Sleeping Giants ★★★☆☆

A strong premise, a clever format, and a middle that loses its grip.

The format is the best thing here. The story unfolds almost entirely through interview transcripts and debriefs, run by a mysterious man who seems to be pulling every string. It reads like eavesdropping on a classified file. You learn about each character through what they choose to tell him, and what he chooses to push on. He ends up the most interesting person in the book.

The setup earns its intrigue. It opens with a memory of falling into a hole and landing “lying on my back in the palm of a giant metal hand.” From there the question is simple: who built this, and where is the rest of it? Neuvel lets the mystery breathe early on, and the interview format keeps it tight.

There are good ideas tucked into the conversations. One exchange argues that we define ourselves by what we are not, so a discovery from light-years away could reduce every border on Earth to just being human. Another is about recruiting someone more or less unqualified, because the qualified people have all failed. It’s a funny line that also says something true about how breakthroughs happen.

Neuvel has a dry streak that shows up when you least expect it. My favorite is a character defending the hospital staff, who “probably thought I was going to the cafeteria, considering I told them I was going to the cafeteria.”

The middle is where it sags. The plot meanders, and the transcript format that felt sharp at the start begins to feel like a way to skip the hard scenes. Momentum gives way to waiting.

Then the ending wraps up a little too neatly, as if the book wanted to close the file. The epilogue reopens it, and suddenly I was interested again.

Worth reading for the format and the first act. Whether the rest is worth your time depends on what that epilogue promises.

Edition Read

• Edition Type: Hardcover
• Number of Pages: 320 pages
• Date First Published: April 26, 2016
• Publisher: Del Rey
• ISBN10: 1101886692
• ASIN: 1101886692
• Language: English

Description

A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square-shaped hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand.

Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved - the object's origins, architects, and purpose unknown.

But some can never stop searching for answers.

Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top-secret team to crack the hand's code. And along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the relic they seek. What's clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unravelling history's most perplexing discovery-and finally figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result be an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction?

Source: GoodReads

Notable Highlights

You want to find someone who is more or less unqualified because the people that were actually proficient have all failed. —I wouldn’t quite put it that way, but yes, someone who’s really smart and who’s less encumbered with preconceived notions. [loc. 478]

It was a long day, but we were excited to fly over the Grand Canyon, neither of us had ever seen it. We wouldn’t really see anything at night, from this altitude, but it still felt good, like a layover in Paris. You never leave the airport, but even so, you’re in Paris. [loc. 794]

If you are a scientist you believe that it is good to find out how the world works; that it is good to find out what the realities are; that it is good to turn over to mankind at large the greatest possible power to control the world and to deal with it according to its lights and its values.” [loc. 2451]

—The concept of “otherness.” What I am is very much a function of what I am not. If the “other” is the Muslim world, then I am the Judeo-Christian world. If the other is from thousands of light-years away, I am simply human. Redefine alterity and you can erase boundaries. [loc. 3020]

“Remember: that giants sleep too soundly; that witches are often betrayed by their appetites; dragons have one soft spot, somewhere, always; hearts can be well-hidden, and you can betray them with your tongue. (from Instructions)”

“China is a sleeping giant; let him sleep, for if he wakes, he will shake the World.”

“Love doesn't give you very many choices. When you love someone, you just want to be with them. If they break your heart, you will still love them. Because hearts are easy to break, and though love is tender and sometimes fragile, love isn't. Love sort of envelops you. It covers you like a giant shadow, then pulls you in like a blanket. You are so warm. The feeling surrounds you, and no matter how you feel, it is always there. You can't escape it. But you wouldn't want to. You are so, so safe. You can't remember the last time you were this happy. Were you ever? This happy? Every second you are apart feels like hours. Sometimes, right before you fall asleep, you miss them so much it hurts. You ache for them. Their warmth. Their touch. Their smell. You need them. When you can't sleep you wish and wish and wish that they would wake up and talk to you. When you dream of them, you wake up smiling. When pain stabs into you, you reach out for them. You cry to them, begging them to hold you and make it all go away, make everything go away. Love addicts you to its feeling. You never, ever want to lose that feeling. Sometimes the fear of losing love drives people to do crazy things. Like buy a plane ticket. Make a phone call. Run out of a class. Cry. Write. Laugh.Because when you love someone, you really love them. You give them your whole heart. You trust them. You never want to be away from them. Sometimes, you don't even need their words. You just need them there.Love is such an amazing thing, and too many people take it for granted. If you're in love, don't let it go. Don't you dare let it go.”

“I can’t tell you what to do. No one can. But as the mother of two children, I can tell you what most moms will: that mothering is absurdly hard and profoundly sweet. Like the best thing you ever did. Like if you think you want to have a baby, you probably should.I say this in spite of the fact that children are giant endless suck machines. They don’t give a whit if you need to sleep or eat or pee or get your work done or go out to a party naked and oiled up in a homemade Alice B. Toklas mask. They take everything. They will bring you the furthest edge of your personality and abso-fucking-lutely to your knees.They will also give you everything back. Not just all they take, but many of the things you lost before they came along as well.”

“Fundamentalist Christianity: fascinating. These people actually believe that the world is twelve thousand years old. Swear to God. Based on what? I asked them.Well, we looked at all the people in the Bible and we added 'em up all the way back to Adam and Eve, their ages? Twelve thousand years.Well, how fucking scientific, OK. I didn't know that you'd gone to so much trouble there. That's good. You believe the world's twelve thousand years old?That's right.OK, I got one word to ask you, a one word question, ready?Uh huh.Dinosaurs.You know, the world's twelve thousand years old and dinosaurs existed, and existed in that time, you'd think it would been mentioned in the fucking Bible at some point:And O, Jesus and the disciples walked to Nazareth. But the trail was blocked by a giant brontosaurus... with a splinter in its paw. And the disciples did run a-screamin'. What a big fucking lizard, Lord!I'm sure gonna mention this in my book, Luke said.Well, I'm sure gonna mention it in my book, Matthew said.But Jesus was unafraid. And he took the splinter from the brontosaurus paw, and the brontosaurus became his friend. And Jesus sent him to Scotland where he lived in a loch, O so many years, attracting fat American families with their fat fuckin' dollars to look for the Loch Ness Monster. And O the Scots did praise the Lord: Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!Twelve thousand years old. But I actually asked this guy, OK, dinosaur fossils-- how does that fit into your scheme of life? What's the deal? He goes:God put those here to test our faith.I think God put you here to test my faith, dude. I think I've figured this out.Does that-- That's what this guy said. Does that bother anyone here? The idea that God might be fucking with our heads? Anyone have trouble sleeping restfully with that thought in their head? God's running around burying fossils: Ho ho! We'll see who believes in me now, ha ha! I'm a prankster God. I am killing me, ho ho ho! You know? You die, you go to St. Peter:Did you believe in dinosaurs?Well, yeah. There were fossils everywhere. (trapdoor opens) Aaaaarhhh!You fuckin' idiot! Flying lizards? You're a moron. God was fuckin' with you!It seemed so plausible, aaaaaahh!Enjoy the lake of fire, fucker!They believe this. But you ever notice how people who believe in Creationism usually look pretty unevolved. Eyes really close together, big furry hands and feet? I believe God created me in one day. Yeah, looks like he rushed it.Such a weird belief. Lots of Christians wear crosses around their necks. You think when Jesus comes back he's gonna want to see a fucking cross, man? Ow. Might be why he hasn't shown up yet.Man, they're still wearing crosses. Fuck it, I'm not goin' back, Dad. No, they totally missed the point. When they start wearing fishes, I might show up again, but... let me bury fossils with you, Dad. Fuck 'em, let's fuck with 'em! Hand me that brontosaurus head, Dad.”

“I had a dream about you last night... you were a giant slinky and I watched you fall down the stairs.”

Highlights from Readwise, topped up with popular quotes from Goodreads.