Kim Stanley Robinson, The Memory Of Whiteness

On the surface, this is the story of Johannes Wright, ninth master of Holywelkin's Orchestra, an integration of all the instruments of a symphony orchestra as well as several others; on his tour through the planetary system during the first half of the fourth milennium.

Dig a bit below the surface, and you'll realise that the main theme of the book is about breaking through the boundaries between different modes of perception, expressed in many ways, such as the work of Johannes to express the fundamental rules of physics, and through them the sum total of Existence, in music; as the Orchestra itself, integrating a multitude of instriments to something played by a single person; Johannes' desperate use of glossolalia as a vehicle for expressing his understanding of the world that can't be expressed in words; and even the stylistic choice of a narrator adressing the reader directly.

This is a book about Johannes' search for Gnosis, the immediate direct experience and understanding of the Universe in all its forms, beginning with his voluntary blinding, in effect reenacting Odin's sacrifice of his eye for wisdom.

This book should be read as a vehicle for experience, not as a subject for analysis, Kim Stanley Robinson's use of language is excellent, and the emphasis on experienced reality instead of analysis of it meshes well with what can be seen as the main weakness of the book, the fairly shallowly defined persons. This can be seen as a result of the focus on Johannes, and the way he looks at the world around him, especially since Robinson in his Mars series has shown that clear and well defined characters are well within his abilities.

All in all, an excellent read, though the extensive use of unusual styles to help express part of the message may irritate some readers, especially the use of the narrator.