Playground

 by Richard Powers

I so enjoy this author. His imagination and cast of characters are Dickensian in scope.

This story is about a couple of friends who meet at school and play a lot of games together but get absorbed by the game of go. One of them goes on to become a tech billionaire, the other does not. There stories intersect and fly apart and along the ways we meet a host of characters, learn about the oceans and AI and climate change and French Polynesia. It is capped off with a fantastic twist in the tale. 

The biggest surprise though is how this book did not reach the Booker shortlist. 9/10