Rating: 
Summary: I don't think so.
Review: I found this book to be unremarkable at best. After reading the outstanding Mars trilogy, this was a big disappointment. I suppose a staunch KSR fan might find it interesting, but I fail to see how.I forced myself to finish it thinking something must happen to justify the books existance, but I never found it.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing but worth reading for the hard-core fan.
Review: I'm a huge KSR fan. I haven't read all of his books, but I'm on my way. I give Red and Green Mars five stars, Blue Mars and Antarctica four stars. I also give the first book in this "trilogy" (Robinson calls it a triptych), The Wild Shore, five stars. But this book was suprisingly disappointing. After The Wild Shore I was ready for this book to be a masterpiece. Robinson has said that it is one of his best novels, and regards it as a very important part of his body of work. However, one of the reasons he is so fond of this book is because it was partially based on himself (the main character, Jim, is obviously based on Kim, and he has said in interviews that he worked his own autobiography in this novel), and I think this was one of the things that made this book more bland and plain than any of his others. When a young writer puts his own story into a book, it is easy for him to feel that he is writing a masterpiece as he feels the nostalgia of his own past in the story. The book will give the writer a magical feeling because he identifies with it so much. But the same things that seem so beautiful to Robinson may seem ordinary to us, the readers. I even identified with Jim more than I've ever identified with a main character; he was a lot like me. But the story itself was lacking, and I think Robinson failed to create the effects that he was going for. It seems that the intention of this book was to make the future in a big, overdeveloped city seem hectic and out of control, but Robinson wasn't able to accomplish this effect. I live in Seattle which isn't even a very big city, but the city in this novel seemed boring and calm to me. A third complaint is that Robinson dropped the ball on the characters. None of them other than Jim was very likeable or interesting, and I had to force myself through the Abe chapters because they were so boring and tedious. But despite all these complaints, I do recommend this book to hard-core KSR fans. If you've read a lot of KSR you know his personality, and the Jim character in this book gives you a little more insight into what makes Robinson who he is. Although I think he could have done a much better job demonstrating how a character like Jim becomes dissatisfied with his life in the generic, overdeveloped American city, there was a slight feeling of Kim telling us who he is and why through the character of Jim. On the other hand, I can't imagine this book being very enjoyable for someone who isn't already a big KSR fan. For the record, here are Robinson's own words regarding this novel: "The Gold Coast... was the center of the triptych, the most realistic, (sadly the one most coming true), and the one that included a lot of my own life. It was kind of a disguised autobiography. I wrote the first draft in two months. There was this enormous kind of hyper-static pressure, and when I finally got a chance to get to that book, I think I had been thinking about it for 10 or 12 years. I just poured it out and then rewrote it. Within a year, it was done..." and in another part of the same interview he said: "I would defend [The Gold Coast] as one of my best novels..."
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing but worth reading for the hard-core fan.
Review: I'm a huge KSR fan. I haven't read all of his books, but I'm on my way. I give Red and Green Mars five stars, Blue Mars and Antarctica four stars. I also give the first book in this "trilogy" (Robinson calls it a triptych), The Wild Shore, five stars. But this book was suprisingly disappointing. After The Wild Shore I was ready for this book to be a masterpiece. Robinson has said that it is one of his best novels, and regards it as a very important part of his body of work. However, one of the reasons he is so fond of this book is because it was partially based on himself (the main character, Jim, is obviously based on Kim, and he has said in interviews that he worked his own autobiography in this novel), and I think this was one of the things that made this book more bland and plain than any of his others. When a young writer puts his own story into a book, it is easy for him to feel that he is writing a masterpiece as he feels the nostalgia of his own past in the story. The book will give the writer a magical feeling because he identifies with it so much. But the same things that seem so beautiful to Robinson may seem ordinary to us, the readers. I even identified with Jim more than I've ever identified with a main character; he was a lot like me. But the story itself was lacking, and I think Robinson failed to create the effects that he was going for. It seems that the intention of this book was to make the future in a big, overdeveloped city seem hectic and out of control, but Robinson wasn't able to accomplish this effect. I live in Seattle which isn't even a very big city, but the city in this novel seemed boring and calm to me. A third complaint is that Robinson dropped the ball on the characters. None of them other than Jim was very likeable or interesting, and I had to force myself through the Abe chapters because they were so boring and tedious. But despite all these complaints, I do recommend this book to hard-core KSR fans. If you've read a lot of KSR you know his personality, and the Jim character in this book gives you a little more insight into what makes Robinson who he is. Although I think he could have done a much better job demonstrating how a character like Jim becomes dissatisfied with his life in the generic, overdeveloped American city, there was a slight feeling of Kim telling us who he is and why through the character of Jim. On the other hand, I can't imagine this book being very enjoyable for someone who isn't already a big KSR fan. For the record, here are Robinson's own words regarding this novel: "The Gold Coast... was the center of the triptych, the most realistic, (sadly the one most coming true), and the one that included a lot of my own life. It was kind of a disguised autobiography. I wrote the first draft in two months. There was this enormous kind of hyper-static pressure, and when I finally got a chance to get to that book, I think I had been thinking about it for 10 or 12 years. I just poured it out and then rewrote it. Within a year, it was done..." and in another part of the same interview he said: "I would defend [The Gold Coast] as one of my best novels..."
Rating: 
Summary: Yet another great book by KSR
Review: I'm not sure I've appreciated the full meaning of the California trilogy - I can't help but feel I'm missing something deep. Nonetheless the series is highly enjoyable. KSR has a magnificent ability to convincingly portray near future scenarios. The Gold Coast is brash and packed with technology and science, yet manages to be sensitive and politically aware. I think I prefer Pacific Edge but this is definitely better than The Wild Shore.
Rating: 
Summary: KSR has done it again!
Review: I've read most of KSR's books and I've got to say that I think Gold Coast is the best yet. A magnificently written piece with an honest and believable main character. A SF masterpiece, Robinson knows his stuff but doesn't waste space showing off his knowledge, choosing instead to add information subtlely and cleverly. A must read for any SF fan, or anyone who wants to read a great novel.
Rating:
Summary: Not great but enjoyable
Review: Not his best work, lacking in conflict and suspense, but KSR rarely resorts to the typical SF plot structures or action scenes. This is a fairly successful attempt at literate SF. Enjoyed this more than Pac Edge, less than Red or Green Mars...
Rating:
Summary: Can a person gain control in an out of control world?
Review: Robinson's THE GOLD COAST is a wonderful commentary of a father's and son's individual quests to gain control of their lives and destinies in an insane, out of control world. Orange County is a nightmarish dystopia of over development. In addition, the defense industry is depicted in this manner, as well. Robinson deftly manages to depict these forces as if they're almost alive with an independent will. The world is completely out of control. How does a person gain control over their life? Simply beautiful.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing but worth reading for the hard-core fan.
Review: So far, I've loved everything I've read from Robinson. This was no exception. The story is SF, and yet, it's a story that could have come from anyone's life, even mine. The characters are so real, so believeable. I especially love the idea of an autopia, even though it's supposed to be something of a monstrosity as presented by Robinson. There's something charming even about his "fallen" societies. . . Anyway, this is a great book and a nice contrast to the other two Californias (which are also great).
Rating:
Summary: Cool charm
Review: So far, I've loved everything I've read from Robinson. This was no exception. The story is SF, and yet, it's a story that could have come from anyone's life, even mine. The characters are so real, so believeable. I especially love the idea of an autopia, even though it's supposed to be something of a monstrosity as presented by Robinson. There's something charming even about his "fallen" societies. . . Anyway, this is a great book and a nice contrast to the other two Californias (which are also great).
Rating:
Summary: Good sci-fi, but not by KSR's standards
Review: This book continues KSR's musings on one of his favorite places, Orange County, California. The main protagonist, Jim, is a twenty- or thirty-something in search of a cause. In fact he's a bit of a Gen-Xer. The setting of an OC thoroughly covered in concrete and highway forces Jim to search for deeper meaning, which he does via reading history, digging up parking lots, writing poetry, and "lidding" psychotropic drugs with his pals. Oh yeah, he also plays around with various women, none of them really compelling his (or our) interest. In short, he's a rather self-centered idealist (?) who gets so caught up in his own world, he cares less than he should about his family and friends. Not an uncommon phenomenon, particularly among Gen-Xers, one might claim. In any case, the plot thickens as Jim gets involved in the underworld of anti-military-industrial complex sabotage. We realize some personal cataclysm's inevitable, as Jim's own father develops high-precision munitions a la the Strategic Defense Initiative (the book was written in the 1980s). We follow Jim, his dad, and Jim's pals as they work, play, and blow up various weapons plants. The plot ends with something of an epiphany for Jim - a rather postmodern one. Postmodern, because it leaves that empty, "existential" or "what does it all mean" feeling in the reader that people who chronically wear black, smoke cigarettes, and inhabit coffeehouses so like to affect. We hope that Jim makes a turn for the better. Be that as it may, there are more than a few telling passages that leave their impression. KSR has developed the skill of capturing the moment - and the observer's reflections thereon - beyond the level of most modern writers. Those individual versus the world (or individual-in-the-world) moments are rather "existential" in the original, phenomenological sense of the word (not the coffeehouse sense), and are KSR's real contribution to fiction. A case in point is when one of Jim's friends, a surfer, undertakes his sport at nighttime. You'll have to read the passage for yourself to believe how incredibly well it distills the narrator's experience. I admit to some disappointment after the great expectations raised by the previous volume in the trilogy, The Wild Shore. In sum, Gold Coast is strong work compared to most sci-fi, but weak for KSR.
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