Playground

Playground

Richard Powers

#2131 of 8,085 books · #554 in Science Fiction

Shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize for Fiction (2024). Also longlisted for 1 other award.

Playground won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was a New York Times bestseller. Rafi and Todd are two polar opposites at an elite high school. As adults, Rafi gets lost in literature, while Todd's enters the world of AI. Elsewhere, Evie sinks to the bottom of a swimming pool strapped to one of the world's first aqualungs; Ina grows up in naval bases across the Pacific with art as her only home. All of these people meet on the history-scarred island of Makatea in French Polynesia, marked for humanity's next great adventure. Set in the world's largest ocean, Playground interweaves profound themes of technology and the environment, and a deep exploration of our shared humanity.