Ply

「《層》（Ply）氣勢磅礡。這是一個碎裂的鏡像世界，非常像我們的世界；裡面居住著倖存者，非常像我們；文字精妙得足以劃破肌膚；情節穿梭於失去、愛、信任、背叛、藝術、科學、社會與控制之間。」——大衛·米契爾（David Mitchell）

普立茲獎得主、《信任》（Trust）的作者將目光投向未來，用一部小說檢視科技在美國想像中的地位。

數百年後，在一個充滿不確定性與希望的歷史紀元之初，一名孤兒在一座面臨巨大變革的城市中漂泊。國家已被解體，人類正在重新發明社會紐帶，並學習與自然共處的新方式。在經歷了由失去、生存和重組家庭所定義的童年後，這名孤兒長大成為一名「竊電者」（pincher），即從電網中竊取電力並在黑市上販售的人。這是一種高風險的生活，使她融入了豐富的藝術和音樂場景，為地下音樂會提供電力。這也引導她發現了一項巨大的科學發明，可能會改變現實的結構。

繼前兩部小說重寫美國歷史之後，赫南·迪亞茲（Hernan Diaz）憑藉他的第三部小說打破了預期，帶領我們對未來進行了令人屏息的窺探。作為一位當代重要作家的重大成就，《層》通過一個抓住人心與思維的情節，質疑了科技在美國實驗中的地位。這是一部從人物故事中建構出來的思想小說。結合了狄更斯式的冒險旅程、家庭恩怨與科學驚悚，《層》深刻地描繪了自我認知的微妙邊界，以及我們與我們所愛之人之間不可避免的距離。

“Ply is majestic. A cracked mirror world, a lot like ours; peopled by survivors, a lot like us; sentences so fine they break the skin; a plot that swerves through loss, love, trust, betrayal, art, science, society and control.” — David Mitchell

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Trust turns to the future with a novel that examines the place of technology in the American imagination

Centuries from now, at the dawn of a historical epoch filled with both uncertainty and promise, an orphan is adrift in a city on the brink of a great transformation. The state has been dismantled, and humans are reinventing social bonds and learning new ways to coexist with nature. Following a childhood defined by loss, survival, and found family, the orphan grows up to become a “pincher,” someone who steals electricity from the grid to sell it on the black market. It’s a high-risk life, one that brings her into a rich art and music scene where she powers underground concerts. It also leads her to a colossal scientific invention that could change the very fabric of reality.

After rewriting America’s past with his two previous novels, Hernan Diaz defies expectations with his third and gives us a breathtaking glimpse into the future. A major achievement from a major contemporary writer, Ply questions the place of technology in the American experiment with a plot that grabs both heart and mind. It is a novel of ideas built from a story of people. Combining Dickensian odyssey, family drama, and scientific thriller, Ply poignantly charts the tenuous boundaries of selfhood and the distance that inevitably stands between us and those we love.