Fans of the work of Don Delillo, or those of you who like my novel Crab, might find Charles Baxter’s The Sun Collective (Pantheon Books, 2020) an intriguing and worthwhile read. A combination of realism and political parable set in a just slightly alternative world (so slight that the differences might or might not really be there), the novel explores what it means to care for others, or to even imagine one might be caring for others, under the massive political strains of contemporary high tech, hyperreal capitalism. The related problems of alienation and aging (and both together) are handled deftly.
The Minneapolis setting gave off a powerful aura of social deadness that occasionally and unexpectedly springs to life. I can’t think of many novels that capture the feel of Midwestern cities this uniquely and precisely. The writing style is often quite gorgeous, although the novel did feel a little long-winded in some portions. Thanks, Dan Nielsen, for suggesting this book to me.
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