Book Review: The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi

 

This was my second attempt; the first time all the legal stuff seemed too complicated to bother with. This time, it was for a cli-fi book club, and once I got into it I found the characters quite compelling. Found myself thinking of them, especially Lucy, as some person I knew, which is always a good sign for characters! Climate fiction wise it was a realistic portrayal of a long-term drought in the American West and the political ramifications that might result. The border-control between states was something I haven't seen in other novels but seems believable. And I loved the irony of the Texans being the refugees, since there are so many Texans who perceive Mexicans to be less-than-human because of their status.

The themes I found are : what are people's true natures, and relatedly, how best should people survive. The juxtaposition of Angel and Lucy showed the two sides of these and I'd say the message came out on the side of: the best people will try to stick together and watch out for each other, but the reality is everyone can be broken. There are not good or bad people but instead there are circumstances. And when the circumstances are rough, you have to watch out for yourself (and your people) while trying your best to be fair and just.

From a writing persepctive, the characters' wants were clear and maintained all the way to the finale. Angel is loyal to Catherine Case because she rescued him and he admires her. Maria wants to know what the real deal is in order to save herself. Lucy is a little more complex: it is told that she wants to get a good story but the underlying want is to save the Zoners by telling their story.

Cli-Fi Reading List

Climate change

• Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

When global climate change and economic crises lead to social chaos in the early 2020s, California becomes full of dangers, from pervasive water shortage to masses of vagabonds who will do anything to live to see another day. Fifteen-year-old Lauren Olamina lives inside a gated community with her preacher father, family, and neighbors, sheltered from the surrounding anarchy.

• Orleans by Sherri L. Smith (YA)

After a string of devastating hurricanes and a severe outbreak of Delta Fever, the Gulf Coast has been quarantined. Years later, residents of the Outer States are under the assumption that life in the Delta is all but extinct...but in reality, a new primitive society has been born.

• Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

While most of the world has drowned beneath the sudden rising waters of a climate apocalypse, Dinétah (formerly the Navajo reservation) has been reborn. The gods and heroes of legend walk the land, but so do monsters.

• War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi

Two sisters are torn apart by war and must fight their way back to each other in a futuristic, Black Panther-inspired Nigeria.

The year is 2172. Climate change and nuclear disasters have rendered much of earth unlivable. Only the lucky ones have escaped to space colonies in the sky.

• Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu

Thirteen-year-old Zahrah Tsami feels like a normal girl — she grows her own flora computer, has mirrors sewn onto her clothes, and stays clear of the Forbidden Greeny Jungle.

•  The Deluge by Stephen Markley

Goodreads Choice Award, Nominee for Best Science Fiction (2023)

From the bestselling author of Ohio, a masterful American epic charting a near future approaching collapse and a nascent but strengthening solidarity.

In California in 2013, Tony Pietrus, a scientist studying deposits of undersea methane, receives a death threat.

 Solar Punk

Pacific Edge by Kim Stanley Robinson

2065: In a world that has rediscovered harmony with nature, the village of El Modena, California, is an ecotopia in the making. Kevin Claiborne, a young builder who has grown up in this "green" world, now finds himself caught up in the struggle to preserve his community's idyllic way of life from the resurgent forces of greed and exploitation.

Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer

The world into which Mycroft and Carlyle have been born is as strange to our 21st-century eyes as ours would be to a native of the 1500s. It is a hard-won utopia built on technologically-generated abundance, and also on complex and mandatory systems of labeling all public writing and speech. What seem to us normal gender distinctions are now distinctly taboo in most social situations. And most of the world's population is affiliated with globe-girdling clans of the like-minded, whose endless economic and cultural competition is carefully managed by central planners of inestimable subtlety. To us it seems like a mad combination of heaven and hell. To them, it seems like normal life.

Environmental Disaster Fiction 

• The Storm by Arif Anwar

a sweeping historical novel that seamlessly interweaves five love stories spanning sixty years of Bangladeshi history. (Not particularly clifi other than "a storm of historic proportions").

• Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh

It is the story of a world on the brink, of increasing displacement and unstoppable transition. But it is also a story of hope, of a man whose faith in the world and the future is restored by two remarkable women.

• How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue

Set in the fictional African village of Kosawa, it tells the story of a people living in fear amidst environmental degradation wrought by an American oil company.

Told through the perspective of a generation of children and the family of a girl named Thula who grows up to become a revolutionary, How Beautiful We Were is a masterful exploration of what happens when the reckless drive for profit, coupled with the ghost of colonialism, comes up against one community’s determination to hold onto its ancestral land and a young woman’s willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of her people’s freedom.

• Tentacle, by Rita Indiana (2018)

Plucked from her life on the streets of post-apocalyptic Santo Domingo, young maid Acilde Figueroa finds herself at the heart of a voodoo prophecy: only she can travel back in time and save the ocean - and humanity - from disaster. But first she must become the man she always was - with the help of a sacred anemone. 

• Gamechanger by L.X. Becket 

Rubi Whiting is a member of the Bounceback Generation. The first to be raised free of the troubles of the late twenty-first century. Now she works as a public defender to help troubled individuals with anti-social behavior. That’s how she met Luciano Pox... Rubi has to find out why the governments of the world want to bring Luce into custody, and why Luce is hell bent on stopping the recovery of the planet.

•  The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades... Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one anotioner, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself. They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding

Dystopian (more political than environmental)

• Leila by Praayag Akbar

In a digitized city, sometime in the near future, as an obsession with purity escalates, walls come up dividing and confining communities. Behind the walls high civic order prevails. In the forgotten spaces between, where garbage gathers and disease festers, Shalini must search for Leila, the daughter she lost one tragic summer sixteen years ago.

• American War by Omar El Akkad 

Sarat Chestnut, born in Louisiana, is only six when the Second American Civil War breaks out in 2074. But even she knows that oil is outlawed, that Louisiana is half underwater, and that unmanned drones fill the sky. 

• Waste Tide by Chen Qiufan, Ken Liu

Located off China's southeastern coast, Silicon Isle is the global capital for electronic waste recycling, where thousands like Mimi toil day and night, hoping one day they too will enjoy the wealth they’ve created for their employers, the three clans who have ruled the isle for generations

Urban Fantasy

• The City We Became by  N.K. Jemison 

Five New Yorkers must come together in order to defend their city. A roiling, ancient evil stirs beneath the earth, threatening to destroy the city and her five protectors unless they can come together and stop it once and for all.

Links to Lists of Cli-Fi

https://storiesforearth.com/2021/02/11/black-cli-fi-and-ecofiction-authors/

https://theliteraryplatform.com/stories/climate-fiction-and-the-global-south-a-conversation/

https://grist.org/fix/climate-fiction/definitive-climate-fiction-reading-list-cli-fi-books/

https://www.himalmag.com/culture/southasia-in-contemporary-climate-fiction

https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/nf2mck/best_clifiscifi_with_strong_environmentalist/

NaNoWriMo #4!

 

My fourth NaNoWriMo in 5 years: this time, a new-adult backcountry-skiing non-romance.

Yeah, I'll work on the marketing... after I edit.

Book Review: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

 

Spoilers follow.

Partway through: 

• It is hard to put down.
• Mysteries: what happened when he was left alone by previous caregiver.
• Ticking clock: so many days to change his mind. 
• What the protagonist wants: Initially, just to make money to help her family. She stays in the job despite really not wanting to. Then around 30% it changes to wanting to keep Will alive.
• It is a savior story: basically that she is enough to make his life worth living. I do have a suspicion, given the sequel titles, and that I heard it is about grief, that she doesn't succeed in this.

Upon Finishing

Yeah, love wasn't enough. It makes me wonder how this is classified as romance (it is according to the title page). I guess because the two love interests end up together, even though it isn't happy ever after.

Emotions: I *sobbed* through the death scene. Something very much working there. 

I was not mad about the outcome. My guess is that the author gave us enough hints so that I figured it out. First, on a message board, a quad tells her she shouldn't be trying to change Will's mind. Second, there are the rugby parents. And then finally Lou's own mother is so against it that Lou ends up arguing, backing up Will's opinion and his right to make the decision.

In the end, I wouldn't have cried about the ending if I didn't care about Lou. 

Analyzing her character to find out why I care:

• I think we like her because she's helping out her family
• She is sympathetic in that she tries to do the right things: not only helping out her family, but trying to quit the job when she feels unable to do it
• It isn't very likable that she has no ambition, but I imagine that goes over better in England. It was normal for working class kids there when I lived there 35 years (!) ago. 
• However, this is balanced by her having the high-achieving sister. I think that excuses it: of course she didn't think she could amount to anything 
• I imagine it is quite relatable that her boyfriend got all fit and left her behind (although not for me). He is definitely enough of a jerk that we want her to ditch him but not so much that we're mad at her for not doing so. It works because we see what is going to happen, and it probably helps that he is off-screen for the most part. 
• As it goes along, we see she does resent her sister for having the baby and not having to work, basically Lou is making all these sacrifices and then Treena goes off to college. Doesn't feel at all unreasonable for Lou to wonder how Treena bought new shoes, but even more we don't hold the thought against Lou because she thinks it is petty of her to think this!

Plot

There are some interweaving of plot and character, ranked here from effective to pointless to negative:

• Sister going to college means Lou takes the big room, at a time where she's gaining confidence. Then when sister comes back to visit, there is a room conflict, which pushes her toward Will, diverts to Patrick, and not only brings all of that to a head but pushes her to live with Will (otherwise she just would have gone home). All of this exerts those kinds of pressurs that make previously barely-tolerable situations intolerable
• Dad losing job. Initially adds stakes to Lou needing a job (on top of the inciting incident of her leaving her job(?)). When he gets a job with Will's father, this absolves Will from feeling guilty for his potential suicide taking away the family's income (because Lou won't be employed by them anymore)
• Will's parents' relationship. Dad having the affair adds tension but doesn't have a big effect on the plot in the end 
• communication awkward with Mrs. Traynor (have to keep secrets). Amplify existing
• maybe Lou seeing him is why he gives the job to her father?
• Huge complications with regards to Will's suicide, in that Will living seems to be the thing that is holding the parents together. But how terrible for his dad to only stay with the family while he's alive. First of all, that gives him a selfish argument for Will to die (which doesn't seem to bear any weight on the ending). Second, why would he then abandon his wife once she's lost Will? Doesn't really make sense. 
• Rape history. I'm not convinced this was necessary. Absolving Lou of her guilt is a gift that Will gave her, but he gives her a lot in many aspects of her life. It allows Will to save her in the maze, which might be their first physically intimate experience.  It gives Lou a reason to have eclectic fashion, but there are other justifications for that. So overall I don't think it's worth using this cliche.
• Update: I read a review that reminded me that this event in Lou's life was why she shut herself off from taking an adventurous trip to Australia. That kind of makes sense (although that it would make her want to stay in the town where it happened instead of getting away is arguable) but again, I don't think there needs to be justification for someone living and working in the small English town where they grew up.

The last of that is a criticism, but overall this was probably the most compelling book I read all year. I was thinking about the characters frequently, and I read it in a week or less I think. I also found myself making text-to-self connections (a phrase I learned in my kids' elementary school lessons but works, right?), appreciating my and my husband's (so far) good health. Can't argue against that!

Also, I will counter arguments from people who say it is pro-suicide and believe it pushes that "there is no way to live a good life as a quadriplegic." There is so much in there about how that is not at all true for everyone, even for the majority, but there are a small number of people who want to be able to make that decision for themselves. And taking away that agency is terrible considering how little they can control in their own lives.

Book Review: Red Moon by Kim Stanley Robinson

 

Rating: 2/5

Looks like I'm not going to finish it. It was moderately interesting but just wanders around too much. Physically and literarily. 

1) The two main (perhaps? see 2) characters are off the moon by 30% and then back there by 50%. Seemed to have less to do with the moon than with China, which is fine. I guess that is half of the title! But not why I was reading it.

2) Many POVs and I often can't tell who is talking. Multiple 1st person (don't tell Chuck!) with foreign chapter titles (don't tell Geoff!) made it difficult. I have little doubt they will all come together (some already have) but don't have the patience to keep reading.

Book Review: The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez

 

I was put off by all the character changes early on. Maybe I've just absorbed the writing "rules" that you shouldn't abandon characters, you shouldn't start with characters who won't show up (barely) again, you should have your characters eventually meet. But my emotional reaction shows me that these rules are there for a reason. I felt disappointed when the initial character was clearly left behind. I felt frustrated when a four-person spaceship crew that I had struggled to get to know all or mostly abandoned their captain. Maybe it is realistic that not everyone would stay but I had an aversion to getting to know the new crew when my previous investment had been squandered. 

There was a bit of hope when a long-ago character, who had seemed very important and indeed is where the title comes from, turns out to live long enough to potentially meet up with the current characters. There was hope that two people who'd both lost their lovers long ago would end up together. These hopes were destroyed in a nuclear-type reaction at the end. Very unsatisfying.

Another source of dissatisfaction was with the timing. One of the main questions is finally answered around 70%, but the character very selfishly doesn't do anything about it for a while. Maybe this is realistic but it made me mad at him and wanting to skip ahead to when something interesting happens. 

The author's use of language and the sci fi of his world are definitely unique. He turns nouns into verbs and makes up great tech: near-FTL travel is done by folding into the pocket and riding celestial currents that have names. Time dilation is real and affects people's lives profoundly (at least at the beginning). The ships are piloted with cat's cradles. Cool stuff like that.  (There is a chance I just don't know that this is common in these kinds of stories!)

I also appreciated how many non-heterosexual relationships there were without any mention or need to use identity words. Very much just a "this is how the world is."

And overall it is a thumbs up because hey, I finished it! Granted, it was my only book while camping for two weeks (thanks to having left my kindle on a plane, unexpectedly returned by Delta's great lost and found system), which basically forced me to get over my annoyance at the loss of main characters so early. By then I was invested enough, and hopeful enough, to carry on. But it was worth reading. 

Book Review: All Systems Red by Martha Wells

 

Not a very sympathetic protagonist: A human who does the least possible work in order to maximize their TV viewing time is pretty annoying. It helped a little that she is a bot, because then it is a novelty really, but it still interfered with me wanting to cheer for her.  What I did find sympathetic is how ashamed she seemed to be about her identity and her past. Again this was unexpected for a robot which is probably what makes these books such a big deal right now.

Another complaint: when she does find a group of people who don't have a negative bias toward her, there's no explanation for why they are different from everyone else in their culture. How much stronger would it have been if the protagonist could have converted them onto her side? 

Finally, [spoiler alert], I was dissatisfied with the ending. It seems to be setting up to have an interesting sequel rather than providing a satisfying conclusion. I haven't analyzed the text to see how much it fits with the Heroine's journey, but another guess is that the author didn't recognize how a strong ending could be that the protagonist stays with her found family, and instead pushed her to become the independent, solitary hero that we are so often told is the only option.

As for what I liked, the overall point is that I managed to finish the book so these days that's a strong positive. As small craft positive was that the injury the protagonist suffers at the beginning was a great device for describing her physicality.