Luminous by Silvia Park
391 pages, Hardcover
Every once in a while, you read a book that shatters lofty expectations and becomes one you think about long afterwards. Luminous by Silvia Park has a good chance of being the best new release I read this year. As a PKD-guy, I was pleased to hear Park acknowledged his influence, and even more exciting was the subtle but very cool ways she was inspired by Philly D.
Since I finished reading this novel and started to write this review, I saw a movie that this novel is very much in conversation with. Accidental zeitgeist stuff, but we will get back to that. I am sorry to compare this book to anything. One thing that makes this novel amazing is how one-of-a-kind and unique it feels. I make the PKD comparisons because I know many of my peeps will be interested.
Luminous is a novel set in a unified future Korea where robots are fully integrated into this society. It is a family story, and Park does a fantastic job introducing the unit at the center of this tale. Jun and Morgan are siblings who have not spoken in far too long. Morgan has fallen into the family business; their father designed robots, and now she does. Growing up, they had early robots in their family, in Yoyo, whom they loved but disappeared.
Morgan’s story opens when a child-like robot in her building goes missing. When the Robot-crimes unit comes out to investigate her brother, Jun shows up. It is not just that Jun was Morgan’s sister when they last saw each other, Jun nearly died in the war and was transhuman as much as gender.
“I purchased a bolt of skyn in her coloring and stapled it to the canvas. It burns like human skin. But you can smell the preservatives. Like chicken nuggets.”
“Why didn't you replace the skyn on her back?”
“Couldn’t you have replaced the flesh on your face?”
He ducked his head. “Okay, good point.”
“Is it a war injury?”
“It was a robot, carrying an IED until she dropped it. Homemade bomb.”
She stared at him, wide burning eyes. “How must you despise them.”
Jun was injured and almost killed by a robot; he has every reason to hate robots. His estranged father and sister make robots, but that is not how Jun operates. I love this reunion and the amount of unsaid world-building between the lines of dialogue here.
The novel opens with the mystery of the lost robot child. It is not a huge spoiler to say we follow the mystery, and as readers solve it long before the characters. We are led to a junkyard where the long-lost Yoyo is looking for parts to repair itself. The junkyard becomes the disposable dumping ground for the robots in this culture. Hard not to think of the homeless encampments and the way the Trump government has been talking about the poor in the last week.
Morgan now has her sibling back in her life has to come clean about her relationship. She has been in love with a robot Stephen, designed to fit her younger fantasies. As she gets older, and under the notice of her brother, she begins feel unfulfilled by Stephen. Of course this gets into all the questions of what is real, what is human. These are PKD themes Park is playing with and the opposite of the horror version of the story we got the same year from the movie Companion.
When Stephen begins to question, if he loves Morgan or just programmed, you can’t help but think of Philip K. Dick. That is because he broke that ground. Probably the PKD when she writes about the smart toilet.
“I’m sorry your date was so unkind.”
“I don’t care about that. I sat on the toilet after to take a breather. And then it flushed at me. The toilet was acting so damn hostile, I put my foot through it. The bowl shattered like sugar, which was kind of cool. I felt like a superhero, but I also broke the toilet.
The layers of AI, and robotic themes taken to a 21st century lens make this an amazing read in general. The characters and setting are well handled. There is one scene so clearly in conversation with PKD, who ultimately saw Empathy as the lynch pin of humanity. The trolley problem and robots is brought up late in the novel. The discussion of empathy and how these robots is the most powerful moment in the novel for this reader. How does the robots in this story solve the Trolley problem?
“Our robot made a utilitarian choice. He also knew the purpose the four remaining rabbits would serve. The way our robot rationalized, it wasn't practical. It was moral. He saw no difference between the rabbits, the one in the house and the four in the lab, between the pet and the subjects. Their lives were of equal value.”
“He made an unfeeling choice.”
“When you say unfeeling, you mean this robot was unempathetic. I think robots are capable of greater empathy than us, although that demonstrates the limits of my linguistic faculties. We anthropomorphize them. We say they empathize, they hallucinate, they need positive reinforcement. They do not possess emotions the way we do. The way we are connected it goes beyond our capacity to imagine. The robot understands that how we love isn't divine. It's meager, selfish, and exquisitely cruel. Think of any time of war erupts. Who among us would not sacrifice the lives of many to save the one person we love? When I lost such a person, I wished the world would end.” He held up the handkerchief and, pinching the corners, he started folding it. Back then, it was the senseless rage of a child, but then I lost my son and I would have made the same choice. But a robot, incredibly, the robot will choose right.”
Luminous is a deeply thoughtful science fiction novel, with grounded and fully realized characters. The setting is powerful, the themes are rich with emotional depth. One of the best reads I have had this year.
