I’ve read many books by T.C. Boyle, and I always enjoy his pointed humor and his way of delving deep into history and science, while also building very realistic, imperfect characters In Blue Skies, his latest, he explores the impacts of global warming in Florida and California. I should say this probably isn’t my favorite Boyle but I did enjoy it.
The main characters are Cat, Cooper, and their mother and father. Cooper is a scientist, and he persuades his parents to prepare for climate change by giving up meat and eating insects instead. His mother gamely teachers herself to cook with bugs, and they make a number of other environmental changes as well. In contrast, their daughter Cat is a self-involved “influencer” living with her fiancee in Florida. She buys a snake on an impulse (a Burmese python) because it’s a beautiful “accessory”.
What I appreciate so much about Boyle is that these stock characters don’t stay that way for long. There’s more to Cat than she initially seems (every time I really started to dislike her she redeemed herself or was at least sympathetic), and Cooper is not at all the thoughtful guy he seems at first. They are real people, living in a brutally real world. On one coast, fires and drought and heatstroke, and on the other coast, endless flooding.
This is a meandering book that covers a number of years, and it’s not entirely clear what is present and what is future-looking, as Boyle doesn’t give us dates. If the book begins in the present, then it covers what we might expect from about the next ten years.
As with his characters, it’s not all devastation. Sure, things are getting steadily worse, but there are also scientists working to learn more and new developments (like lab-created chicken) that might save us or might kill us. Anyone interested in these ideas should read Under a White Sky by Elizabeth Kolbert.
Amidst serious and entirely realistic climate concerns, Boyle develops a very human family, whose crises and tragedies are not only caused by climate change. This is very much a “nature, red in tooth and claw” (from a Tennyson poem) type of book. Our downfalls aren’t because of nature, but because we think we can control nature, or because we don’t respect its power.
I read this book for the Gaia Nature Reading Challenge, hosted by Gumtrees and Galaxies.
If you’re interested in other books by T.C. Boyle, some of my favorites are Riven Rock, The Terranauts, The Road to Wellville, The Inner Circle, The Women, and Drop City. His books are researched and very detailed (though fictional), so pick a topic or historical figure that interests you.
