His first book, the memoir “Publish This Book,” stemmed from Markley’s frustrations trying to sell a novel. Markley is an immensely gifted novelist, but he set himself a nearly impossible task, which appears to be his MO. It is, if nothing else, an astonishing feat of procedural imagination, narrative construction and scientific acumen. Over nearly 900 pages, Markley moves methodically from 2013 to the 2040s, presenting a kaleidoscopic sampling of American citizenry, an unrelenting series of increasingly tragic events and an in-depth examination of the desperate corner into which the world has painted itself. This is an accomplishment - in the way, for example, a city can be the best kind of character - but it also detracts from the novel’s humanity, as the people animating it are secondary to the concepts. If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from, whose fees support independent bookstores.Īlthough there are dozens of characters populating Stephen Markley’s second novel, “ The Deluge,” the real protagonist is America, and although numerous forces and foot soldiers undergird the story’s antagonist, the true villain is climate change.
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