While dipping in and out of the lives of several characters, Playground mainly revolves around three. “Jacqueline Cousteau”, actually Evelyne Beaulieu, is a woman who has seen the spectrum of underwater research in the course of her long life. She was a tester of early 20th century diving apparatuses, and has spent countless thousands of hours performing biomarine research since. At a loose end in old age, she lives on a remote Polynesian island called Makatea wondering what to do with her life. Todd Keane is a young man with a plan at the birth pangs of the internet. From an upper-middle class family, he goes to university to study IT and there puts his plan of building a social networking platform into action. Becoming a billionaire for it, he must eventually decide what to do with his earnings, something a certain Polynesian island may play a role in. And lastly is Rafi Young. Despite their racial and socio-economic differences, Rafi becomes best friends with Todd at university. The two eventually go their separate ways, but not before they must confront the results of their youthful brainstorming on the future of the internet.
Powers must be given credit where credit is wholly due. Line by line, word by word, Playground is formed of clean, precise prose. It's a joy to read for diction. Secondly, Powers artfully edits and shapes his narrative. Covering almost a century of time, the chapters and interludes move in and out of this span, backstory to present day. Moreover, descriptions of places and settings are superb. Piece by piece, the reader has an image built in their head of the three main characters, how their individual journeys shaped their lives through time, and where they are. Technically, the novel is amazing.
Thematically, Powers covers a number of points on a left-leaning spectrum. To be fair, he does this very subtly, almost unnoticeably. But they are overt enough to be clear Powers has an agenda—not in and of itself a bad thing, only that things are not as organic as they could have been. Feminism, social justice, environmentalism, race, colonialism, and other points are evident in the novel. On top of this, Powers adds a theme that while not explicitly left, perhaps today more right, will likely become a bipartisan talking point in the next couple of years: the perils of social media and AI.
Getting back to Ostriker's quote in the intro, Powers' handling of these themes in Playground is milquetoast. Little is dared. The author challenges few commonly held assumptions. Readership of the novel will generally be on the left, and Powers spoon feeds them what they want to eat. But should readers on the right encounter the novel, they likewise will not be challenged. Humanity is slowly degrading the ocean environment; everybody knows this. Colonialism has a gray legacy; yes, clear. Many minorities in the US struggle socio-economically; statistically established knowledge. Women can do most things men can if they desire; obvious to the overwhelming majority, regardless of politics.
None of these thematic conclusions, with the exception of perhaps the commentary on social media and AI, shake people's trees—truly get them thinking about “important topics”. Powers is preaching to the choir here, and is dull, almost tedious, for it—at least thematically.
In the end, I see what the fuss is about for Playground. On top of being cleanly well-written, it gets into zeitgeist, including the environment, colonialism, social media, race, gender, and other topics which commonly appear in contemporary media. But I don't see what the fuss is about. Powers challenges almost nothing and does little surprising with these themes. Save the personal details of the characters' stories, the book unravels as one expects—a gentle scolding of the state of human civilization. See Tim Winton's Juice for a 2024 novel which dares challenge commonly-held socio-economic conceptions in edgy, intelligent fashion. Regardless whether you agree or disagree with Winton, your brain gears will at least turn.
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