THE SWARM by Frank Schatzing (Finished)

I have Northwest Airlines, stormy weather, and a delayed flight from Las Vegas back home this week, to thank for the extra (free?) time to finish The Swarm. My partner in crime and I wrapped up our vendor booth on Friday in record time. This was his sixth event in a row. He was burned out and wanted to catch an earlier flight. He ended up catching this original one. I stood stand-by for an early flight that had been delayed, but they were full up. So, I had a four original wait until my flight that turned into eight. What was crazy was that Sun Country had three flights come and go in that time. Next time, I’m flying Sun Country for sure!

I’m kind of sad that I’ve completed this novel so quickly. It was that good. I really think that it could have been a few hundred pages longer. I would have hung in there. As it stands the ending is felt a little flat, not what you what to hear for a commitment of almost 900 pages. A stylistic change in the writing occurred in the last 50 to 70 pages. I wasn’t really expecting a dream sequence or journal entries to summarize the final minutes of action. To me, the ending felt like Hollywood pandering.

Some of the reviews that I’ve read really go after the big chunks of science. I don’t know why. I found myself rushing though the character stuff to get to the next discussion of what it means to be intelligent or to posses consciousness or how DNA and RNA work in single celled organisms. The science evaluated this book from a simple disaster, the world is going to end, book into a master piece that should be read by every aspiring student or advocate of environmental ethics and animal (non-human) rights. The arguments put forward for the ethical treatment of non-humans and for a holistic view of the world we inhabit are superbly written.

I think that part of the reason that the character development was not as engaging as the science had to do with the infectious excitement that the characters had for their work and their stereotypical inability to connect on a personal level with other people. Case in point, Leon Anawak’s father dies. This section is a long development section that happens late in the book. Anawak tries to reconnect with his tribe and extended family at the funeral. He even goes out on a sled trip and talks with a shaman. However, he just can’t bring himself to feel passionately about being an Inuk, and so why should I. However, when is breaking down that was thought as the limits of memory and coming up with new theories, he is as animated as my cat at meal time.

I’m looking The Swarm on my desk and I’m sad that I will soon have to shelve it. Yes, it was that good! I hope that the page length will not keep you from sinking your teeth into this amazing book. It is both educational and entertaining. I can’t see you going wrong with his as your summer read.

Enjoy!

Schatzing, Frank. The Swarm. Trans. Sally-Ann Spencer. New York: HC, 2007.