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97th out of 133 books
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281 voters
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Carmen Dog
“Combines the cruel humor of Candide with the allegorical panache of Animal Farm.”—Entertainment Weekly "Carol is the most unappreciated great writer we've got. Carmen Dog ought to be a classic in the colleges by now . . . It's so funny, and it's so keen."—Ursula K. Le Guin “A rollicking outre satire.... full of comic leaps and absurdist genius.”—Bitch “A wise a...more
Paperback, 148 pages
Published
November 1st 2004
by Small Beer Press
(first published October 1st 1988)
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This is one of those hyper-feminist early sci fi books, where most of the men were either reprehensible, or rather womany. Very sexual, disturbingly so, the James Tiptree, Jr. Award was created specifically to honor this book. (Those of you who know who Tiptree was are now saying, Ah!) I enjoyed it, and the writing was excellent, yet it was almost a vignette. The reason for the women turning into animals and vice versa is never given nor even fully explored by the characters, merely accepted...more
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A list of light reading might accompany this review - light reading in something other than the accepted sense: in other words, not books that are "light reading" because they're vapid or dumb, but because they have a quality of lightness, of extreme possibility in regards to plot and/or language. Maybe The Man Who Was Thursday is a good point of comparison? Or even The Third Policeman (albeit without the lingering sense of existential dread.) Certainly Carmen Dog has some similarit...more
An absurdist quasi-allegory in which all women are slowly transmogrifying into animals while pet animals are morphing in the opposite direction to become women. Pooch, who started as a setter and is now most of the way to becoming a young woman, runs away with the family baby after its mother, now nearly 100% snapping turtle, bites it. Out in the big bad city she has adventures as she pursues her dream of one day singing the lead in Carmen, eventually throwing in her lot with a revolutionary org...more
A delightful, playful, artful exploration of what it means to be human and how we treat animals, women, and mothers — fantasy with philosophical underpinnings.
The story begins in a world in which women are turning into a variety of animals (wolverine, swan, snapping turtle, pig) and animals (including many pets: dogs, cats, guinea pigs) are turning into women. It follows the journey of a Setter named Pooch who is becoming a nubile young women and desires to be a opera star. She loves C...more
The story begins in a world in which women are turning into a variety of animals (wolverine, swan, snapping turtle, pig) and animals (including many pets: dogs, cats, guinea pigs) are turning into women. It follows the journey of a Setter named Pooch who is becoming a nubile young women and desires to be a opera star. She loves C...more
Thank you, Small Beer Press, for introducing me to Emshwiller's work! I'd never heard of her before, and now I've read three of her books this week. This is definitely my favorite.
Torture scenes automatically get crappy scores. I really wanted to like this book, but yeah; the torture scenes precluded that.
I'm not sure I've ever read such a cheerful-AND-challenging book in my life. I love you, Carol Emshwiller & Peapod Classics. :)
Allegorical feminist SF.
A satire, in the Jonathan Swift tradition, where the women turn into animals, the animals turn into women, and the men are beastly. There are good and bad characters in both sexes, and people get morally better and worse. There's a discussion about motherhood, and feminine leadership, but I just don't understand what she is trying to say about humanity overall.
I didn't enjoy this one. Knew that it's supposed to be pro-feminism, but does it have to be male-bashing at the same time. And just to be contrary, let's have everyone live "happily ever after" at the end. So women NEED men at the end? I just didn't get the metaphor of women changing forms, and how men were supposed to be interpreted.
A wise and utterly enchanting fable.
Austin Riley
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“She makes a silent vow to be a vegetarian from now on even if she has to starve to do it. Better that than even the remote possibility of eating one's friends and fellow sufferers.”
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3 people liked it
“Maybe it's animalness that will make the world right again: the wisdom of elephants, the enthusiasm of canines, the grace of snakes, the mildness of anteaters. Perhaps being human needs some diluting. At any rate, how nice to be well dressed and among friends and in a state where poems pop out by themselves.”
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2 people liked it
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