THE ALLURE OF AN ENDING

The year 2042 sees the development of a serum that extends human life tenfold in Price’s SF novel.

In 2042, a scientific advance bestows “immortality” (900-or-so-year lifespans) upon humanity. “DRST” is a biochemical discovery (based on a biblical herb) that can extend human lives to match those of the Old Testament’s Methusaleh and Noah. This, of course, changes everything. A global governing body forms to regulate DRST serum and revamp commerce, labor, religion, and mass-transportation—and to debate whether marriage is relevant in this brave new world. These matters are presented to readers in short historical abstracts, lectures, and public affairs announcements; the majority of the narrative unfolds via the Ranjits, a New York City family. Patriarch Harbir, a nonobservant Muslim, escapes the chaotic 1945 partitioning of India. Landing in New York City, he leverages his entrepreneurship and good nature to build a small chain of Punjabi bakeries by the 1970s. He also perpetuates his family lineage via a largely dispassionate marriage to a like-minded Lahore refugee. Harbir begets business-grad son Yusuf, whose own son Viqar (“Vicky”), while showing a pragmatic side as a bakery manager and landlord, attends art school. In the 21st century, circumstances find the gay Viqar in a marriage of convenience with flaky art school friend/tenant/single mother Barbara. Readers expecting an awesome sweep of momentous events will find Price focusing instead on an immigrant dynastic saga featuring the slightly wry chronicles of the Ranjits’ dating histories (“We’ve only got eight, 900 years left to find companionship. We shouldn’t waste time being coy”) and father-son dynamics. Life goes on, with regrets and bittersweet memories. The vast majority of SF immortality fantasies (going back to Gulliver’s Travels) depict super-long-life as a curse, not a blessing. Though DSRT gets a mixed verdict here, future humanity is at least better-behaved than usual; this is no nightmare dystopia. The narrative reaffirms the United States as a land of freedom, opportunity, reinvention, and second chances (including the choice to be ephemeral). The text includes a glossary to provide assistance with future slang.

A smart, urbane take on a perennial SF trope crossbred with an immigrant story.