Blue Mars discussion

I have always sort of thought that if a person lived for 250 years they would feel ok about dying in this I-had-a-great-life outlook.
But in this novel the characters are just as reluctant to die as most people are even though they do acknowledge that the deaths of their generation is necessary.

Maybe it's just wishful thinking that if we live long enough we'd get tired of it.

I don't know, I don't think the "Growing tired of it" is the problem - I feel most do that before they even hit thirty (me anyways) - it's more this strange phenomena that it gets harder and harder to let go of something the longer you have it, no matter of wanting it any longer or not.

I read red and green and then about a third of the way through blue, I lost interest. Wasn't the reluctance to die in green as well? I remember the scene where Maya cut off all her hair...

Mark wrote: "I read red and green and then about a third of the way through blue, I lost interest. Wasn't the reluctance to die in green as well? I remember the scene where Maya cut off all her hair..."

I read all of them back to back so I have some trouble remembering what's in what book. But I think Maya cut of her hair because she felt bad about growing old and ugly. Not necessary about dying but rather that she was afraid of loosing her beauty.

I also did my reading back to back... I get confused as well.

The series did seem to have an unstoppable melancholy tied to mortality about it. That events and time would march on no matter what the squabbling humans do, and eventually all the politics and all the petty arguments, the inventions and the memories, would fade.

I recently read "Icehenge," and that issue is discussed a bit more in that book. In it, they complain that people "don't get in a hurry to do things because there's so much time" and they really seem to lament the sense of "urgency" to complete things. They also complain about failing memories and question whether it's natural or right for humans to live so long. It's not discussed in great detail, but they do address it more in that book. But yes, like you, when I read the Mars Trilogy, I wondered how we would really feel about a lifetime that lasted a millineum instead of a century (or less). It's an interesting question you've posted here, and I'm glad you shared it!

It's been some time since i read the Mars Trilogy, but i thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact i would compare it favorably with the first 3 books of 'Dune' by Frank Herbert & 'The Reality Dysfunction' series by Peter Hamilton. I've read most, if not all of Kim Stanley Robinson's novels, so I'm a big fan.