At times, the send-up is stripped down to avoid making the novel too capitalism-friendly, as when Lois receives the nonironic message from management that “We are on a mission to remake the conditions of human labor, so push harder, all of you.”ĭespite the proliferation of many interesting Loises in Sloan’s story, though, there is really only one Lois for me: the narrator, Computer Lois, who tells a sure-footed and lovely tale of being gifted with a strange sourdough starter after becoming addicted to the delivery service of a couple of brothers, Beoreg and Chaiman, who turn out to be operating an illicit restaurant out of their apartment.
Just as there are a profusion of robotic arms at Real Lois’ day job at a start-up, and just as there are countless moments during which Sloan, not only with sympathy but also with sharpness, sends up the rituals of modern work-life. There are a profusion of Loises in “Sourdough” because of the club - including Boring Lois, Lois Whose Stomach Hurt, Professor Lois and Woodland Court Lois. It is that rare thing: a satire that has a love of what it satirizes while also functioning as a modern fairy tale.ĭid I say the novel also includes a Lois Club for women named Clara? That’s a joke - a much worse joke than any of the many fine jokes you’ll find in “Sourdough.” Of course, the Lois Club is a club for women named Lois, including the narrator, who works for General Dexterity, a tech company that develops robotic arms. His keen insight into both automatons and organic foods stems from his immersion in the San Francisco tech culture and collaboration with his partner Kathryn Tomajan on products like Fat Gold olive oil. It is that rare thing: a satire that has a love of what it satirizes while also functioning as a modern fairy tale about, of all things, the magic of certain carbohydrates.įor this to be a chemical rather than physical reaction, Sloan must display a sure and natural knowledge of high-tech culture and of bread culture (in both senses). Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore,” displays both lightness and a yearning for escape, but only in the best sense. It may also make us miss out on some great fiction about odd bread, an imaginary country and the processes behind making robot arms.Īll of which is to say that Robin Sloan’s delightful new novel, “Sourdough,” the follow-up to his runaway success “Mr. There’s a sense that our fictions should be of Earth-shattering import in the obvious ways, and this perhaps desensitizes us to other examples of subversion and narrative. In this day and age, under our current political conditions, you’d be forgiven for mistaking lightness for triteness, escape for escapism.
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