The Three-Body Problem

The Three-Body Problem, the 2015 Hugo winner, presents intriguing ideas and themes about survival, struggle and progress in, both, an alien world and in the human world. The overall story frequently shifts from Earth to the alien world, depicting the personal and social struggles that the characters live through, working, learning and surviving despite untimely chaos. Many thought-provoking themes portrayed throughout the book, in particular, that individual lives are tenuous in a chaotic world. I was personally interested by the historical references and depictions of the Cultural Revolution as part of the book's story arc. This Hugo Award novel is unusual because it is translated from Chinese, which, in my estimation, must have brought enormous challenges to communicate issues of context and semantics. I think the translation was successful in that regard.