![]() The question of how best to act when facing an existential crisis like climate change-and whether or not the crisis calls for violence-is a hot one right now. But I want to instead return to the challenge posed by Rae’s decision. Were this a review, I would spend more time singing Collins’s praises for creating such a lovingly accurate depiction of activist life. Like us, they try to live out their values, grappling with big questions: Can strong connections be built across race and class lines? Can polyamory be a valid option in their community? Can we handle this long struggle without burning out? In fact, elements of Rae’s community remind me of my own from the 1970s and 80s: Movement for a New Society. The author, an activist as well as a writer, blends his book’s made-up characters with real people, including me at one point! It works as intended, taking the life of a fossil fuel company CEO.Īfter the novel’s high-charged opening chapter, Collins pulls back to reveal the world Rae inhabited, which turns out to be one that is very true to the activism of the past half-century. Having done her research to know the “carbon barons” responsible for so much destruction, she decides to “take one with her” by wearing a suicide vest. Right off the bat, in the first chapter, we learn that the novel’s central character, Rae, is a climate activist who has been diagnosed with inoperable cancer. Chuck Collins’ new book Altar to an Erupting Sun may be fiction, but it poses a very topical, real-world challenge for readers: What’s the right way to act when facing an existential challenge like climate change?
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