll forgive a small spoiler, it's the Chinese who come to the rescue after L.A. is leveled, and, we're assured, that works out fantastically. The portrayal of the Chinese and the U.S.'s relationship with them is probably the weakest part of the book, utterly unbelievable. So it's a shame that the anticlimactic ending leans so heavily on that aspect of the book.
I didn't hate it, but I found the book disappointing. But hey, if I could forgive him for The Muse, I can let this one slide.
April 24, 2011
Very fast and entertaining read. Some ideas about the future that have not been so clearly presented in one book before. This is one of those books that you think you will read over a period of days and you're reading well into the night, at least that was my experience. A very very nice surprise as I did not know what to expect.
May 3, 2011
This advanced reader copy (ARC) was provided to me by the publisher through the Amazon Vine program, of which I am a member.
~
I'm a fan of filmmaker Albert Brooks (his movie Lost in America is still one of my all-time favorite comedies). He's a writer, director, actor, and has done voice work for The Simpsons. So when I saw that he had written a novel--and I had the opportunity to get an advance reading copy from the Amazon Vine program--I jumped on it.
2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America takes a look at the problems America is facing now, and moves them forward nineteen years. Of course, most things are worse in the not-too-distant future. The country is deeper in debt, young people are more disillusioned, and a 9.0 earthquake has leveled L.A., for which America has to borrow money from China to rebuild. Even the seemingly good stuff--like the long awaited cure for cancer--has bad elements (old people are now living much longer, and draining the health care system).
From his filmmaking, I expected this novel to be a comedy. It's not, though Brooks's trademark humor is evident throughout, especially in some of the dialogue which, not surprisingly for a scriptwriter, is sharp and realistic.
Brooks does an excellent job of weaving the disparate story lines of his various main characters together. There is eighty year-old Brad Miller who loses everything in the earthquake; twenty year-old Kathy Bernard who is saddled with her father's exorbitant medical bills; and U.S. President Bernstein, who is frantically trying to plug all the holes that are appearing in the dam that is America--not to mention his personal life, and his looming re-election campaign.
Brooks keeps the action moving, and the chapters short. Each individual story line pushes the whole plot forward, but not predictably, so even though the reader has an idea of where it might be heading, Brooks still keeps you guessing, and takes some chances so as not to make the whole story feel pat.
This is a strong first novel by Albert Brooks; I hope there will be many more!
~
I'm a fan of filmmaker Albert Brooks (his movie Lost in America is still one of my all-time favorite comedies). He's a writer, director, actor, and has done voice work for The Simpsons. So when I saw that he had written a novel--and I had the opportunity to get an advance reading copy from the Amazon Vine program--I jumped on it.
2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America takes a look at the problems America is facing now, and moves them forward nineteen years. Of course, most things are worse in the not-too-distant future. The country is deeper in debt, young people are more disillusioned, and a 9.0 earthquake has leveled L.A., for which America has to borrow money from China to rebuild. Even the seemingly good stuff--like the long awaited cure for cancer--has bad elements (old people are now living much longer, and draining the health care system).
From his filmmaking, I expected this novel to be a comedy. It's not, though Brooks's trademark humor is evident throughout, especially in some of the dialogue which, not surprisingly for a scriptwriter, is sharp and realistic.
Brooks does an excellent job of weaving the disparate story lines of his various main characters together. There is eighty year-old Brad Miller who loses everything in the earthquake; twenty year-old Kathy Bernard who is saddled with her father's exorbitant medical bills; and U.S. President Bernstein, who is frantically trying to plug all the holes that are appearing in the dam that is America--not to mention his personal life, and his looming re-election campaign.
Brooks keeps the action moving, and the chapters short. Each individual story line pushes the whole plot forward, but not predictably, so even though the reader has an idea of where it might be heading, Brooks still keeps you guessing, and takes some chances so as not to make the whole story feel pat.
This is a strong first novel by Albert Brooks; I hope there will be many more!
June 8, 2011
This is a frustrating book. On the one hand, its portrait of a future twenty years hence is frighteningly plausible. One gets the sense that Brooks had a team of futurists at his beck and call while he formulated this vision of America in its dotage, as it were.
On the other hand, the actual writing is fantastically awful. How can a man who is such a good screenwriter be so bad at writing prose? Brooks seems to have no confidence that his reader will pick up on his oh-so-subtle characterizations, and peppers his writing with gems like "The interesting thing about Max was that mixed in with his cynicism and bitterness, there was a naïveté." Wow.
I almost want to recommend the book because I think its (non-partisan) version of the future is a great conversation-starter. But the writing is so shockingly inept, I can't bring myself to do it. Very disappointing.
On the other hand, the actual writing is fantastically awful. How can a man who is such a good screenwriter be so bad at writing prose? Brooks seems to have no confidence that his reader will pick up on his oh-so-subtle characterizations, and peppers his writing with gems like "The interesting thing about Max was that mixed in with his cynicism and bitterness, there was a naïveté." Wow.
I almost want to recommend the book because I think its (non-partisan) version of the future is a great conversation-starter. But the writing is so shockingly inept, I can't bring myself to do it. Very disappointing.
May 23, 2011
So many good plot devices, wasted on such weak characters! "Near future" science-fiction is a risky setting for any writer because so much of that future has arrived between the first draft and publication. It's likely to appeal to a wider audience, however, more like mainstream fiction because it's easy to imagine a world only 20 or 30 years into the future, and Brooks got lucky with only a few events happening in the real world that change how the reader sees his story. The central theme, "be careful what you wish for" in the guise of curing cancer, it very intriguing. The earthquake that flattens Los Angeles is written purely from the POV a native, in that the rest of the country almost ceases to exist once that happens. It's when you get to the characters, whether it be back story, arc, or even simply the dialog that the book becomes flat and boring. Flawed characters are interesting only if there flaws are interesting - Brooks' character are so run of the mill in their motivations that you knew everything about them as soon as they were introduced, in no small part because Brooks tells you everything about them. They don't grow, they don't change in ways that you couldn't predict long before it happens, they're warm bodies to fill out empty spaces between some decent exposition.
September 24, 2011
I have mixed feelings about this book. There are too many characters sometimes -- I had to really focus to remember which character we were following now. That's the problem from the writing standpoint. The ideology standpoint comes from getting a sense of a long, preachy book, not sure which side I was supposed to be on, which side the author was supposed to be on, or where we would even be at the end. [return]The themes are of real concern -- rising medical costs, and the perception of younger people being held down by the old as new treatments and cures come about. Then there's a huge disaster and a traditional frenemy nation comes to save -- and own -- us all.[return]The America of 2030 is not the biggest power in the world anymore -- it's sort of like the elder statesman that everyone's still polite to even though he's been retired for 10 years. No real power. [return]The end wraps up in a very pat way with a few hiccups. It's OK to like the new world order after years of disaster.[return]It's kind of depressing to think of this future - and this book reads like a cautionary tale. Because it felt like that, and like I'd been preached to, it left a slightly bad taste in my mouth.
August 5, 2011
I love Albert Brooks for his combination of cynicism and romanticism. I love his skill at mixing pathos and comedy. I love the fact that there is not one thing in this book that doesn't seem entirely possible, and very, very likely, by the year 2030. Brooks has been a force in film for years but that doesn't always translate to print. Fortunately for us, he's a genius in either medium. His characters are engaging. There are a score of them, something I normally find very hard to track, but he introduces them effortlessly and keep them familiar. The dialogue is snappy without being too brittle or comedy perfect. The pace is magnificent--could not put the book down and sped through it. The book is both hopeful and depressing, and that's what makes it perfect: I think that's how many of us feel about the future. I don't normally buy hardcover books the minute they come out. This one I did, and I'm so very happy with it.
Rated: A+
Rated: A+
June 13, 2011
What a disappointment! I was looking forward to this book mainly because of the good reviews it received, but was quickly bored. Even when an earthquake hits L.A. and levels it...yawn. None of the (too) many characters were remotely interesting or even believable. The plot was sorely lacking and the writing was just plain bad. Unfortunately, it's a big thumbs down for me.
August 20, 2015
You know how books just seem to stay with you? Forty books later, I still think back to the premise, the unintended consequences of good intentions, and the actual real-life future of my country. Newspaper articles remind me of the developments in the book; conversations with senior citizens remind me of the characters in the book; conversations with young adults remind me of...you guessed it. Anyway, I don't want to say anything about this book except to say that I waited a full year to write a review, trying to figure out what to write that would tell my friends...nay, SHOUT at my friends..."HEY! read this book!!!" So now I've written a review that says absolutely nothing except...once you guys read it...I want to talk to you about it! S.
February 28, 2012
This book is full of ideas, most of which are extremely plausible. The problem is every time something is mentioned that's different in the future he takes acouple of pages to explain how it works, who invented it, the social repurcussions... it's like reading footnotes in the middle of the story.
The text book quality of the narrative makes it a bit of a slow read, and the story rushes to a tacked on climax that doesn't really feel very satisfying. None of the characters really grab your attention and you don't care what happens to them.
All the futuristic concepts are quite interesting, though. A short pseudo-history book might have been a better way to do it though.
The text book quality of the narrative makes it a bit of a slow read, and the story rushes to a tacked on climax that doesn't really feel very satisfying. None of the characters really grab your attention and you don't care what happens to them.
All the futuristic concepts are quite interesting, though. A short pseudo-history book might have been a better way to do it though.
September 16, 2017
Odd. This book kept me thinking about the book/movie Logan's Run. Only in that it takes place in the future and dealt with youth versus old age. Granted Logan dealt more about population control, but if you read the trilogy you see the decision of youth and old and a common source of contention through the ages.
The use of diverse characters made this book come alive as you got to know each of them as they developed their specific beliefs and acted upon them. The fun part was seeing when their lives intersected and how that interaction affected them latter. Such is life.
The use of diverse characters made this book come alive as you got to know each of them as they developed their specific beliefs and acted upon them. The fun part was seeing when their lives intersected and how that interaction affected them latter. Such is life.
May 17, 2011
Page Turner! Seriously funny, brilliant and imaginative extrapolation of the issues that dominate political and cultural debate 20 years into the future. While it is fiction, the premise and playing out of events seem terrifyingly plausible.
Read
June 12, 2020REVIEW: Moderately interesting near future fiction, mostly ruined by clumsy style that's 90+% telling instead of showing. Felt like a long lecture with characters rarely speaking or doing something.
QUICK 3-PART RATING SYSTEM:
Concept(s): 3.4 stars.
Execution/Style: 0.75 stars (I've seen worse, but not often).
Characters: 1.1 stars (Kathy was interesting; the rest not so much).
= VERDICT/AVERAGE: 1.75 stars.
QUICK 3-PART RATING SYSTEM:
Concept(s): 3.4 stars.
Execution/Style: 0.75 stars (I've seen worse, but not often).
Characters: 1.1 stars (Kathy was interesting; the rest not so much).
= VERDICT/AVERAGE: 1.75 stars.
November 19, 2011
2014 is more like it. Given recent financial quaking in Europe, you have to give it to Albert Brooks for his prescience. What he presents as the nation's future, awash in insoluble debt and brought to the brink by natural disaster, seems all too plausible these days. He scores points for envisioning what would likely be the fallout of increasing financial disparity between generations -- what happens when a generation finally fails to live better than the previous in this country. And his take in China's role in our future is both clever and depressing.
If you are conservative and expect from Brooks some kind of liberal screed, you'll be disappointed. I didn't see any obvious political bias. The president that is the protagonist of the novel is a democrat and a Jew, but certainly not heroic. Flawed, even failed. And ideal conservative punching bag.
Perhaps unfairly, what left me disappointed about the book was a lack of humor and wit. Maybe because I'm such a fan of Brooks' work as an actor. The character development didn't fully engage me. The envisioning of the world was, with a couple of exceptions, not particularly compelling for a sci-fi fan anyway. And I never laughed out loud. Once.
Overall, this is a feasible scenario. This book is a reasonable projection of what might happen to us, and therefore worth consideration, but as an entertainment, it's not Brooks' best performance.
If you are conservative and expect from Brooks some kind of liberal screed, you'll be disappointed. I didn't see any obvious political bias. The president that is the protagonist of the novel is a democrat and a Jew, but certainly not heroic. Flawed, even failed. And ideal conservative punching bag.
Perhaps unfairly, what left me disappointed about the book was a lack of humor and wit. Maybe because I'm such a fan of Brooks' work as an actor. The character development didn't fully engage me. The envisioning of the world was, with a couple of exceptions, not particularly compelling for a sci-fi fan anyway. And I never laughed out loud. Once.
Overall, this is a feasible scenario. This book is a reasonable projection of what might happen to us, and therefore worth consideration, but as an entertainment, it's not Brooks' best performance.
November 9, 2013
This is half a good novel. Brooks starts out with a plausible premise: that this country's changing demographics will exacerbate our already-dangerous debt load. He uses that to cook up a generational conflict, then throws in a natural disaster -- an earthquake -- to really heat things up. The characters introduced in this part of the story are interesting and flawed, from a U.S. president who falls in love with one of his cabinet members to a rich kid turned terrorist. All good so far.
Unfortunately, the second half of the novel veers off into areas so absurd that you drop your all-important willing suspension of disbelief. A (potentially interesting) plan to rebuild L.A. by partnering with China is presented like some storybook ending, where all concerned live happy ever after. Really? Americans wouldn't object to thousands of construction jobs being insourced - particularly since so many people would have lost jobs due to the earthquake? (The Chinese are presented as such amazing workers that they are the only ones who can rebuild L.A.) No; there's not a peep about that. The president who signed off on the deal is hailed as a hero. The characters who come onboard at this time are perfect, which is another way of saying, uninteresting. A Chinese health care expert who becomes a major character is...perfect. Perfectly boring.
Brooks seems to run out of story and the novel fizzles to an end. Important relationships run out of steam.
Unfortunately, the second half of the novel veers off into areas so absurd that you drop your all-important willing suspension of disbelief. A (potentially interesting) plan to rebuild L.A. by partnering with China is presented like some storybook ending, where all concerned live happy ever after. Really? Americans wouldn't object to thousands of construction jobs being insourced - particularly since so many people would have lost jobs due to the earthquake? (The Chinese are presented as such amazing workers that they are the only ones who can rebuild L.A.) No; there's not a peep about that. The president who signed off on the deal is hailed as a hero. The characters who come onboard at this time are perfect, which is another way of saying, uninteresting. A Chinese health care expert who becomes a major character is...perfect. Perfectly boring.
Brooks seems to run out of story and the novel fizzles to an end. Important relationships run out of steam.
October 9, 2025
Book Review (Don Trump Jr. parody Edition)
Okay, so here’s the thing, this book starts out sounding like it’s going to be a patriotic disaster movie, like Independence Day meets Wall Street, but instead you get two hundred pages of doomscrolling written by a guy who’s mad that young people exist. It’s the literary version of shaking your fist at a TikTok.
The concept had potential. America goes bankrupt, chaos hits, society falls apart — great setup. That’s the kind of thing I could have turned into a Netflix series and a merch line. But instead, the story gets lost in cranky-old-man energy. It’s less “gripping political satire” and more “Facebook rant printed in hardcover.”
Apparently, the youth of America hates the elderly now, which is hilarious since they still need grandpa’s Netflix password and mom’s car insurance. The whole thing feels like a boomer fever dream where the future is just people yelling at clouds and taxes.
It’s not funny, it’s not thrilling, and it reads like someone tried to write The Hunger Games after watching too much cable news. The pacing drags, the dialogue sounds like rejected AARP commercials, and by page 50 I was rooting for the apocalypse just to make something happen.
So yeah, great idea, terrible execution. It’s like ordering steak and getting a cold tofu burger.
⭐ One star for effort, zero for entertainment.
Okay, so here’s the thing, this book starts out sounding like it’s going to be a patriotic disaster movie, like Independence Day meets Wall Street, but instead you get two hundred pages of doomscrolling written by a guy who’s mad that young people exist. It’s the literary version of shaking your fist at a TikTok.
The concept had potential. America goes bankrupt, chaos hits, society falls apart — great setup. That’s the kind of thing I could have turned into a Netflix series and a merch line. But instead, the story gets lost in cranky-old-man energy. It’s less “gripping political satire” and more “Facebook rant printed in hardcover.”
Apparently, the youth of America hates the elderly now, which is hilarious since they still need grandpa’s Netflix password and mom’s car insurance. The whole thing feels like a boomer fever dream where the future is just people yelling at clouds and taxes.
It’s not funny, it’s not thrilling, and it reads like someone tried to write The Hunger Games after watching too much cable news. The pacing drags, the dialogue sounds like rejected AARP commercials, and by page 50 I was rooting for the apocalypse just to make something happen.
So yeah, great idea, terrible execution. It’s like ordering steak and getting a cold tofu burger.
⭐ One star for effort, zero for entertainment.
September 17, 2011
Having recently read “On Second After” about the collapse of the United States following an EMP that destroyed all electronic devices as well as all electrical distribution, this book presented a very interesting alternate view. There is no catastrophe to destroy the United States – except the inevitable consequences we all know must someday comeback to haunt our childish, shortsighted and irresponsible addiction to debt, mixed in with very plausible predictions about the growing population of older people and the increasing extension of life expectancy.
So it is fascinating to look ahead some eighteen years from now and see what the condition of our country could very likely be. I loved the speculation, I loved the characterizations, I loved how many unexpected twists and turns the ever expanding plot presented.
I’d immediately be looking for more books by this author except for the saturation with vulgar language and profanity, including hundreds of times with the “f” word.
So it is fascinating to look ahead some eighteen years from now and see what the condition of our country could very likely be. I loved the speculation, I loved the characterizations, I loved how many unexpected twists and turns the ever expanding plot presented.
I’d immediately be looking for more books by this author except for the saturation with vulgar language and profanity, including hundreds of times with the “f” word.
July 11, 2012
Very disappointing. I always enjoyed Brooks' movies, but he is not a novelist. The writing is flat and pedestrian and the characters are not at all memorable or interesting. The book seems to be written on the premise that what's wrong with the US and will cause trouble that will come to a head in the future, is that AARP is too powerful. Then again, I joined AARP this year. He ends the book by having a Chinese born entrepreneur who made a fortune in China establishing small medical clinics that provide the "personal touch" to medicine as well as providing inexpensive care, bring the same system to the US while the Chinese are rebuilding Los Angeles after an earthquake. The entrepreneur is so successful that the constitution is amended and he is elected president of the US. This doesn't strike me as either a logical if exaggerated consequence of what's happening in the US at the present time, or as even slightly amusing.
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