I listened to the audiobook, which is well narrated by Robin Miles.
I'd heard so many wonderful things about this author, and this novella trilogy in particular, so when the final installment was published I decided to dive right in. I honestly do not understand all the hype and rave reviews. Tentacles a good sci-fi story does not make people!
This story started off well. I always like stories of girls/women who decide to buck traditions/expectations and follow their own path, so when Binti decides to do the unthinkable and leave her family and her planet and head to Uni off world I grinned in delight and settled in for the ride. And then things bogged down, and I found myself bored with this happened, and then this happened, oh no! There is really no sci-fi to speak of, and while I loved the cultural diversity and that this young woman is all into Maths, there just isn't enough character or story development in this tale for my tastes.
This novella was only two and a half hours long, and I found it a slog to get through, so I've been reluctant to pick up the rest of the series. If you've read the other books, and think the story gets back to Binti and her personal/familial angst and has less tentacle action please let me know. Rating: 2 stars.
11. The Yellow Wall-Paper
From the afterword by Elaine R. Hedges: The narrator is a woman who has been taken to the country by her husband in an effort to cure her of some undefined illness - a kind of nervous fatigue. Although her husband, a doctor, is presented as kindly and well meaning, it is soon apparent that his treatment of his wife, guided as it is by nineteenth-century attitudes towards women, is an important source of her affliction and a perhaps inadvertent but nonetheless vicious abettor of it.
This is a short story that I'd highly recommend be read in one sitting to get the full effect of the unfolding/unraveling.
First published in 1892, it's as relevant today as it was then. Yes, women have come a long way, but in some very fundamental ways we still struggle with these issues. I really liked this dark, eerie tale, and the relationships and power dynamics explored.
I knew nothing about the author, and leaning more about her life in the afterword made me both sad and happy. She was an extraordinary woman and I'll be reading more of her work. Rating: 4 stars.
12. And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer
I listened to the audiobook, which is well narrated by David Morse.
This novella is a lovely story about family, in this case a father, his son, and grandson. There is much that generations pass along and learn from each other, and in this tale the grandfather is losing his memories. The way this yarn unfolds is both moving and lyrical, and there was a moment or two that I was in tears. That's an impressive feat considering the entire book only lasts an hour. My first Backman, and it will not be my last. Rating: 4 stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment