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What were you expecting?

speculative

The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano by Donna Freitas

March 25, 2022 by Zannah

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

SPOILERS

SPOILERS

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.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, fiction, gave up, library, source: LitHub, speculative

A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel

September 22, 2021 by Zannah Leave a Comment

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.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: historical, physical, SF, source: trusted author, speculative

2034 by Elliott Ackerman and James G. Stavridis

July 28, 2021 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 7/28/21
Gave up: 7/28/21

I’m not sure exactly what the problem was here, but I was forcing myself through every page, and then I quit. Life’s too short!

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: gave up, library, military, physical, SF, source: Mom, speculative

The Oracle Year by Charles Soule

January 5, 2019 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 1/4/19
Finished: 1/5/19

Fun story, couldn’t put it down.  I feel like I haven’t read one of those in a while.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, SF, source: Scalzi's Big Idea, speculative

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

December 19, 2018 by Zannah Leave a Comment

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.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, fantasy, source: unknown, speculative

The Book of M by Peng Shepherd

August 29, 2018 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 8/24/18
Finished: 8/29/18

An interesting story about what happens when people lose their memories.  This being science fiction, it turns out that memories live in your shadow, and everyone’s shadows begin to disappear.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: library, physical, SF, source: browsing at the library, speculative

American War by Omar El Akkad

February 3, 2018 by Zannah Leave a Comment

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.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: fiction, period, SF, source: Tor.com, speculative

An Excess Male by Maggie Shen King

January 18, 2018 by Zannah Leave a Comment

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.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: overpopulation, SF, source: Tor.com, speculative

The Power by Naomi Alderman

January 13, 2018 by Zannah Leave a Comment

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.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: gender roles, magic, SF, source: Tor.com, speculative

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