This is a completely implausible apocalyptic novel where the world is falling apart and a man builds an ark for his family and 500 people, which leaveThis is a completely implausible apocalyptic novel where the world is falling apart and a man builds an ark for his family and 500 people, which leaves from London, almost too late, because society is collapsing. His daughter, the protagonist, tries to resist the father's utopian cult. Nobody knows anything about science, including, I'd say, the author, considering all the things that would have to be true for the people on the ship to survive as described.
Things nobody in the book or writing the book knows about science:(view spoiler)[ -Where babies come from -Where the moon rises and sets -How bread is made (the author says there are no viable fields anywhere but yet the ship has endless stores of flour - and flour does not last forever) -How powdered eggs are made (same issue) -How orange juice concentrate is made (same issue) -How ALL FOOD IS MADE -How disease is spread (could all of China collapse in a pandemic and the rest of the world not be affected? Sigh) -Why one doctor and one dentist are not sufficient planning for 500 people (hide spoiler)]
I could go on but this is more than the typical suspending of disbelief. There's just no way to enjoy this book if you know even half of these things.
Thanks to the publisher for providing access to the title via NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion. You got it....more
I started this book during a speed dating project and decided to try to finish all those books I dated and decided to keep and finish before the end oI started this book during a speed dating project and decided to try to finish all those books I dated and decided to keep and finish before the end of 2015.
Conrad himself had to defend this book to critics - it isn't his usual style, they didn't understand the context, etc. There is a brief intro in my edition by Conrad that attempts to justify it, but to me it was a justification it didn't need.
Published in 1907, the central story of this short (but incredibly dense) novel is a bombing scheme gone wrong. The anarchists (organized, ha) are targeting the Greenwich Observatory, but instead a man wearing a bomb has exploded in a park. The Assistant Commissioner and Chief Inspector are attempting to solve the case, and the action seems to circulate around a tiny little shop on a dark street.
There are a few issues with the text for me. Conrad writes with such density that it takes a real effort to untangle what is actually going on. The pacing is confusing for the first half as we meet a lot of people who may or may not figure into anything later. I understand misdirection but it seems excessive. He spends copious effort describing obese characters that for a while I thought the lesson would be not to discount fat people (because they aren't all idiots, do you get it?) TIt was a bit puzzling. The book swirls around a while but the second half is a lot more interesting. And if you think of the timing of this story, right before the Bolshevik revolution hit the world, Conrad may be offering a bit of a warning. One of his anarchists says to another, "To the destruction of what is!" and this seems to be the most chilling line of the entire novel....more
Although the page count won't make it seem novella length, the large print and small pages make this book a breeze, perfect for the last book of 2013!Although the page count won't make it seem novella length, the large print and small pages make this book a breeze, perfect for the last book of 2013!
This is a sweet (too sentimental, possibly?) story of four strangers on a train, traveling from Edinburgh to London, and telling the stories of their lives to each other. One man keeps his story to himself, but the reader gets to read it. It's all about strangers, friends, and love. And maybe at the end of a rough year, it was a nice sendoff. ...more
I was desperate for a book that would let me escape from life for a while, and had downloaded this from NetGalley. It is a perfect blend of steampunk I was desperate for a book that would let me escape from life for a while, and had downloaded this from NetGalley. It is a perfect blend of steampunk fantasy based in just enough historical detail that you can almost believe the faeries and nightwalkers, Alchemists and Oracles. The reader also gets to travel from Paris to Oxford to Vienna to Istanbul, so add this to the list of books I'll read this year that have a tie to Turkey!
The main character is Elle Chance, a female airship pilot in a time where women are still fighting for the right to vote. So she's plucky and inventive and a nice contrast to the people living in Shadow. The story is fast-paced and doesn't spend too much time on the syrupy sweet angsty romance (but, you know, enough time for a few passionate kisses and heady dreams). The ending was puzzling enough that I'd probably want to read the next one to see if the characters really ended up where it looked like they were heading....more
I read this when it was nominated for the Philip K. Dick award in 2012, and I'm glad it showed up on that list as I hadn't come across it in any otherI read this when it was nominated for the Philip K. Dick award in 2012, and I'm glad it showed up on that list as I hadn't come across it in any other way. Technically the entire trilogy is nominated.
This is set in a post-apocalyptic London (in the "Metrozone"), in a time where bombs have destroyed most of the world and countries like Japan have completely disappeared due to environmental disaster (war-related).
Samuil Petrovitch is around 20, having recently escaped from St. Petersburg and working as a graduate physics student, when he helps someone who is being kidnapped. He gets involved in a situation involving Russian mobsters, Yakuza, and ends up with technology going crazy.
The story is fast-paced and has a lot of bits to make my geeky heart happy, including mathematicians who might be cracking the code to time travel in the midst of the chaos, a main character who swears in Russian, a nun who just happens to have the biggest gun of anyone, and a new Japan created in a virtual space. Samuil is written to be complex, but the age of the characters really got to me - Maddy and Sam are both around 20 and I just kept thinking how much more I'd believe their actions and powers of deduction if they were at least in their 30s.
I think I may actually read the next book. ...more
I find it difficult to know how to talk about this book. I loved the vibrant writing and surreal story, but could not recommend this to 95% of the reaI find it difficult to know how to talk about this book. I loved the vibrant writing and surreal story, but could not recommend this to 95% of the readers I know.
Why? Well, you see... Blake is a bit of a loser. He steals a plane and crashes it into the Thames at Shepperton, and that's when everything goes a bit strange. He develops strong desires for everyone and everything in the town (see 95% comment earlier). Just like in dreams, relationships have no consequences, people can fly and commune with the sea and forest creatures. Blake becomes like a pagan dream god - even spreading his semen around grows a tropical rainforest.
And yes, I said the word semen. Trust me, if you can't take it the two times in this review, this is not the book for you.
But maybe you are a reader who can push aside all of your senses of moral violation to enjoy the writing, the description, the dreamy world of this book. If you can, you should. I couldn't put it down. The aerial wedding scene is particularly memorable.
"When they had gone, I walked alone through the late afternoon, my damp suit covered with a coat of rainbows, a confetti of petals, celebrating my marriage with the meadow."
I've marked this as sci-fi/fantasy, and it isn't really... more absurdist/surrealism. In a brief interview in the back, Ballard says he started writing sci-fi. I am hooked and want to read more. There is a beautiful recent volume of complete short stories that might be the next thing I hunt down....more
This is my favorite of the books shortlisted for the 2011 Giller Prize. It follows the journey of Michael, an 11 year old traveling on an ocean liner This is my favorite of the books shortlisted for the 2011 Giller Prize. It follows the journey of Michael, an 11 year old traveling on an ocean liner in the 1950s from Sri Lanka to England. The characters are interesting, and the story is interspersed with Michael in his adult life. Some moments really stick out as being very memorable, one in particular for me - the letter Perinetta writes to Emily, and still wants to give her decades later, assuming (correctly) that she is still ending up in bad relationships. ...more
I finished this in the car ride to work today, and really enjoyed the Welshish accent of the audiobook. I didn't want to like it but gave up in the enI finished this in the car ride to work today, and really enjoyed the Welshish accent of the audiobook. I didn't want to like it but gave up in the end because of the sheer love of reading, interlibrary loan, and book clubs that the author clearly has. (Or in Welsh accent - reeeeadin, enterLIBraaary lowan, and booyk clobs)
The fairy elements seemed beside the point, and obviously Walton wrote this to give her canon of SF, but I still enjoyed it just the same.
ETA: The list of books mentioned within this book can be found here. (Thanks Scott!)
ETA2: I wrote a completely different review of the book on my blog after we did a podcast about it on SFF Audio....more
An interesting portrayal of college-aged students in the period between the two world wars, trying to find their way in an England that has a lot of aAn interesting portrayal of college-aged students in the period between the two world wars, trying to find their way in an England that has a lot of apathy and little connection. There is some commentary on sexuality that seems before its time as well.
I've heard Waugh's other books have some humor, and I'd try one.
“When people hate with all that energy, it is something in themselves they are hating.”
“As my intimacy with his family grew I became part of the world which he sought to escape; I became part of the bonds which held him.”
“There’s nothing wrong in being a physical wreck, you know. There’s no moral obligation to be Postmaster-General or Master of Foxhounds or to live to walk ten miles at eighty.”
“The trouble with modern education is you never know how ignorant people are... These young people have such an intelligent, knowledgeable surface, and then the crust suddenly breaks and you look down into depths of confusion you didn’t know existed.”
I gave this the old college try, getting to page 155 before giving myself permission to stop. I feel bad because I was supposed to read it for a book I gave this the old college try, getting to page 155 before giving myself permission to stop. I feel bad because I was supposed to read it for a book club but there are a few reasons it just wasn't for me.
-Info-dumping. I know many steampunk novels suffer this issue, even in such an early work as this, because people who are really into that kind of novel tend to love the geeky intricate details that build this alternative world. I'm just not one of them. It reminded me of Neal Stephenson in Quicksilver, so if you like the treatment of detail in that book, you might like it.
-Details. Yeah, said it already but it bears repeating. There are parts of this book that will make some people completely giddy - the historical figures, the programming cards, the fitting in of technology into a world it didn't happen in, etc.
-Sex. No, just kidding. I don't mind sex. But there was something awkward about the partnering in this book. It was almost... announced. "And here is where we will have sex!" Maybe the "lady of the night" character wasn't believable as who she was supposed to be. But alternate histories can mess with your head that way....more
When I read this back in 2005, I remember being annoyed by Christopher. I think I didn't really get it, then. This time around (2011), I listened to tWhen I read this back in 2005, I remember being annoyed by Christopher. I think I didn't really get it, then. This time around (2011), I listened to the audio, and enjoyed it a lot more. The main character, being autistic, does not always make the connections that the reader can make about his world, and I enjoyed that dichotomy very much. It must take an amazing amount of energy to raise such a complicated child - let's hope all families have a Siobhan in their lives!
I participated in the SFF Audio readalong for this book, and you can listen here....more
Jenny (Reading Envy)
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