This read was for the 2012 Theme Park book club, May theme: The Final Frontier
While C.J. Cherryh needs no introduction to genre readers, I must admit...moreThis read was for the 2012 Theme Park book club, May theme: The Final Frontier
While C.J. Cherryh needs no introduction to genre readers, I must admit that this great lady is one of those classic scifi authors I had yet to actually read (there are quite a few others which I shall not name just yet...). So when this Hugo winning novel turned out to be the result of May's poll, I was delighted!
I dived into Downbelow Station and was really amazed by the scope of the prologue which provides readers with all the background information they need regarding the Company, its fleet, the different stations and the Union. Prologues, especially when they serve as info dumps (which is the case here) generally put me off. However, Downbelow Station is such a dense book that I am not sure there was any way around it.
Despite quite a few typos, problems with grammar and syntax (but perhaps my edition was a bit dated), I was really gripped for the first 200 pages and not terribly bothered by the elliptical and unsmooth writing style. There was so much going on, so many characters and points of view, a lot of material to digest... possibly too much. And then, despite the fact that I really wanted to know how the events turned out, I found myself reading comics.
Let me explain, I generally turn to comics when I need a break: sometimes it's when I have enjoyed a book so much that I don't feel ready to dive straight into something else just yet and am in need of something short and sweet to catch my breath; at other times, it's when I can't get into a book and this generally happens at the beginning of a book rather than at the end. Neither was really the case here but I got tired of reading the novel and finishing it came as a strange relief.
Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy this book on some levels and I would recommend it to scifi fans but definitely not to anyone outside the genre. If you have never read a space opera before and are not familiar with the terms specifically related to the genre, Cherryh is not going to make it easy for you. She's not the type of writer who's going to take you by the hand and explain faster than light travels and the way a space station operates. You either already know it from previous reads or figure it out quickly enough so as not to lose interest in what's going on. This debatable approach has probably put off more than one reader and I think that was the case for a quite a few participants in the book club. I am generally quite self-disciplined (apart from the comics breaks) and not the type of reader who gets frustrated if I don't understand every single detail, but my boyfriend is and that's probably the reason why he and I don't enjoy the same scifi books.
Another thing that frustrated me throughout my reading of the novel and which I think is really the main cause of my eventual exasperation was the constant change in view points. There are A LOT of characters in this novel, most of which I found very interesting and while I didn't like all of them (and I don't think you're meant to), I felt that they were never taken to their full potential. That's part of the reason why I felt so engaged for the first 200 pages. I felt like the story and its character were going to bloom into something spectacular but they never actually did. Instead, I got tired of the constant change of view points. This is definitely one of the hardest things to pull off and part of me wonders if Downbelow Station had been written now, what type of editorial changes would have been made to Cherryh's initial manuscript compared to the ones that were made in the 80s. I do think that books are a lot more character driven now than they used to and I do try to bare that in mind when reading a classic scifi novel. It's interesting to think that perhaps, my difficulties with this novel stem from a new fashion trend in genre literature and that had I read it when it came out (well had I been born and old enough to), I wouldn't have encountered the same frustrations.
And yet, while I was initially puzzled (by the typos, grammar and syntax), a part of me does see why it won the Hugo prize (although I really don't know how it compares to the other novels nominated). The scope of the novel made me want to read the rest of series and I feel like it's not so much the novel itself that deserves the prize as the author's world building and perhaps the rest of the series. It's so vast and so brilliantly conceived that I think it's difficult not to want to know more if you've managed to finish the novel. The problem for me was really the characters and how the author's characterizations skills felt diluted among all of them so that not one really stood out and felt fully fleshed out.
Perhaps, it's the nature of the endeavor itself that makes it impossible to go from large and vast to small and detailed. And yet, I felt like a few changes could have achieved this. It would be interesting to know if other scifi series with a similar ambitions suffer from similar flaws. I am not well-read enough in the space opera genre to be the judge of this.
What I can say is that I feel like reading Cherryh's other titles in her Company Wars series and more broadly in her Alliance-Union universe as a history books or as non fiction rather than fiction. I want to know what happens to Pell, the Fleet, the Union, how they evolve and change over the centuries but I'm not sure I can bare another narration constantly alternating view points with characters I don't really get a chance to know in-depth. I do intend to try though so welcome any recommendations.
Cherryh's talent at world building is unquestionable and perhaps that's the reason why readers feel like they could expect more from her characterization. I do think a good proofreader was also required but then as I mentioned my edition was probably a bit dated so perhaps more recent edition do not suffer from this. At any rate, this was challenging read on more than one level and although the novel is not without its flaws, I thought it made for a nice introduction to Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe and do plan on reading more works by this author.(less)
This read was for the 2012 Around the World in 12 Books Reading Challenge hosted by Shannon at Giraffe Days (January: South Africa)
Zinzi December live...moreThis read was for the 2012 Around the World in 12 Books Reading Challenge hosted by Shannon at Giraffe Days (January: South Africa)
Zinzi December lives in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, in a world very similar to ours except for the magic and/or science. I've read elsewhere that the novel takes place in near future dystopian South Africa but since the novel takes place in 2010, I suppose parallel dystopian South Africa is more accurate. At any rate, the world changed with the appearance of an "Afghan warlord and a penguin" (as Zinzi puts it), marking the appearance of aposymbiotism. Individuals who have committed various levels of crimes and misdemeanors are faced with the appearance of an animal with whom they have a special psychic connection and from which they cannot be separated. Some will be reminded of Philip Pullman's dæmons in His Dark Materials, but I suppose familiars are fairly common in speculative fiction... don't get me wrong, nothing in Zoo City is "common" or rehash. With the animal comes the threat of the Undertow and also the manifestation of a unique talent.
Zinzi has Sloth and a talent for finding lost things.... and also another talent for getting herself into shitty situations but I guess there wouldn't be a story otherwise! Aposymbiotics or zoos as they are referred to, live on the outskirts of society. While their living conditions are not exactly ideal, zoos living in South Africa are not nearly as bad off as zoos in other less liberal countries where they are openly experimented on, mistreated, tortured and killed. Still, zoos are clearly perceived as stained and once an animal is at your side, there's no turning back or even simply going on living your normal life. Accommodation will become impossible to find in certain areas, not to mention jobs.
Zoo City is a dark thriller that depicts an urban South Africa where technology intersects with magic and culture. It's fascinating in the way it mixes science fictional elements with an urban fantasy setting: voodoo in slums, magic with a scientific explanation. One example would be the sangoma that Zinzi consults at some points in the novel. This practitioner of traditional African medicine has a D&G logo on his vest and a cell phone which in case your didn't know, really comes in handy when you need to get in touch with the other side:
"I didn't know the ancestors were SMSin now." "No, he calls me. The spirits find it easier with technology. It's not so clogged as human minds [...] data is like water - the spirits can move through it. That's why you get a prickly feeling around cellphone towers." "And here I thought it was the radiation."
While I've never been to South Africa, I have had the opportunity to travel to other African countries and while each was very different, one thing that struck me pretty much everywhere was this strange combination of tradition and modernity. For example, I often saw women dressed in traditional outfits, driving a scouter, a designer bag on their shoulder. Zoo City clearly illustrates these interesting multi-layered identities, these intersections between multiple cultures and it also throws in a nice bit of magic in the mix.
The existence of zoos, or rather the appearance of their mashavi (their animal) is what I found to be most fascinating. While scientists have tried to explain their origin and sudden appearance, while they have applied technical terms such as "aposymbiots", there is really no explanation for their existence. Is it a spreading virus? Has the phenomenon always existed but at a smaller scale? Is global communications responsible for its spread? Is the Undertow a black hole that swallows whole the zoos when it's their time? Or is it the hand of God that's come to punish sinners?
No real explanation is given although many interpretations, both scientific and religious, are put forth. One character ventures:
"Maybe that's all your talent is for, a distraction to keep you preoccupied until the blackness comes rushing in."
To be honest, Zinzi and the other zoos have other problems to deal with and are not too concerned with the origin of this mysterious condition. They are more concerned by its immediate consequences and how it affect every aspect of their lives, putting them in a precarious situation, regardless of their race, gender and social background. Zoo is a new class of its own.
I must admit that I first struggled with Zoo City's first person narration. Everything is so alien, you're not sure what you're stepping into. Lauren Beukes doesn't take her reader by the hand, she dumps you in Zoo City and leaves you to fend for yourself and piece together the background story. Like any new zoo, you'd better figure it out fast and by yourself in order to survive. While I'm always grateful for limited info dumps, this process can put off some readers. Should that be the case, do persevere because it's well worth it! There's a lot going on in those 256 pages, this is dense novel, nothing in there is superficial.
Zinzi's character is not your coy heroine; she's guile, cynical and morally dubious at the best of times. But that only makes the novel's first person narration all the more witty and engaging (if you're a fan of dark humor which I am).
Context is provided by a series of interview transcripts, scientific reports and other supports that nicely complement Zinzi's story. All those elements add something raw, real and almost authentic to the novel. In a strange way, despite its parallel dystopian setting, Zoo City is very much anchored in the now. This is also helped by the bits of South African slang, the various references to contemporary musical artists and pop culture that are spread throughout the novel.This is somewhat unusual in scifi (less so in urban fantasy I suppose) which is either grounded in fandom with a lot of geeky allusions or projected so far in the future that it wouldn't make any sense to include references to pop culture.
When I started reading Zoo City, I wasn't really sure if it fully qualified for Shannon's challenge which mainly aimed at discovering or learning more about a country, its culture, history and geography. Zoo City taking place in a futuristic Johannesburg, I didn't really know how much I was going to learn about contemporary South Africa. However, Lauren Beukes's projection of Johannesburg, while subjective and somewhat pessimistic, tells a lot about the issues the country has faced in the past and is still currently facing. The lady is in her own words a "recovering journalist" and perhaps this is the reason why social awareness is such an integral part of her writing. I read in an interview that a lot of research was done on the actual inner city slum of Hillbrow, as well as interviews of immigrants, refugees and social outcasts, so I do believe that her descriptions of life in the slums fairly reflect reality.
Zoo City is not novel about the apartheid although racial issues do crop up here and there. While the treatment of zoos is clearly an allegory of xenophobia and zoos are stigmatized, forced to carry their guilt for all to see, the focus seems to be more on class than race. Like in current Western societies (post-racial societies as some call it but there's a whole other debate here, isn't there?), racism is not quite as open and transpires in more vicious ways in everyday life.
Zoo City is an ambitious and audacious novel that lives up to all the buzz around it and that I would highly recommend.(less)
**spoiler alert** This read was for the 2012 Theme Park book club, January theme: Genre in Mainstream.
I'm not sure how to start reviewing this novel....more**spoiler alert** This read was for the 2012 Theme Park book club, January theme: Genre in Mainstream.
I'm not sure how to start reviewing this novel. To be perfectly honest, I probably wouldn't have turned to this title if it weren't for the Theme Park book club even though I'd vaguely heard positive things about it before. The title was what put me off as it gave me the feeling that it was a non fiction science fiction title, like some sort of textbook and not an actual novel. Boy was I wrong! So this just goes to prove that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover and that book clubs are good for you.
Where to start? Well, perhaps I should begin by saying that while I enjoyed this thoroughly and found it to be brilliant and original, I do think it's not a novel that will appeal to everyone. It's a bit of a non identified literary object and you have to give it a chance to blow your mind because trust me, it will... and literally at times. It's one of those novels where you need to accept that not everything is going to make sense in the beginning... not the end for that matter. It's not perfect but it is unique.
Some readers, especially non SF readers, might be put off by the scientific jargon, as it can be overwhelming in the first few pages. But this is not Jules Vernes describing in details the workings of his balloon for an entire chapter. Charles Yu's time traveling is an idea, a concept that serves the narration more than actual HG Wells time traveling. To my surprise, I found the novel to be more voice driven and introspective than plot driven, especially in the final chapters as Charles Yu (the character) desperately reminisces on his relationship with his father. But the novel's scientific concepts allow for interesting questions on determinism, memory and perception.
In that regard, I understand why the book was part of the book club's January selection which theme was "Genre in Mainstream". That is not to say that it's not science fiction, it clearly is and as it's taking place in a science fictional universe, there are various references to science fiction authors (Ursula K. LeGuin and Heinlein, for example) and science fiction universes (such as Star Wars) but also just random geeky things. It is an ode to geekism. But it's the book's intricate narrative, voice and introspection, not the science, that make it experimental and unique.
Here are few interesting quotes:
"Most people I know live their lives moving in a constant forward direction, the whole time looking backward" (page 27)
"Time is a machine: it will convert your pain into experience. Raw data will be compiled, will be translated into a more comprehensible language. The individual events of your life will be transmuted into another substance called memory and in the mechanism something will be lost and you will never be able to reverse it, you will never again have the original moment back in its uncategorized, preprocessed state. It will force you to move on and you will not have a choice in the matter." (page 51)
Equally as fascinating is the fact that Charles Yu (the character) is at some point given the very book we are reading by his future self, whom he shoots, thus becoming stuck in a time loop. Before collapsing, his future self tells him that the key is in the book. Charles Yu (the character) then runs away in his time machine and slowly realizes that he has to write the book to be able to give it to his past self when we comes out of his time machine and be shot so as not to create a time paradox. Thanks to voice recording systems and various other hi tech gadgets in the time machine, a copy of the book is actually being written as Charles Yu (the character) is reading it. So that means that the very book we're reading has no real origin, it's a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy, etc... as there's no way of knowing how long Charles Yu has actually been in this time loop... metafiction indeed. This leads to some interesting questionings:
"I am typing what appears to be somewhat digressive and extemporaneous rambling, all of which is starting to make me have serious doubts in terms of the whole free will versus determinism situation" (page 89)
"The book is just like the concept of the 'present', is a fiction. Which isn't to say it's not real. It's as real as anything else in this science fiction universe. As real as you are." (page 160)
I'm not even going to pretend that I got everything happening in this crazy metaphorical metafiction. The novel is short but engaging and can easily be read on several levels. I was pleasantly surprised by the emotional resonance and the description of the touching father and son relationship. Despite its unappealing title, How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe is a strange and unique reading experience, well-worth forcing yourself in the beginning should you initially find it a bit difficult.(less)
The Darkness, Crystal Connor's debut novel, is an interesting blend of dark fantasy bordering on horror, science fiction and urban fantasy that comple...more The Darkness, Crystal Connor's debut novel, is an interesting blend of dark fantasy bordering on horror, science fiction and urban fantasy that completely does away with traditional genre categories. In fact, it does away with a lot of other elements traditionally found in speculative fiction and literature in general, such as the portrayal of motherhood, womanhood and characters of color. Like a lot of debut novels, there are quite a few things to praise here, but also a few to nitpick.
The opening chapters are among the best I've read in a while, as Connor is quick to set up an uneasy atmosphere that successfully grabs hold of her readers from the very start. You'll get chills down your spine by the time you read these words "I used to call you mother". And you'll want to know who this child is and what could possibly have happened for him to hold such hatred towards the one who rescued him. And here's the double-edged sword, because Connor will tell you this story.
She takes you back to the days when The Child was but a child, albeit with extraordinary abilities he couldn't always control, sometimes to dreadful consequences. The novel's pace slows down then, though I'd be hard pressed to ever call it slow, because Connor smartly alternates between past and present narratives. But the novel does start to lose some of its initial steam as we get to know more about Adam and identify with Artemisia's feelings for him. We know he's dangerous, and yet, he seems to be such a cute little baby that it's hard to re-conciliate the initial perception we had of him as a dangerous stalker, lurking and simply waiting for the right moment to strike, and this little child acting like any child, manipulating his environment to obtain what he wants. Again, this was a necessary step in the narrative, the reader's understanding of the past and Artemisia's feelings towards her child, otherwise the ending wouldn't have that much of an impact. But while building up for the ending, it also slowly unravels the atmosphere of gloom and unease that made the opening pages so gripping. And I never seemed to be able to reconnect with it later on. It felt like the fog had lifted and I could see the background tricks. I do realize this is a probably me being picky as I haven't read any other reviews that hinted at this and truth is, I don't think there was any way around it; except perhaps starting the novel at another point? But truly, I can understand that it was too tempting for both author and editor to have the novel start then and loose steam later on, rather than the other way around. Anyway, the character of Adam annoyed me as we got to know him. I struggled to see him as the psychopathic murderer the author wanted us to see, all I could see was an annoying little brat with special powers going through a teenage crisis.
I did however greatly enjoyed the characters of Artemisia and Inanna, both embodied different types of womanhood and motherhood (one could argue that where one is science and rationality, the other is magic and emotions, but it's a bit more complicated than this simplistic dichotomy), but both are strong, ambitious women who will stop at nothing to get what they want and they don't look for excuses or pretend to be sorry about it. I think the novel's greatest asset resides in the opposition of these two characters. Had the novel only included one and not the other, and had opposed Artemisia/Inanna to what I'll refer to as the traditional mother character, Artemisia/Inanna would have inevitably been set up as the dark side, the evil one, the ambitious black woman with an agenda. In The Darkness, because they share these traits, one is not set up as good and the other as evil. Both obey their own laws whether these happen to fit the laws of man or not, both love Adam and want to be a good mother to him, and so neither is good or evil. Without spoiling the ending, if the reader manages to rid himself of his traditional perception of motherhood and what it implies, and simply puts together the pieces scattered throughout the novel, the decision taken at the end of the novel makes perfect sense. That's all I can say and keep this review spoiler-free.
The Darkness is a short novel, with a gripping opening and a shocking ending. And while I do have queries about some of the middle parts, it must be recognized that it's a far from being your usual urban fantasy novel, especially when it comes to the portrayal of women of color and motherhood. Also know that a sequel is in the making, Artificial Light. (less)
From Connie Willis, winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards, comes a comedic romp through an unpredictable world of mystery, love, and time travel.....moreFrom Connie Willis, winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards, comes a comedic romp through an unpredictable world of mystery, love, and time travel...
Ned Henry is badly in need of a rest. He's been shuttling between the 21st century and the 1940s searching for a Victorian atrocity called the bishop's bird stump. It's part of a project to restore the famed Coventry Cathedral, destroyed in a Nazi air raid over a hundred years earlier.
But then Verity Kindle, a fellow time traveler, inadvertently brings back something from the past. Now Ned must jump back to the Victorian era to help Verity put things right--not only to save the project but to prevent altering history itself.
To Say Nothing the Dog was July's selection for the Cercle d'Atuan book club. It has received countless genre awards (Hugo and Locus awards in 1999 and nominated for the Nebula the year before), all of them more than deserved IMHO.
It's an unsettling read to say the least that presents complex time-traveling issues and has them played out like a Monty Python sketch. It's completely disarming, wacky and insane and yet, it manages to remain accessible and comprehensible. Quite a feat if you ask me.
Reading the first few pages feels like the author has thrown you in a swimming pool with no bottom, knowing full well that you can't swim. But, despite appearances, Connie Willis is not trying to murder you, she's trying to teach you, and guess what? You will be just fine. You'll even start to adjust to the totally unfamiliar surroundings and rewire your brain so as to understand just what the heck is at stake here... besides your own drowning that is. I can understand why some could feel put off by such a beginning but I felt right at home (this statement actually implies a lot more on my own sanity or willingness to drown if you will...). And even those of the Cercle who could not get the hang of it in the beginning soon came around and I'm glad to say that, in the end, this novel was highly acclaimed by all of us.
As I previously mentioned TSNOTD is an incredibly rich and lively novel that could translate into a wonderful play. Some scenes are simply priceless and if they don't make you laugh like they did me, you will at least smile as you watch Connie Willis use elements from vaudeville to set up crazy fake séances, time lag induced quiproquos, complex cheating during croquet, descriptions of excessive Victorian furniture and faster than light butler. Fans of British humor will be delighted as you may have guessed from my previous allusions to Monty Pythons.
The novel is filled with so many literary references some of which pointed out by my fellow Atuanians had totally escaped me (which did not hinder my enjoyment of the novel in the least, so again, kudos to Connie Willis for that!). There was the obvious Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome to which the novels owes its title, but also allusions to Alice in Wonderland, Sherlock Holmes, various old mystery novels, etc. Throughout the narration, Connie Willis has fun deconstructing and sometimes purposefully employing various clichés found in said mystery novels (the butler did it!) and time-traveling novels.
To be quite honest, it was a pure delight to read, a real tour de force and a masterpiece that I would happily come back to in a few years, as I'm sure countless details have escaped me the first time around.
This was my first introduction to Connie Willis's work and I do intend to read more, probably starting with Passage of which I have a French edition somewhere, but especially her other novels dealing with time-traveling historians from Oxford: Doomsday Book, Blackout and All Clear.
This is a highly recommended part science fiction and part historical novel that will leave you with a feeling of euphoria and many questions about chaos theory!(less)
Science fiction and erotica... um... plenty to cover here.
When I first heard about this anthology, I was pleasantly surprised by two things. First, t...moreScience fiction and erotica... um... plenty to cover here.
When I first heard about this anthology, I was pleasantly surprised by two things. First, this is a French anthology that contains first-time published stories by some classic science fiction French authors (Joëlle Wintrebert and Francis Berthelot), some well-established young writers such as Mélanie Fazi, Stéphane Beauverger (whose wonderful novel Le Déchronologue I reviewed a while back), Charlotte Bousquet and Sylvie Lainé, and some not entirely unknown newcomers (Norbert Merjagnan, Virginie Bétruger and illustrator Daylon).
Second, this anthology is the remarkable work of a small independent house, Les 3 Souhaits, which is the editorial offspring of the science fiction news website Actu SF. I reviewed one of their titles, Le Guide des Fées. Regards sur la Femme [A Guide to Fairies. A study of women:] last year and they really deserve to be cheered for their original and thought-provoking work and ideas. I hope they will soon have the chance to be more widely distributed. At the moment, the only way to get a hold of their books is through their website or at conventions.
As it always the case with anthologies, some stories clearly stand out and that selection tends to vary from one reader to the next. IMHO, the one which belittles all others is Joëlle Wintrebert's 'Camélions'. For a long time, Joëlle Wintrebert was France's only female science fiction writer, and I'm ashamed to admit that I've never read any of her novels though I have her novel Pollen (Au Diable Vauvert, 2002) in my to-read pile(s)... somewhere.
'Camélions' is about a human colony which gets stranded on a hostile planet and one woman who will bring down barriers and taboos, and dare make contact with the local population (who resemble human-size butterflies) at the risk of being shunned by her peers. It's a powerful and sensuous story about survival, love and betrayal. And now I really need to unearth Pollen and get to it sometime this year!
The other two stories which stood out for me were Maïa Mazaurette's 'Saturnales' and Mélanie Fazi's 'Miroir de Porcelaine'.
Maïa Mazaurette is graphic artist, writer and blogger most well-known for her blog Sexactu. I had the opportunity to meet her at the Salon du Livre in March and she is lots of fun to be around. Her novel Rien ne nous survivra is yet another title which needs to make it in my read pile this year!.
'Saturnales' takes place in a future in which sex, and especially first times, is carefully planned and involves so many artifices that there is little to nothing natural about it anymore, but pleasure is guaranteed. It's filled with the stingy humor that characterizes Maïa Mazaurette and will leave you half-smiling, half-horrified.
Mélanie Fazi ranks among my favorite short story writers. I read her short story collection Notre-Dame-aux-Ecailles about two years ago and while I had an overall uneven impression, I simply adore her lyrical and poetic style. Really, she could be retelling this morning's news that I would still find it fascinating. She is also a very talented translator. She got the Jacques Chambon award for Best Translation for her work on Graham Joyce's The Facts of Life (French title: Lignes de Vie which I reviewed here). FYI, some of Mélanie Fazi's works have been translated in English and appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror and The Third Alternative for those you who would like to check it out.
'Miroir de Porcelaine' is a dreamy (bordering on nightmarish), sensuous tale of lovers drawn apart by robots created for an artistic purpose. Well worth your time, and it won the Masterton Award 2010 - Best Short Story category.
I think the only thing lacking from this anthology is perhaps a compilation of short author bios because such an anthology could really appeal to non-genre readers who know nothing about these writers. Overall, a wonderful initiative and a thought-provoking result that I highly recommend. (less)
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