Summary Liu

What did you like about “The Three Body Problem”

• fuse science / histoy –> “completely mindblown”
• 2nd read: “I loved it even more”
• China, Cultural Revolution, other cultures in video game –> fascinating
• find out alongside characters –> interesting
• gigantic scope: China, Earth, Universe
• Well researched book
• books made us question things, researching, reading up
• unexpected twists and turns
• rooted in history and then extrapolated extremely
• alien civilisation and clashing political and existential questions
• lots of effort, impressive
• needs to be reread
• China content more interesting for some than the scifi bits
• reversed trope: Earth & humanity as a haven
• freedom not guaranteed
• writing style very precise
• felt very realistic
• we want to become badass STEM researchers now too
• dark parts of science but also humanity
• What is good? What is evil?
• What do you do when faced with an unbeatable enemy?
• quite dystopian: workers in dystopian system also on other planet
• book 2&3 escalate even more –> unimaginable scope
• the foe is not a nameless, lovecraftian horror but a society gone wrong
• Religious faith in the aliens?
• fighting for Earth?
• Ecocriticism
• Forbidden literature –> current issue
• no limit of imagination
• Cultural Revolution a new angle
• within Chinese literature, the book is quite influential –> scifi
• Charakters not only intellectuals but also normal people
• Dehydrate! (Doctor Who vibes!)
• not super action packed but still fascinating
• main characters and time changesd all the time: jigsaw puzzle fascinating and annoying
• Ken Liu great translator, needs a shoutout. But: order of story differs, German translation supposedly has more content, more info here: https://www.wired.com/2016/10/wired-book-club-ken-liu-interview/ + https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/ueqc7n/talked_with_a_mandarin_speaker_about_the_three/ –> English translation starts with Cultural Revolution, Chinese original has this in the middle but Liu wanted it to be different

What we discussed:

• being a writer in China is hard, judging the author?: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/06/24/liu-cixins-war-of-the-worlds
• too science-y for some, “I can’t look up everthing”
• computer game very different from the rest
• escalates too much maybe?
• too many coincidences to be realistic
• Beginning of book so very different from the ending, vibe changed entirely
• Trisolarians a bit silly? Why not evacuate earlier?
• No emotional connection to some characters
• Villain origin story fun but also…weird?
• Too many characters?
• Scope a bit much if you are used to more contained scifi, if you come from “Foundation” or “Expanse” universes, you’re grand

Ratings:

• 5/10 social score points: not interested in reading the sequels but a unique book
• 5/5 Chaotic Eras: “2nd reread and I will reread them all again”
• 4/5 Trisolarians: gonna read the sequels
• 5/5 jawdropping plottwists: “I was like daaaamn”
• 4/5 suns: interested in sequels, but could be a bit shorter
• 4/5 Stars: good but too scifi for me, still entertaining
• 4/5 too much info dump and science
• 4/5 solar systems: will read sequels

More recommendations:

• Chinese adaptation of the book pretty good https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqK2oDPzfx4
• Netflix adaptation coming soon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lj99Uz1d50