Children of the New World by Alexander Weinstein

Book 7 — 2 stars. Also, After Yang by Kogonada.

At the start of 2023, I did some catching-up on films which had lagged far behind books in 2022. In particular, with a one-week Hulu + SHOWTIME trial, I watched Titane (very strong first half that ends up paling in comparison to Raw), Prey (elegant reboot of Predator), Red Rocket (the least moving of Sean Baker’s films but still worth watching), Fire of Love (amazing for the archival footage itself, while underwhelming as its own artistic statement), and After Yang. The latter, based on a short story from Children of the New World by Alexander Weinstein, follows a family on a trip down memory lane which is more literal than usual, given the sci-fi macguffin of a broken android brother’s hard drive.

I might as well get the book out of the way, because, unusually, the short story that serves as the film’s inspiration here is underwhelming, as is the whole collection for that matter. The fact, according to Wikipedia, that the author is the director of The Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing raises eyebrows. The stories read like sketches contrived only for the purpose of setting the stage for well-trodden near-future science fiction predictions and worries. In short, Weinstein is interested in the perverse limits of virtually-augmented or climate-changed lives, especially parent-child relationships and sexual fantasies. I think the tales many readers can workshop in their own minds over a few hours would be just as…