Reviews and Comments

All my concerns from the first novel are addressed in Scalzi's second 'Interdependency' novel.

The politicking is a lot stronger, more detailed, and very clever. There's some nice action pieces, and the world is developed further.

Emperox Grayland II starts to uncover the history of her nation, and because she's not been raised by the familial dynasty, she has fresh eyes that helps her recognise patterns others might not otherwise see. She grows as a leader and a character, and whilst there are some leaps in logic, it makes sense how she'd get there, but because we have seen her journey I sometimes find that the character we see here doesn't connect strongly with the character we saw in the first novel. Still, the author leans into her nervous and emotional-focused inner monologue often enough to show us that she is the same person.

Scalzi adds a character from waaaay outta left field, and he's a great character that's fun, and in the audiobook I listened to Will Wheaton does a wonderfully terrible French accent. He's a great personality, and there's some shenanigans that make it clear that there's a "bigger picture" happening, we just aren't privy to it yet.

And, also, Keva. She's awesome. I'd read it just for Keva.

Let me start by saying I'm not a Malouf fan. I must be one of the only Australian English teachers who isn't a fan of his.

But this novel is a classic case of "Too clever by half." Many people adore this novel, I personally can't stand it. Its point is obvious and heavily laboured, and the repetition of the "Fly away Peter" intertextual reference is painful.

Getting a class of students to read it was like pulling teeth. From a lion. Whilst it was awake. And hungry.

This is very much a personal perspective, but teaching with this book is like teaching the worst of the Australian literary canon. It's full of navel-gazing, Australian pre-occupation with self-perception and nationhood, and horribly colonial.

It does has some nice moments, and if you're looking for concrete examples to teach specific techniques, I'll begrudgingly admit it is quite useful for that.

But I've not actually said anything about the novel, have I? The bird metaphor is constant, and the representation of Flanders' when the Aussie soldiers go to war is typical in terms of stereotypes, etc. 'Parochial' is a great way to phrase it, 'literature' is another. Don't go into this expecting a simple plan read - it purports to have significant depth and layers. Well, it does, there's a number of readings you can apply, but the problem is they're trying so hard to be smart that they're just laboured.

But. This novel might be eye-opening for some people, if they want something conrete and obvious to fawn over.

Spiegelman is on record saying he doesn’t like Maus being used to teach about Holocaust, but honestly I can’t think of many better texts for it. He prefers Maus being used to discuss relationships, and I’m just thinking “por que no los dos?”

In this novel the author shows his father’s story of survival through the holocaust, and the long term impact on his physical and mental health. He delves into the intergenerational trauma associated with survivor’s families.

Spiegelman said in an interview with Australian Radio National that he wanted to challenge the myth that everyone who goes through such a crucible inherently becomes a better person His depiction of his father, Vladek, is loving but unyielding. When Vladek, who suffered so much during the Holocaust, sees his son wanting to pick up an African-American hitchhiker, he responds with the exact kind of racist stereotypes he himself faced as a young man. He should’ve know better, and yet here we are. It’s a powerful moment.

I’ve taught Maus for a few years now and always find the students gobble it up, with few exceptions. Holocaust, relationships, visual literacy, symbolism; this is such a powerful novel with so much to offer a classroom. It’s great to follow up with encouraging students to reflect on their own relationships in visual form (even if that’s just stick figures!).