Katherine’s Reviews > The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet > Status Update

...in many ways the guy is probably doing his best. I think this bothers me in the same way the movie 'Inside Out' did, when the character Joy was constantly rolling her eyes and sighing about how annoying Sadness was. Like... She can't help it. That's her personality. She's not doing anything wrong. You just can't accept the fact that some people aren't like you.

...he's already saved his crewmates from at least one fuckup by reminding them of the time. He's mocked for telling a new crew member about the safety features first (emergency exits, escape pods, etc.), but... that's what you tell someone who's going onto a spaceship the first time, right? I know this is a small thing to make a big deal about, but... speaking as a finicky introvert with severe anxiety...

...he's from Enceladus!--but no accommodations are made for him, though they're made for everyone else. People take his things, mess with his research, blow actual literal smoke in his face--it DOES NOT MATTER if it's non-carcinogenic--and then wonder why he doesn't like to hang out with him? I know the guy is, in some ways, legitimately an asshole, but he's also doing his job, and in the few pages I've read...

...someone around, mocking him for caring about the safety rules onboard the ship--when the first two sections of the story focus intensely on how dangerous life in space is, and how easy it is to go from alive to dead if just one thing goes wrong. It's pointed out that the guy is in serious physical discomfort from the time he boarded the ship, because the temperature is too warm for him--possibly because...

...the viewpoint character introducing him keeps talking about what a pill he is--"Yes, he's good at his job, and we need him, but what an asshole." But... from the second Corbin actually came onstage, it became clear that he was mostly just an introvert with severe anxiety--which, as it happens, makes him very good at his job, and is the reason he's there. And, like... this whole story is a big dance of...

Quite honestly, I am not going to finish this. I am not enjoying it. I don't quite get the high rating. But I just wanted to make a note about how, specifically, I am put off by how the character of Corbin has been handled so far. Like, I know the guy's a racist. For that reason alone, yes, he's an asshole, and deserves to be ostracized. But that's not the main reason why people ostracize him. ...