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Remnant Population

Elizabeth Moon

Why we're reading this: BunWat: Also a first contact novel, where the person making first contact is an old woman that everyone b…more
[close] BunWat: Also a first contact novel, where the person making first contact is an old woman that everyone but the aliens considers irrelevant. I like the choice of protagonist, and I also like that Moon doesn't beat you over the head with it.

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Mar 26, 2015 mark monday rated it liked it

Shelves: scifi-modern

old woman, tired of people, tired of the way people treat her, decides to stay behind when the rest of her fellow colonists are uprooted by their corporate bosses and sent to another planet. old woman, once surrounded by demanding and unloving voices, finds she loves being alone, no more annoying voices bossing her around, the only voices the ones in her head, now she has all the time in the world to garden and do beadwork and just do what she wants to do, alone. finally alone! but it turns out old woman, tired of people, tired of the way people treat her, decides to stay behind when the rest of her fellow colonists are uprooted by their corporate bosses and sent to another planet. old woman, once surrounded by demanding and unloving voices, finds she loves being alone, no more annoying voices bossing her around, the only voices the ones in her head, now she has all the time in the world to garden and do beadwork and just do what she wants to do, alone. finally alone! but it turns out she's not alone on this world after all.

I loved all the things this novel did with its protagonist. Ofelia is cantankerous and moody, she has to deal with her aching joints and a little loss of memory and having to use the bathroom all of the time; she has a couple voices in her head (the old her and the new, braver her) but she's far from crazy. Remnant Population doesn't downplay all of the physical and mental things she has to deal with but it also shows how she is just as resourceful and clever as anyone else - she's more than an equal to the men who have made demands on her all of her life and to those younger than her who would dismiss her knowledge as no longer relevant, practically useless. Ofelia cherishes her crafts and her vegetables and wearing or not wearing what she wants. I love how the novel spends so much time on the things she loves, on the beadwork and the sewing and the gardening and cooking and the freedom of bare skin in the sun. it was enchanting reading about Ofelia going through her daily life on her own, focusing on her tasks and ruminating on the past and considering her future. a truly enjoyable and unusual protagonist.

the story brings humans back into her life, and of course the aliens. great aliens! vaguely like bipedal, mammalian owls. genuinely different, carefully crafted, surprisingly adorable aliens. those alien babies were the cutest.

I like how Remnant Population is a feminist novel that critiques the roles women are often placed into by men (as well as the elderly by the young) but still embraces traits and activities that are considered stereotypically feminine. I hate either/or binaries and this novel doesn't have that. Ofelia is a three-dimensional character: strong and kind, unsentimental and maternal, resourceful and forgetful, sharp-tongued and grouchy and impatient, generous and open-hearted and patient.

I like how Remnant Population illustrates the importance of freedom and time alone, but also recognizes that a fulfilling life will be one where a person is a part of some kind of a community - a place where the individual can be independent and true to themselves, but still be a useful part of a world and connected to the people in it. lovely message; lovely novel. and fun!

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Dec 30, 2009 Sandi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, sci-fi, library-books-read

Remnant Population is the kind of book that made me fall in love with science fiction in the first place. It's thoughtful, has great characterizations, a plausible future, and humans coming to understand aliens. This is the third book I've read by Elizabeth Moon and she's now on my list of favorite authors. She is an amazing storyteller. She is a master at revealing rather than disclosing. She never over-explains and her characters behave exactly like real people would.

I love the Moon uses older ...more

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Jan 05, 2013 Nicky rated it really liked it

Shelves: speculative-fiction

Remnant Population is a quiet sort of SF book. It’s more along the lines of, say, Ursula Le Guin than Lois McMaster Bujold or David Weber: at least, there’s very little by the way of epic space fights, and much more about people. Mostly just one person, alone. I loved that the protagonist is an old woman; the ending, with the recruitment of old ladies, seemed like a bit of a joke even so, but I liked that this is very much a defence of the worth and importance of the elderly, and particularly el ...more

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