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Finitude
A light-hearted climate change adventure story about an insurance salesman at the end of the world.
After a thirty-year rationing plan called “The Effort” the prime minister declares VC “Victory over the Climate”. But chronically depressed insurance salesman Jeremy Chutter knows it’s all hot air. The end is nigh — and he can’t wait!
Then Jeremy’s world gets turned upside-down…
After a thirty-year rationing plan called “The Effort” the prime minister declares VC “Victory over the Climate”. But chronically depressed insurance salesman Jeremy Chutter knows it’s all hot air. The end is nigh — and he can’t wait!
Then Jeremy’s world gets turned upside-down…
ebook
First published January 1, 2008
32 people want to read
About the author
Hamish McDonald
14 books39 followersHamish McDonald is an Australian journalist and author of several books. He held a fellowship at the American think tank the Woodrow Wilson Centre in 2014.
McDonald has worked as a journalist in mostly Asian countries like India, Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong and China, where he was a correspondent based in Beijing from 2002 to 2005. He was in India between 1990 and 1997, covering the time immediately after the economic reforms. He was the political editor for the Far Eastern Economic Review and the foreign editor for the Sydney Morning Herald.
In 2005, he won the Walkley Award for newspaper feature writing for his article "What's Wrong With Falun Gong", which is about the brutal suppression of the Falun Gong religious movement in China.
McDonald has worked as a journalist in mostly Asian countries like India, Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong and China, where he was a correspondent based in Beijing from 2002 to 2005. He was in India between 1990 and 1997, covering the time immediately after the economic reforms. He was the political editor for the Far Eastern Economic Review and the foreign editor for the Sydney Morning Herald.
In 2005, he won the Walkley Award for newspaper feature writing for his article "What's Wrong With Falun Gong", which is about the brutal suppression of the Falun Gong religious movement in China.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 13, 2010
In this fast-paced novel, global warming/climate change is a reality and not a topic for debate. Various groups are working out solutions. A Government Coalition is trying to capitalize on the changes in the environment, taking advantage of citizens of other lands for cheap labor, as it readies a project to dim the sun and, at the same time, harness and monopolize solar energy. Other groups, seen as enemies of the Government, have cobbled together various lifestyles aimed at conserving what is left of resources and avoiding the deadly new dangers posed by the environment, including tigers and methane clouds.
Set against this backdrop is one Jeremy Chutter, an insurance agent who realizes the meaninglessness of insurance as his coastal home slowly floods. He is in mourning for his twin sister and his lover, who died in an automobile accident with Jeremy at the wheel. This understandably causes him to focus on himself and his own needs to the exclusion of most others, except his parents. After learning from his meteorologist friend "Des" Despendra that bundling his folks off (on the airline industry's "Last Flights Day") to the region of Iktyault may have put them in danger, he strikes out with her and new friend Victor, an ecotravel agent, to rescue them from environmental disaster.
The prose is witty and the futuristic touches are amusing: Jeremy subscribes to a service called "Tinfoil Hat" that blocks out aggressive advertising. Everyone consumes a processed food called "Mete®," the source of which turns out to be only a little less ghastly than that of Soylent Green.
The journey is compelling but the editing is poor. MacDonald is inordinately fond of the word "leapt," using it in some cases three times on one page. In a society where auto accidents still occur, huge ships are described as zipping about and parking like MiniCoopers: "...the Prime Minister turned and gestured at the vast ship pulling up to a stop in the harbour behind him..." "...A grey ship the size of a building rumbled past, making the little rescue-dinghy wobble dangerously...the grey ship docked, extending a ramp down from its front..." I think there are pilots and towboats involved when these behemoths come into port. The sun, too, performs some neat tricks: "The sun was lowering behind them, sending shafts of golden light filtering down the streets, turning every color into a perfected version of itself." That is all well and good, but a few pages later: "The rising sun leached the colour out of the scenery." I thought the rising and setting sun always looked more golden, giving us the term "the magic hour"?
Jeremy finds new love with a kind and brave truck driver, and Victor early on with Despendra, and each becomes more attuned to the needs of others in the process. As they wander the polluted landscape, the awkward sentences become obstacles akin to the rocks, ice, and tigers in the narrative. But unlike the fish that are going extinct, this book can be saved by more editing.
Set against this backdrop is one Jeremy Chutter, an insurance agent who realizes the meaninglessness of insurance as his coastal home slowly floods. He is in mourning for his twin sister and his lover, who died in an automobile accident with Jeremy at the wheel. This understandably causes him to focus on himself and his own needs to the exclusion of most others, except his parents. After learning from his meteorologist friend "Des" Despendra that bundling his folks off (on the airline industry's "Last Flights Day") to the region of Iktyault may have put them in danger, he strikes out with her and new friend Victor, an ecotravel agent, to rescue them from environmental disaster.
The prose is witty and the futuristic touches are amusing: Jeremy subscribes to a service called "Tinfoil Hat" that blocks out aggressive advertising. Everyone consumes a processed food called "Mete®," the source of which turns out to be only a little less ghastly than that of Soylent Green.
The journey is compelling but the editing is poor. MacDonald is inordinately fond of the word "leapt," using it in some cases three times on one page. In a society where auto accidents still occur, huge ships are described as zipping about and parking like MiniCoopers: "...the Prime Minister turned and gestured at the vast ship pulling up to a stop in the harbour behind him..." "...A grey ship the size of a building rumbled past, making the little rescue-dinghy wobble dangerously...the grey ship docked, extending a ramp down from its front..." I think there are pilots and towboats involved when these behemoths come into port. The sun, too, performs some neat tricks: "The sun was lowering behind them, sending shafts of golden light filtering down the streets, turning every color into a perfected version of itself." That is all well and good, but a few pages later: "The rising sun leached the colour out of the scenery." I thought the rising and setting sun always looked more golden, giving us the term "the magic hour"?
Jeremy finds new love with a kind and brave truck driver, and Victor early on with Despendra, and each becomes more attuned to the needs of others in the process. As they wander the polluted landscape, the awkward sentences become obstacles akin to the rocks, ice, and tigers in the narrative. But unlike the fish that are going extinct, this book can be saved by more editing.
March 29, 2019
Read as part of the PopSugar Reading Challenge 2019, to fill 41) A "cli-fi" (climate fiction) book.
Jesus. Christ. Where do I even begin? (I will be including quotes from the book in this review, which may be construed as spoilers.)
This story is exceptionally fast-paced. If you zone out for a minute (which, let's be real, you will), the characters will be in an entirely different place or suddenly on a boat or something. A quote that gives an example of this exceptionally abrupt pace is "Sorry, we need to go. I've got to try to find my parents before they get incinerated." Yes, the entire book is like this.
You know when everything in life happens to perfectly align with what you need at that exact moment? No? Me neither, because that's not how life works. Yet for the main character, Jeremy, this is his life. He is repeatedly described as "lucky", which... does not excuse the fact that literally every character he meets helps him or gives him something he wants or needs. Including a boat.
If you want a spoiler-filled preview of how ridiculous this entire book is (including the acquisition of the above-mentioned boat), read the passage under the spoiler cut. This is an un-edited passage from the book (which I assume I am allowed to do, considering this is a free-to-read ebook).
tl;dr/summary without (most) names: They realise being a captain of a ship means you can also officiate weddings for some reason, so one character spontaneously proposes to another. Jeremy (the luckiest man in the universe) asks the boat owner if he can have her boat, and she says yes(!) This entire book is that fast-paced and that unbelievable.
Moving on from that, why does everyone in this book have such stupid, fucking names? The main two characters have normal human names (Jeremy and Victor), everyone else they meet... I have no idea. One family they meet are called Milfoil, Judine, Clorisse, and Fonce, so, you know.
I'm also not sure what message I'm supposed to be taking from this book. It's a climate change book, so I'd assume the message would be something along the lines of beware of fucking up the planet or this will happen in your lifetime, yet... as previously mentioned, everything goes perfectly for Jeremy every step of his journey. Climate change fucked up his town, so he swam to the next town and it was fine. Everyone he met helped on his quest to find his parents. Food and water weren't an issue and neither was sleeping somewhere safe. It's just such a weird concept to be like "climate change will fuck up everything" and then have all your characters be completely fine.
Towards the end of the book Jeremy, Victor, and Des are on a boat and get stuck in plastic-infested waters. Jeremy leaves the boat, treks for a few days across a plastic landscape, and finds... Victor and Des, on his ship, in a different location, with no explanation of how it escaped the plastic water. Because everything goes perfectly for Jeremy no matter how unlikely that may be. Oh and then these three people somehow build a contraption with the supplies they have on the boat to make it fly. Because of course they do.
Some other editorial things which bothered me:
The start of the book uses the (made-up) word terraists for some reason, but towards the end of the book he forgets he did this and starts writing terrorists.
He's far too fond of the words erected/erecting.
Bold or italics are written as: *it comes again!*, usually including the wrong quotation mark (this, even though there are actual italics used in the book, so I don't know why this format happens so often).
The capitalisation of Prime Minister/prime minister fluctuates frequently (he literally uses both on the same page).
Characters "fall in love" within the space of like, a week.
I'm gonna finish with a quote from literally the last page of the book, which, beyond any conceivable logic, following theme, has everything work out okay for the characters. Of course.
Jesus. Christ. Where do I even begin? (I will be including quotes from the book in this review, which may be construed as spoilers.)
This story is exceptionally fast-paced. If you zone out for a minute (which, let's be real, you will), the characters will be in an entirely different place or suddenly on a boat or something. A quote that gives an example of this exceptionally abrupt pace is "Sorry, we need to go. I've got to try to find my parents before they get incinerated." Yes, the entire book is like this.
You know when everything in life happens to perfectly align with what you need at that exact moment? No? Me neither, because that's not how life works. Yet for the main character, Jeremy, this is his life. He is repeatedly described as "lucky", which... does not excuse the fact that literally every character he meets helps him or gives him something he wants or needs. Including a boat.
If you want a spoiler-filled preview of how ridiculous this entire book is (including the acquisition of the above-mentioned boat), read the passage under the spoiler cut. This is an un-edited passage from the book (which I assume I am allowed to do, considering this is a free-to-read ebook).
tl;dr/summary without (most) names: They realise being a captain of a ship means you can also officiate weddings for some reason, so one character spontaneously proposes to another. Jeremy (the luckiest man in the universe) asks the boat owner if he can have her boat, and she says yes(!) This entire book is that fast-paced and that unbelievable.
Moving on from that, why does everyone in this book have such stupid, fucking names? The main two characters have normal human names (Jeremy and Victor), everyone else they meet... I have no idea. One family they meet are called Milfoil, Judine, Clorisse, and Fonce, so, you know.
I'm also not sure what message I'm supposed to be taking from this book. It's a climate change book, so I'd assume the message would be something along the lines of beware of fucking up the planet or this will happen in your lifetime, yet... as previously mentioned, everything goes perfectly for Jeremy every step of his journey. Climate change fucked up his town, so he swam to the next town and it was fine. Everyone he met helped on his quest to find his parents. Food and water weren't an issue and neither was sleeping somewhere safe. It's just such a weird concept to be like "climate change will fuck up everything" and then have all your characters be completely fine.
Towards the end of the book Jeremy, Victor, and Des are on a boat and get stuck in plastic-infested waters. Jeremy leaves the boat, treks for a few days across a plastic landscape, and finds... Victor and Des, on his ship, in a different location, with no explanation of how it escaped the plastic water. Because everything goes perfectly for Jeremy no matter how unlikely that may be. Oh and then these three people somehow build a contraption with the supplies they have on the boat to make it fly. Because of course they do.
Some other editorial things which bothered me:
The start of the book uses the (made-up) word terraists for some reason, but towards the end of the book he forgets he did this and starts writing terrorists.
He's far too fond of the words erected/erecting.
Bold or italics are written as: *it comes again!*, usually including the wrong quotation mark (this, even though there are actual italics used in the book, so I don't know why this format happens so often).
The capitalisation of Prime Minister/prime minister fluctuates frequently (he literally uses both on the same page).
Characters "fall in love" within the space of like, a week.
I'm gonna finish with a quote from literally the last page of the book, which, beyond any conceivable logic, following theme, has everything work out okay for the characters. Of course.
July 8, 2012
Hamish MacDonald’s novel Finitude should be a favorite for anyone concerned with the environment and who also doesn’t want to be overwhelmed with doom. There are not too many light-hearted end-of-the-world adventure stories -with a little bit of romance thrown in– that are well-researched and optimistic in spite of the dystopian cataclysmic setting.
Like all of Hamish MacDonald’s books, the characters in Finitude are fresh, memorable, and very likable accidental antiheroes. After finishing the book, I was left hoping for both a prequel and sequel that could expand the story. A prequel because the beginning of the book, set in a near future world, was full of fun quirky details such as ingenious devices to buy privacy back from ever more invasive advertising, designer rhinestone-studded gas masks, and ‘Mete’, favorite food of the masses. And a sequel because most of the story takes place after all hell breaks loose (environmentally) and is a fast moving adventure spanning oceans, continents, and epiphanies on plastic gyres - that leaves the reader wanting to know what happens next in a changed and challenging world.
What holds the story together through a multitude of dynamic twists and turns, are the three main character’s abilities to feel love, hope, and determination to keep going, no matter how bad things look. It is exciting to find a new author who uses intelligence, heart, and humble humor to confront the frightening environmental realities of our current world.
I look forward to reading more from this transplanted Canadian in Scotland writer and DIY book-making enthusiast. Be sure to check his blog and twitterfeed.
http://www.hamishmacdonald.com/Hamish Macdonald
Like all of Hamish MacDonald’s books, the characters in Finitude are fresh, memorable, and very likable accidental antiheroes. After finishing the book, I was left hoping for both a prequel and sequel that could expand the story. A prequel because the beginning of the book, set in a near future world, was full of fun quirky details such as ingenious devices to buy privacy back from ever more invasive advertising, designer rhinestone-studded gas masks, and ‘Mete’, favorite food of the masses. And a sequel because most of the story takes place after all hell breaks loose (environmentally) and is a fast moving adventure spanning oceans, continents, and epiphanies on plastic gyres - that leaves the reader wanting to know what happens next in a changed and challenging world.
What holds the story together through a multitude of dynamic twists and turns, are the three main character’s abilities to feel love, hope, and determination to keep going, no matter how bad things look. It is exciting to find a new author who uses intelligence, heart, and humble humor to confront the frightening environmental realities of our current world.
I look forward to reading more from this transplanted Canadian in Scotland writer and DIY book-making enthusiast. Be sure to check his blog and twitterfeed.
http://www.hamishmacdonald.com/Hamish Macdonald
July 8, 2018
Oh, man, I wanted to like this one. Climate change fiction with a gay protagonist! I think it wants to be darkly funny, but it succeeds less often than it fails; most of the time it just feels all AUTHOR'S MESSAGE-y and rambly, and the various places and people all seem invented, rather than projected from what we know today. I finally gave up about 3/4 through - it just wasn't interesting enough to hold my attention or make me care about what happened to the characters, or indeed the world.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews