I didn’t expect so much patronising flattery and unscientific claptrap in the opening speech. Very little of this collection is agelessly thundering in exposing the crimes of imperialism, the prison walls of America, and the artifice of white liberal allyship.
Beyond this being a work of talking about talking about the subject, Vogel advances no paradigm shifts, away from the white supremacist- and imperialist-friendly conception of progress nor away from including slavery in the equation in the reproduction of labour-power. In 1983 she reviews thoughts from the late … Read more
Broadcasting the photo of a possible patient zero is alarming and hopefully agreed upon as unethical. Owen has professor-equivalent status and conducts himself grossly with students throughout; the sympathy he gets, which is expressed literally, makes him come across as an author stand-in. The women characters revolve around … Read more
I managed to finish six of the stories. Generally too on the nose and yielding to stock themes of science fiction. “Walking Awake” was the most engaging even with all the hand-holding, with allusions to Get Out and TNG’s “Conspiracy”.
So far Jemisin’s not for me.
★★
For essays about rejecting motherhood and Christianity and about living abroad, this collection was surprisingly unresonating. There’s also an unnecessary and specific march of ‘this is what tools of the patriarchy would say’. Keturah confronts cultural confines except for those that work for her, with a blind spot … Read more
★★
Reading about an ant painstakingly tracing each character on a gravestone signals the early slog. The flatness of the first two parts cannot be pinned entirely on the alternate translator either. The details are dull and offensive. Women squeal and fuss, and when … Read more
In place of exploring identity and belonging, or the transformation of tradition, or class privilege, or a human voice, The Namesake is bogged with unremitting descriptions of everything in a room. Across generations the characterisation is flat and, like in Amy Tan’s novels, the American generation is the … Read more
Struggles presented as universal take on a quality of mocking delusion when the excess of protagonists (only male voices) all become famous millionaires at the top of their fields who own fabulous and plural homes and have access to private jets and Alhambra strolls. The decided main character … Read more
I like the artwork and intention but the writing is awkward to troublesome. There’s a white feminist implication that ‘of course’ racism didn’t exist in France. Two women incidental to a featured woman are called ‘jealous shrews’. Just a couple of examples.
Capably written single-formula stories that are casually fatphobic, ableist, dismissive of the other while centring another ‘other’.
★★
★★
★★
★★
