The first thing I would note is that I love the way magical realism celebrates the magic that is inherent in human endeavour.In the same way that Kuang's Babel recognizes the magic of language and the act of translation, this book emphasizes the magic of mapmaking and the way that humans have used maps throughout history to understand, make sense of, and document the world around them. Humans are amazing and the way we develop media and cultural forms to communicate, transcribe, and represent the world never ceases to be a source of delight to me.
There is definitely a theme here of traditional vs. technological map-making. Technology becomes a tool through which Wally/William tries to exert control over the world, and this is seen as an inhuman, soulless thing to do. At several points in the book the author, through Nell, reflects on the way digitally reproducing maps or entering them into a database "feels wrong somehow" because it is like "giving something up": "Not the maps themselves, but the magic of them. The feel of their paper, the richness of their ink. Some things just couldn't translate perfectly into data." This is reiterated in the second last chapter, where Nell reflects on how maps "did not control the territory – they told its stories." This is right before she uses a pen (a form of technology, but that's beside the point) to alter the map so it can not be digitized and used as a tool of control. I always find this sort of romanticizing of "pre-technological" art or media-making interesting because it hinges on the idea that, first of all, technology was not used to make maps before computers. What is a printing press if not a form of technology? And also that computer technology is somehow an "inhuman" or alienating endeavour, when humans invented it and are necessarily at the heart of its use, its changes and developments.
This was not my favorite book but I really enjoyed the reading process, and the whole blind date event because it encouraged me to read something I might not have otherwise!