Stephen Winter’s Moments from the Life, Death and Thereafter of Elliot Grant paints a bleak picture of a dystopian future where, in one strata of it, social media, is a snakes head eating it’s own tail, something that exists to serve only itself. This astute reflection of how it functions for us in the here and now highlights that we could be, and probably are, so near to a version of this. Perhaps a more pointed interpretation is that, much like the children in the world of the book being physically taken from their parents at a young age, social media achieves it figuratively in real life.
There were moments here where I was reminded of the movie Silent Running, in the way that humans and robots interact to achieve environmental good.
Beyond this is something transcendental, like Winter has peeled back a layer of the fabric of reality to show us, among other things, how human connections matter, perhaps more than anything.
Beautifully written, with standout moments of awe and wonder, Winter proves his storytelling powers once again.
He writes with a profound sensitivity towards the human experience, in a way that is deeply emotional to read. I hope more people discover Stephen Winter’s wonderful writing.
Buy the book on Amazon.