I have decided to start up this blog of mine again... Partly because I am still reading books and I still like talking about them. And partly because I am waiting in an airport for another five hours. But enough of lapses and relapses. I have many thoughts on Suzy McKee Charnas' book, Walk to the End of the World.
So since my last entry, I decided that this year of 2012 I would not read any books written by authors who are/were white and male. Some of my friends thought this was sexist and silly - they are entitled to that view. I just figured that I read so many white men and have been reading so many white men for so long, I just wanted to see what else there is. Find some new authors, discipline and possibly change some reading habits. And it has been really fantastic.
I broke my rule twice, which is ok because I made the rules so I can break them. I read Watchmen by Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore, which I allowed because it was a graphic novel. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. And I also broke my rule for Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. I felt compelled to read it because I've been living in America since January and will be here until the end of June, and it is such a famous American novel. And Ray Bradbury traditionally writes science fiction and things, and it was cheap and short. And somewhat disappointing. I shouldn't have broke my rule for it, it was good, but not worth breaking my rule. Ah well, so it goes.
Anyway, now for Walk to the End of the World. It's a long clunky title, one that I always forget. I bought this book online (a shocking and terrible habit to get into... it's just so much fun receiving things in the mail!), it is three books in one, under the heading of Radical Utopias. (Carrying three books in one is always nifty when travelling, I feel. Like an almost kindle, but considerably more archaic). I started with Suzy McKee Charnas' science fiction novel that does not really take place in what one would call a 'Utopia'. The driving idea behind the book however is pretty radical. And incredibly interesting.
The book is set in the post-apocalyptic world, where technology, greed and power of men has ultimately self imploded into nothingness, an event referred to as 'The Wasting'. The men who survived 'The Wasting' have constructed a new society where women (referred to as 'fems') are not regarded as human, but as animals and slaves to be used as men need them. The fems are made out to be so far below human, so repulsive that men ultimately take other men as lovers. Resulting in a society so segregated that heterosexuality is considered 'perverse'. It is strange and thought provoking.
And bleak. The society is militant and crude and full of horrifically awful things that are very normal and unsurprising to most of the men and women of that society. There is also a huge emphasis on the age barrier of young men and old men, yet another damaging and terrifying segregated mode of control. Men are forced to perform their manly duty for the society by spending a prescribed amount of time in the 'breeding rooms', which is the only reason fems are kept around, for reproductive purposes. It's pretty kooky and tricky to explain. But she explains the whole system pretty well, so it doesn't seem entirely kooky. That's the thing about making new worlds, if you give enough history, background and full in the bits and pieces, it's pretty believable.
What's interesting, is that the author really sticks to this idea. To the extent that you know almost nothing about the one female character. She has no voice in the book, because she has no voice in the society. Until the very last section. Each section is narrated in the third person, but from the view of a specific character. There are four main characters and the last section covers the only female character. Which is really what made me keep reading this desolate story. I was so curious about the mysterious supposedly voiceless female and had to wait till the very end to find out about her.
It was good and not good, in the sense that it seemed angrily depressing. I'm glad I read it, the idea and theory was fascinatingly weird, the conclusion just as bleak as the concept with only the most optimistic of readers to interpret the last few pages as a hopeful ending.
This new genre that I have lately embarked on, of science fiction-fantasy that explores gender and feminism - it is really great. It is so refreshingly different to what I'm used to reading. And I'll happily stay here for a while, reading these books about new planets imagined by ladies from all over. Yes. It's great. I suggest you put down your white male author for a while and start looking elsewhere, he'll always be there when you're done...
So since my last entry, I decided that this year of 2012 I would not read any books written by authors who are/were white and male. Some of my friends thought this was sexist and silly - they are entitled to that view. I just figured that I read so many white men and have been reading so many white men for so long, I just wanted to see what else there is. Find some new authors, discipline and possibly change some reading habits. And it has been really fantastic.
I broke my rule twice, which is ok because I made the rules so I can break them. I read Watchmen by Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore, which I allowed because it was a graphic novel. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. And I also broke my rule for Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. I felt compelled to read it because I've been living in America since January and will be here until the end of June, and it is such a famous American novel. And Ray Bradbury traditionally writes science fiction and things, and it was cheap and short. And somewhat disappointing. I shouldn't have broke my rule for it, it was good, but not worth breaking my rule. Ah well, so it goes.
Anyway, now for Walk to the End of the World. It's a long clunky title, one that I always forget. I bought this book online (a shocking and terrible habit to get into... it's just so much fun receiving things in the mail!), it is three books in one, under the heading of Radical Utopias. (Carrying three books in one is always nifty when travelling, I feel. Like an almost kindle, but considerably more archaic). I started with Suzy McKee Charnas' science fiction novel that does not really take place in what one would call a 'Utopia'. The driving idea behind the book however is pretty radical. And incredibly interesting.
The book is set in the post-apocalyptic world, where technology, greed and power of men has ultimately self imploded into nothingness, an event referred to as 'The Wasting'. The men who survived 'The Wasting' have constructed a new society where women (referred to as 'fems') are not regarded as human, but as animals and slaves to be used as men need them. The fems are made out to be so far below human, so repulsive that men ultimately take other men as lovers. Resulting in a society so segregated that heterosexuality is considered 'perverse'. It is strange and thought provoking.
And bleak. The society is militant and crude and full of horrifically awful things that are very normal and unsurprising to most of the men and women of that society. There is also a huge emphasis on the age barrier of young men and old men, yet another damaging and terrifying segregated mode of control. Men are forced to perform their manly duty for the society by spending a prescribed amount of time in the 'breeding rooms', which is the only reason fems are kept around, for reproductive purposes. It's pretty kooky and tricky to explain. But she explains the whole system pretty well, so it doesn't seem entirely kooky. That's the thing about making new worlds, if you give enough history, background and full in the bits and pieces, it's pretty believable.
What's interesting, is that the author really sticks to this idea. To the extent that you know almost nothing about the one female character. She has no voice in the book, because she has no voice in the society. Until the very last section. Each section is narrated in the third person, but from the view of a specific character. There are four main characters and the last section covers the only female character. Which is really what made me keep reading this desolate story. I was so curious about the mysterious supposedly voiceless female and had to wait till the very end to find out about her.
It was good and not good, in the sense that it seemed angrily depressing. I'm glad I read it, the idea and theory was fascinatingly weird, the conclusion just as bleak as the concept with only the most optimistic of readers to interpret the last few pages as a hopeful ending.
This new genre that I have lately embarked on, of science fiction-fantasy that explores gender and feminism - it is really great. It is so refreshingly different to what I'm used to reading. And I'll happily stay here for a while, reading these books about new planets imagined by ladies from all over. Yes. It's great. I suggest you put down your white male author for a while and start looking elsewhere, he'll always be there when you're done...
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