The Glass Arrow
Kristen Simmons
ISBN: 9780765336613
YA Dystopia
Read April 24, 2015
This wasn't a bad book, but I wanted a lot more from it than it gave. The premise is sketchy, but interesting: women somehow caused an uprising, and now pregnancy uncommon, and male birthrate is very low. Thus, women are considered property, and young girls are sheltered in "Gardens" before being auctioned off to the highest bidder; unless of course they're willing to hide out in the wilderness and live off the land. Even those wild folk have to worry about their girls being hunted down - they're generally considered to be more fertile.
That's our info-dump, and that's really all we get through the whole book. There's a whole society of people who manage to live out in the wilds fairly happily, but they're not the focus so we don't learn much about them. The actual history of why women were targeted in the first place is presented as mythology, leading me to hope that it wasn't intended to be the real rationale behind the development of this misogynistic society.
That's my biggest gripe with dystopian YA in general - there's just not enough worldbuilding for me to be really engaged in the story. I want to know the backgrounds, and the history, and the culture, and the development of this crazy world, even if the main characters aren't able to understand or see how it works, I (as a reader) want to know that information is there and being considered.
I don't mean to say that this book is bad, just I really wanted some more depth to the world. It was a light, enjoyable read, that was straightforward about personhood and autonomy and self-determination, and I really appreciated that.
Showing posts with label gender. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gender. Show all posts
Friday, May 1, 2015
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Science Fiction: Ancillary Sword, Ann Leckie
Ancillary Sword
Ann Leckie
ISBN: 9780316246651
Sequel to Ancillary Justice, followed (please hurry) by Ancillary Mercy.
Read March 31, 2015
Basically just read my gushy review for the first book in the series, and you'll have it. I can't really talk about anything without spoiling the story, and a good part of the fun of the story is watching everything unfold. It's amazing, Leckie is amazing, and I can't believe that the sequel is just as good (but not even remotely the same story) as the original.
Ann Leckie
ISBN: 9780316246651
Sequel to Ancillary Justice, followed (please hurry) by Ancillary Mercy.
Read March 31, 2015
Basically just read my gushy review for the first book in the series, and you'll have it. I can't really talk about anything without spoiling the story, and a good part of the fun of the story is watching everything unfold. It's amazing, Leckie is amazing, and I can't believe that the sequel is just as good (but not even remotely the same story) as the original.
Saturday, December 13, 2014
JuvFiction: A Different Twist, Elizabeth Levy
A Different Twist
Elizabeth Levy
ISBN: 0590332295
(Published originally by Apple/Scholastic in 1984, based on a teleplay by Dianne Dixon as an ABC weekend special by Scholastic Productions)
Found this via someone searching for an old book remembered from childhood. I didn't read it myself back then, but it seems like it would have been right up my alley.
Basic bones: Christi is an aspiring actress/singer, and she's delighted when her actor crush Phil Grey comes to her hometown to direct a staging of Oliver! - until she learns that he's only casting local boys in the "urchin chorus." She and her best friend Lizbeth hatch a plot for Christi to become Chris - which works perfectly well until Christi's scruples, as well as the more technical difficulties of playing a boy in a theatre environment (dressing rooms, close quarters) force her to reveal herself the night of the dress rehearsal.
Overall, pretty good, if really stereotypical and quickly paced. I can tell that it was originally a tv performance, because of the very visual and action-oriented scenes that weren't really necessary - the wheelie and the constant prat-falling being the main tells. I enjoyed the contrast in relations between Christi and Lizbeth, and between Chris and her new stage friends, and with her parents.
It even managed to not date itself horribly - there are no mentions of anything technological in any detail that would date horribly, and even the attitude towards ear-piercing is looked at as a personal view, not as a society or cultural thing.
A cute, light-hearted read.
Elizabeth Levy
ISBN: 0590332295
(Published originally by Apple/Scholastic in 1984, based on a teleplay by Dianne Dixon as an ABC weekend special by Scholastic Productions)
Found this via someone searching for an old book remembered from childhood. I didn't read it myself back then, but it seems like it would have been right up my alley.
Basic bones: Christi is an aspiring actress/singer, and she's delighted when her actor crush Phil Grey comes to her hometown to direct a staging of Oliver! - until she learns that he's only casting local boys in the "urchin chorus." She and her best friend Lizbeth hatch a plot for Christi to become Chris - which works perfectly well until Christi's scruples, as well as the more technical difficulties of playing a boy in a theatre environment (dressing rooms, close quarters) force her to reveal herself the night of the dress rehearsal.
Overall, pretty good, if really stereotypical and quickly paced. I can tell that it was originally a tv performance, because of the very visual and action-oriented scenes that weren't really necessary - the wheelie and the constant prat-falling being the main tells. I enjoyed the contrast in relations between Christi and Lizbeth, and between Chris and her new stage friends, and with her parents.
It even managed to not date itself horribly - there are no mentions of anything technological in any detail that would date horribly, and even the attitude towards ear-piercing is looked at as a personal view, not as a society or cultural thing.
A cute, light-hearted read.
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Random Romance Reads: The Switch, Lynsay Sands
I'm including this one with the RRR, even though the underlying difficulties all stem from "period" miscues rather than anything else.
The Switch
Lynsay Sands
ISBN: 9780062019820 (reprint)
Read October 24, 2014
The short, mostly spoiler-free version: A set twin girls, countrified members of the ton, have their bucolic peaceful lives disrupted by the deaths of their parents. Their uncle, the new guardian falls peril to gambling and bad investments, and his idea is to sell the winsome girls in marriage to rich elites, thus preventing his financial ruin. One sister is to a gentleman who is simply repugnant, but the other is meant for one who has been through three wives in the last few years, and rumor runs rampant about their "accidental" deaths. En route to the marriage mart, they stop at an inn, and the girls escape, with one sister dressed as a boy to evade suspicion and to assuage propriety. They are immediately noticed and taken under the wing of a kindly noble, who passes them off as cousins while they have their season in London, taking turns pretending to be the sister or the brother as they set their caps for different men. Blackmail and the dissolute uncle provide the villainy, and Gretna Green is abused beyond all reason in tying up the leads in holy matrimony.
The good:
Crossdressing!
Interesting premise with twins and gender-bending where each twin takes a turn being male.
The put-upon hero is vastly overwhelmed, and I felt sorry for him and his confusion the whole book.
The bad:
Crossdressing mechanics and historical fashion and clothing in general not matching up with the time-period intended (although God only knows what that period was, as I couldn't work it out beyond somewhere possibly very "early regency").
Paper-thin characters for nearly everyone, especially the men.
Overstepping the bounds of propriety and allowed behavior in some places, while calling attention to them and carefully attending to them at others. If the whole story had simply pretended the mores did not exist, I would have taken it as a silly story set in an imaginary or simplified "regency-land" and gone on with the story. Calling attention to the proper modes of behavior simply made me wince at all the gross violations (sartorial and social) that went unremarked.
The Verdict:
Silly but with world-building flaws that are grievous given that it claims to be set in the real world, in a time and place which was scrupulously recorded at all levels of society. If the "flaws" were, as I suspect. used to forward the plot or build moments for the characters, then I'm even more grumpy, because that's just sloppy plotting, and totally unnecessary and slapdash.
The Switch
Lynsay Sands
ISBN: 9780062019820 (reprint)
Read October 24, 2014
The short, mostly spoiler-free version: A set twin girls, countrified members of the ton, have their bucolic peaceful lives disrupted by the deaths of their parents. Their uncle, the new guardian falls peril to gambling and bad investments, and his idea is to sell the winsome girls in marriage to rich elites, thus preventing his financial ruin. One sister is to a gentleman who is simply repugnant, but the other is meant for one who has been through three wives in the last few years, and rumor runs rampant about their "accidental" deaths. En route to the marriage mart, they stop at an inn, and the girls escape, with one sister dressed as a boy to evade suspicion and to assuage propriety. They are immediately noticed and taken under the wing of a kindly noble, who passes them off as cousins while they have their season in London, taking turns pretending to be the sister or the brother as they set their caps for different men. Blackmail and the dissolute uncle provide the villainy, and Gretna Green is abused beyond all reason in tying up the leads in holy matrimony.
The good:
Crossdressing!
Interesting premise with twins and gender-bending where each twin takes a turn being male.
The put-upon hero is vastly overwhelmed, and I felt sorry for him and his confusion the whole book.
The bad:
Crossdressing mechanics and historical fashion and clothing in general not matching up with the time-period intended (although God only knows what that period was, as I couldn't work it out beyond somewhere possibly very "early regency").
Paper-thin characters for nearly everyone, especially the men.
Overstepping the bounds of propriety and allowed behavior in some places, while calling attention to them and carefully attending to them at others. If the whole story had simply pretended the mores did not exist, I would have taken it as a silly story set in an imaginary or simplified "regency-land" and gone on with the story. Calling attention to the proper modes of behavior simply made me wince at all the gross violations (sartorial and social) that went unremarked.
The Verdict:
Silly but with world-building flaws that are grievous given that it claims to be set in the real world, in a time and place which was scrupulously recorded at all levels of society. If the "flaws" were, as I suspect. used to forward the plot or build moments for the characters, then I'm even more grumpy, because that's just sloppy plotting, and totally unnecessary and slapdash.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Previously Published Review: On My Own: The Art of Being a Woman Alone, Florence Arlene Falk
The Art of Being a Woman Alone - now there's a subject which needed to be addressed. Women today (and for most of recorded history) have been culturally expected - even driven - to sacrifice themselves for others. More recently, ideals emerged which allowed women to seek their own interests and careers, and in todays world, most women know instinctively that they HAVE to be able to support themselves (and children if they have them) as men are no longer required to support them.
This, understandably, creates pressure.
In our modern drive to have everything, women have lost their Self. By losing one's Self, according to Falk, a person loses the ability to stand alone, to be self-sufficient, to enjoy solitude without being lonely and bereft. In addition, when one's Self is damaged or missing, there is nothing protecting you from psychic damage from friends, lovers, and the world in general.
In many ways, our culture resists the import of a woman who is able to stand alone. If you are valuing your own self, you are selfish - a horrible accusation to make of any girl or mother. If you cultivate your own interests, or enjoy your own company, you are self-absorbed - again, a negative. Falk wants us to take joy in selfishness, as we re-imagine ourselves and make peace with who we truly are. She wishes that more women would take time to be self-absorbed, to glory in the creative, WHOLE person who has been submerged for so long by our society, our relationships, and abuse.
Which brings me to the "almost inspiring." Falk finds it necessary to trace in microscopic detail the failed relationships, parental and peer abuse, and overarching societal pressure which causes modern women to lose their Self. This is an amazing downer in a book intended to inspire. In those pages (which are a majority of the book) there is a passivity - a helplessness in the face of a powerful and malevolent grinding cultural poverty. Comparing this to her stirring call for Self-awareness, I found it difficult when she failed to transfer this individual awareness into culture at large.
One example speaks of a girl, gifted and pretty, from an "academic" hippie family, and the teasing and social abuse she suffered at middle and high school. The girl, now a middle-aged woman, is only now dealing with this pain. Nowhere is it suggested that if the girl had a Self-aware mentor, she could have learned to stand ALONE and to rise above the taunts of her peers. Repeatedly, women and girls in her examples are left with gaping psychic wounds which are bemoaned as evil and spirit-breaking, but with no counter-examples to show HOW, if one is taught to grow into her Self from the start, those wounds could be minimized or avoided.
Much of this comes from the author's own experiences, as late in life she rediscovered herself and fought free of years of living for others. I do applaud women who, at any age, realize that no matter what or who is in your life, a healthy person's focus must be on themselves FIRST. However, I think that a celebration of women's rights to be whole people in themselves should try to show how to achieve that from the start, rather than passively accepting the damage until some midlife "eureka" is reached.
In spite of this, this book is stirring and powerful, and begs for women to accept that we CAN be alone and powerful, we CAN be at peace with our true Selves, and we CAN recover from childhood trauma and the pressures of life. This is an important message for everyone.
This, understandably, creates pressure.
In our modern drive to have everything, women have lost their Self. By losing one's Self, according to Falk, a person loses the ability to stand alone, to be self-sufficient, to enjoy solitude without being lonely and bereft. In addition, when one's Self is damaged or missing, there is nothing protecting you from psychic damage from friends, lovers, and the world in general.
In many ways, our culture resists the import of a woman who is able to stand alone. If you are valuing your own self, you are selfish - a horrible accusation to make of any girl or mother. If you cultivate your own interests, or enjoy your own company, you are self-absorbed - again, a negative. Falk wants us to take joy in selfishness, as we re-imagine ourselves and make peace with who we truly are. She wishes that more women would take time to be self-absorbed, to glory in the creative, WHOLE person who has been submerged for so long by our society, our relationships, and abuse.
Which brings me to the "almost inspiring." Falk finds it necessary to trace in microscopic detail the failed relationships, parental and peer abuse, and overarching societal pressure which causes modern women to lose their Self. This is an amazing downer in a book intended to inspire. In those pages (which are a majority of the book) there is a passivity - a helplessness in the face of a powerful and malevolent grinding cultural poverty. Comparing this to her stirring call for Self-awareness, I found it difficult when she failed to transfer this individual awareness into culture at large.
One example speaks of a girl, gifted and pretty, from an "academic" hippie family, and the teasing and social abuse she suffered at middle and high school. The girl, now a middle-aged woman, is only now dealing with this pain. Nowhere is it suggested that if the girl had a Self-aware mentor, she could have learned to stand ALONE and to rise above the taunts of her peers. Repeatedly, women and girls in her examples are left with gaping psychic wounds which are bemoaned as evil and spirit-breaking, but with no counter-examples to show HOW, if one is taught to grow into her Self from the start, those wounds could be minimized or avoided.
Much of this comes from the author's own experiences, as late in life she rediscovered herself and fought free of years of living for others. I do applaud women who, at any age, realize that no matter what or who is in your life, a healthy person's focus must be on themselves FIRST. However, I think that a celebration of women's rights to be whole people in themselves should try to show how to achieve that from the start, rather than passively accepting the damage until some midlife "eureka" is reached.
In spite of this, this book is stirring and powerful, and begs for women to accept that we CAN be alone and powerful, we CAN be at peace with our true Selves, and we CAN recover from childhood trauma and the pressures of life. This is an important message for everyone.
Previously Published Review: Delusions of Gender, Cordelia Fine
Comprehensive Literature Review Refutes Sensationalism!
Details at 11!
Oh, wait. They won't be, because providing citations and scientific stucdies which seem to indicate something as boring (and frankly, a little embarrassing) as socially-induced neurological and behavioral differences between the sexes isn't nearly exciting enough to broadcast on the newsmedia.
We'd rather use our shiny new technological advances to prove that really, we're all doing all that we can, and honestly, the fact that women have advanced as far as they have shows how GOOD we are at counteracting their natural tendencies to be weak-willed passive little vacuum-pushers who live to cook nice roasts for their alpha-male husbands to devour on their way to the den to watch the big game.
Yeesh. On the one hand, I'm really glad I read this, because it's nice to know that my niggling suspicion about "too neatly drawn" biological differences was correct, but at the same time, I'm a lot more depressed about the advances of culture and society to actually regard people as equal, regardless of the particular format of their genitals.
Some really depressing standouts:
Even if parents verbally espouse egalitarianism and racial/gender equality, their unconscious selves more easily pair sets of words such as woman/house instead of woman/job, or man/power instead of man/infant. Even worse, small children base THEIR understanding of the world (and their behavior patterns) on those unconscious preferences of the adults around them, not their consciously held beliefs. Therefore, you get Jennifer stating that her four year old son Aiden can play with dolls if he wants to, but when you ask Aiden himself, he states that his mommy would NOT want him to play with dolls. *sigh*
Women and men with identical resumes get treated quite differently when hiring, promotions, and raises are considered. Men are lauded if they are agressive and "go-getters" while an identical applicant with a female name is considered a bossy "ball-buster" or an "ice-queen" and their recompense for their work (both financially and in the sense of support and friendliness with co-workers) suffers dramatically in contrast to men. And don't even get started on the poor women with kids. If you add a fictional reference to a child on her resume, she gets it even worse than a childless identical female.
But really, it's all because of those brain differences, right? Right?
The lack of a star is simply because I thought that the time she spent establishing how much mental "hardwiring" is changed by life itself was a little lacking. As the major thrust of her argument against far-reaching inherent neurological differences (please note the use of the word far-reaching) it falls on her to establish (with as much authority as can be mustered) the amount and extent to which infant, child, teen, and ADULT brains can have their "hardwiring" altered based on experiences and patterns of behavior.
Overall a very enjoyable and necessary book. To really appreciate some of the pointed sarcasm, you may also enjoy thumbing through some of the titles she gleefully eviscerates on her jaunt through the scientific literature.
Details at 11!
Oh, wait. They won't be, because providing citations and scientific stucdies which seem to indicate something as boring (and frankly, a little embarrassing) as socially-induced neurological and behavioral differences between the sexes isn't nearly exciting enough to broadcast on the newsmedia.
We'd rather use our shiny new technological advances to prove that really, we're all doing all that we can, and honestly, the fact that women have advanced as far as they have shows how GOOD we are at counteracting their natural tendencies to be weak-willed passive little vacuum-pushers who live to cook nice roasts for their alpha-male husbands to devour on their way to the den to watch the big game.
Yeesh. On the one hand, I'm really glad I read this, because it's nice to know that my niggling suspicion about "too neatly drawn" biological differences was correct, but at the same time, I'm a lot more depressed about the advances of culture and society to actually regard people as equal, regardless of the particular format of their genitals.
Some really depressing standouts:
Even if parents verbally espouse egalitarianism and racial/gender equality, their unconscious selves more easily pair sets of words such as woman/house instead of woman/job, or man/power instead of man/infant. Even worse, small children base THEIR understanding of the world (and their behavior patterns) on those unconscious preferences of the adults around them, not their consciously held beliefs. Therefore, you get Jennifer stating that her four year old son Aiden can play with dolls if he wants to, but when you ask Aiden himself, he states that his mommy would NOT want him to play with dolls. *sigh*
Women and men with identical resumes get treated quite differently when hiring, promotions, and raises are considered. Men are lauded if they are agressive and "go-getters" while an identical applicant with a female name is considered a bossy "ball-buster" or an "ice-queen" and their recompense for their work (both financially and in the sense of support and friendliness with co-workers) suffers dramatically in contrast to men. And don't even get started on the poor women with kids. If you add a fictional reference to a child on her resume, she gets it even worse than a childless identical female.
But really, it's all because of those brain differences, right? Right?
The lack of a star is simply because I thought that the time she spent establishing how much mental "hardwiring" is changed by life itself was a little lacking. As the major thrust of her argument against far-reaching inherent neurological differences (please note the use of the word far-reaching) it falls on her to establish (with as much authority as can be mustered) the amount and extent to which infant, child, teen, and ADULT brains can have their "hardwiring" altered based on experiences and patterns of behavior.
Overall a very enjoyable and necessary book. To really appreciate some of the pointed sarcasm, you may also enjoy thumbing through some of the titles she gleefully eviscerates on her jaunt through the scientific literature.
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