speculative

The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano by Donna Freitas

Started: 3/23/22
Gave up: 3/25/22

I just couldn’t with this book. I read an article by the author, and her description of this book was intriguing, but it didn’t work for me. We see alternate futures for this woman, all starting from one moment in time, as she makes minor changes in that moment for every iteration. Fascinating! I love Sliding Doors-type stories! Why only nine? I don’t know. I didn’t make it through all nine because the story was about a married couple who, when they got together and then married, always agreed they didn’t want kids. The woman had NEVER wanted kids. Then the husband changed his mind and basically bullied her into trying. The decision point (very beginning) is when he finds a full bottle of prenatal vitamins, vitamins he bullied her into taking, and proof she’s not taking them and not trying to get pregnant. How she reacts, in major and minor ways, drives each one of the lives.

To start, that’s infuriating. Her reasons for not wanting kids are valid and thought-out, and she has to defend her decisions to EVERYONE. That felt real, legitimate. But THEN – hang on.

SPOILERS

SPOILERS

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In at least two of the lives, she has a baby and never looks back, thinks to herself “how could I ever not want this baby?”, never thinks she should have stuck to her principles.

INFURIATING!

So I gave it up. Maybe she sticks to her principles in lives I didn’t get to, but I stopped caring. I don’t need to read books that make me angry.

A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel

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Started: 9/19/21
Finished: 9/22/21

Set near the very end of WWII, with some jumps in time, it’s about a single line of women who are trying to get humanity into space. They don’t remember why, but they have very specific rules they live by. Most of the characters (not the main ones) were real people and most of the events were real (some minor details changed), which makes this totally fictional story completely plausible. Also, someone is hunting these women and trying to stop them. It was really good.

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

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Started: 12/17/18
Finished: 12/19/18

A couple meet, fall in love, and flee their Middle Eastern city via a magic door.  The writing keeps you at a remove from the characters and the story, so you know how the characters are feeling, but you don’t feel how they’re feeling, but it’s well-done.  There have been several sentences I’ve read out loud to John because I liked the phrasing so much.

American War by Omar El Akkad

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Started: 1/28/18
Finished: 2/3/18

Speculative fiction, second American civil war begins 60 years from now, the south refuses to give up oil. Told entirely from the point of view of a young southern woman fighting, not for the cause (she doesn’t care about oil), but because the war (and the north) destroyed everything she knew and loved. It felt real and dirty and uncomfortable, and I’m not sure I liked it, but it was good.

An Excess Male by Maggie Shen King

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Started: 1/15/18
Finished: 1/18/18

It started out as an interesting family drama in a near-future China where the men vastly outnumber the women, and then it took an unexpected, I think unforeshadowed, violent turn. It’s told from the point of view of four characters, three of whom felt real. The fourth one, who, incidentally, is the one whose plotline took the thriller turn, felt like wish-fulfillment. Or maybe he was just not very smart.

The Power by Naomi Alderman

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Started: 1/10/18
Finished: 1/13/18

It’s probably cliche to say so, but The Power is powerful. Roles get flipped, and a lot of that feels viscerally real. As a novel, though, I’m not sure I’d call it great. It feels like an experiment, especially in the framing device – a meaningful experiment, to be sure. It’s just that the novel part of the story feels somewhat unresolved.