false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172548484m/189101.jpg 189101 3 Hariba, a poor young Near Eastern woman, sells herself into a slavery guaranteed by "jessing," a biochemical process that makes her permanently loyal to her owner. She would be content, if not happy, in her new house-servant's life--if her mistress didn't own a harni. A harni is a chimera, a genetically engineered man who may or may not be human, but who is stunningly handsome and who treats Hariba with a gentle, attentive consideration she has never before experienced. The chimera, Akhmim, is so unlike Hariba's expectations that her fear and hatred give way to love and, impossibly, to dissatisfaction with her scientifically cemented loyalty. Hariba and Akhmin flee to the Nekropolis, the Moroccan cemetery/ghetto in which she grew up. But her family and best friend are unhappy to see her and horrified by the chimera, and running away from her bonded master precipitates a serious, potentially fatal illness. Her family and friends are too poor and too afraid of arrest to hire a physician. And the unfailingly patient and considerate chimera begins to have strange effects on the women in Hariba's life.<p> Like Maureen F. McHugh's previous novels, <I>Nekropolis</I> is beautifully written, thoughtful, and powerful, with complex, sensitively delineated, always believable characters. McHugh portrays human behavior with a rare and sometimes heartbreaking honesty and with an exceptional insight into the interplay of male-female relationships and the dilemma of the stranger in a strange land. Like McHugh's debut novel, <I>China Mountain Zhang</I> (winner of the Hugo, Tiptree, Lambda, and Locus awards), the chapters are narrated in alternating first-person viewpoints that offer fresh and contrasting angles and understanding of the characters and their world. <I>--Cynthia Ward</I> 1607616 2001 Nekropolis total:55|5:9|4:28|3:15|2:2|1:1| 55 207 111 15 0 0 false true Thu Dec 11 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 06 20:56:11 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 12 00:53:17 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 true true Sun Feb 17 19:08:58 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 17 19:09:06 -0800 2008
Wow! What a depressing book and I highly recommend it! It's the story of a poor woman in Morocco who indentures herself into servitude to a rich family because she thinks doing so will make her meaningless life of poverty easier and give her a purpose....more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Mar 09 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 15 17:29:03 -0800 2008 Tue Mar 11 18:09:23 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 24 16:06:08 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 24 16:07:32 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2003 Fri Sep 18 07:30:20 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 18 07:32:15 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Wed Nov 26 11:55:36 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 26 11:56:31 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 06 00:16:43 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 06 00:17:44 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 22 12:11:04 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 26 12:12:56 -0700 2008 China Mountain Zhang this is set a few hundred years in the future in a world where interesting technological and societal innovations are used as a backdrop to indepth exploration of characters and everyday life. I want to say it's even less plotty, even though there's a very specific storyli...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Feb 23 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 06 11:46:08 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 23 19:49:07 -0800 2008 hoping to enjoy it--wouldn't have bought it otherwise--but the reviews on Amazon had me wondering if I would. I have a feeling it'll be one of those books I'll be thinking about long after I've read it.]]> 4 0 false false Sat Apr 26 11:44:27 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 28 07:25:10 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Fri Oct 17 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 21 12:56:54 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 17 14:48:21 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Sat Aug 09 06:00:44 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 09 06:10:01 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Sun Dec 07 16:25:14 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 07 16:33:12 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Fri Jan 04 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 29 13:31:30 -0700 2008 Sat Mar 29 13:33:12 -0700 2008 2 0 false false Sat Mar 10 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Wed Jul 18 17:13:50 -0700 2007 Wed Jul 18 17:13:50 -0700 2007 http://oyceter.livejournal.com/122640.ht...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Nov 19 01:26:47 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 19 01:26:47 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Nov 18 22:22:35 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 18 22:22:35 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Nov 16 17:02:08 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 16 17:02:08 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Fri Nov 13 21:51:13 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 13 21:51:13 -0800 2009 2 0 false false Tue Nov 03 16:10:34 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 03 16:10:34 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=189101