Doctor Benjamin Franklin’s Dream America

Ober’s muddled debut novel is an elaborate reimagination of history in which advanced digital communications are integrated into the framework of the American Revolution. Just after John Morton uploads the Articles of Confederation to the cloud, a mysterious plague called the Death begins killing anyone connected to the internet. Forced to abandon the technology that has murdered nearly all of its people and almost ruined the colony, a few surviving founding fathers strike a deal with aliens to clean up the dead bodies, cure America, and develop a new platform called Newnet to ensure the safety of those who remain. However, Newnet has problems of its own, both democratically and technologically, and an opposition led by Thomas Jefferson codes a different platform that gives voice to a movement of nonfederalists. Ober tells this peculiar story by describing 56 deaths, one for each of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence. The sheer quantity of historical figures makes this a laborious read for those with little background knowledge of the American Revolution. The plot is repetitive as well as baffling, with a witch’s curse and a bloodsucking sea creature written haphazardly into the story. Though wildly imaginative, Ober’s narrative overreaches and lacks the setup to ground readers in this deliberately bizarre world. (Jan.)