It's been two months since a myriad of alien objects clenched about the Earth, screaming …
Hrm, not sure about this book. There's a sort of macho blather to the writing that is putting me off. It's clearly establishing the character of the narrator, but it's also just tiresome to read. Lots of interesting ideas and I am feeling some suspense, but I may just not make it through this one.
I read on to the end of the first section, and I'm getting more into it now. I think part of the issue is that early in the worldbuilding Watts makes heavy use of a very explicit "you won't believe how bad things are going to get" style of foreshadowing which at best feels like too much telling vs showing for my taste, and at worst really contributes to the macho blather atmosphere. Now that things are starting to really happen, I'm finding the tone of the writing much less intrusive.
@eldang He actually used the word 'spaz', which is horrifying.
@Gwenfar [unless you've now read further than me] equally horrifyingly, I think I didn't notice that because it was such a routine part of my vocabulary growing up.
The book has me more engaged now, but while that means I'm more forgiving of its flaws those flaws are still there. And I'm not sure that I should forgive it for the really ableist shit, even when it is clearly in the mouth of a character we're meant to see as somewhat flawed.
Content warning Blindsight: minor spoiler for ~halfway through the book
@Gwenfar Ironically, there's a scene a little way into the Rohrshach section in which the narrator talks about the awfulness of the very passe [in the book's future time] prejudice against multiple personality, and how offensive it was to call it a "disorder". I can't tell if the author's intent is for that framing to make us even more disgusted with the narrator's casual prejudice about other kinds of non-neurotypicality (some of which is clearly internalised), or if the author's just oblivious to his own. But even if the former it's a risky enough game to play that I don't appreciate it.
Content warning Blindsight: minor spoiler for ~halfway through the book
@eldang yeh, I'm with you there. I am finding I don't like the narrator at all and I think it's a mix of the things you've been talking about. Plus the repeating of spaz - the book was written in 2008. My partner and I discussed it and we felt that by the early 90's, this became a no-no, so there really isn't an excuse. I think it's all part of the authors arrogance. I'm trying to stick with the book for the book club, even though I still find it confusing, but all these issues are really pushing my limits.
Content warning discussion of ableist slurs
@Gwenfar I was a teenager when "The Spastics Society" [UK] changed its name to "Scope". I remember it well because my school cohort's first reaction was to find it hilarious that the school had had a student-published magazine called "Scope" for years, but after a while it sank in that this all implied a more serious message about the term and stigma. I think that must have been about 15 years before this book came out, so as you say there's no excuse.
I am now enjoying the book for what it does offer, but these things are still pissing me off. It feels like enough of a problem that I really can't recommend the book to people. I wish I knew how to navigate this sort of thing for myself - at this point the book is sort of a guilty pleasure.
Content warning Blindsight: minor spoiler for ~halfway through the book
@eldang also, if I woman had written like this, I cannot imagine it would have been anything but canned!
@Gwenfar I agree, but at the same time I really can't see a woman writing this book. I wish I could unpack what I mean by that more explicitly, but a lot of the worst things about the writing style feel intensely male to me, and that's even without the author having fallen into the really cliched male gaze type traps. That's a lot of why I specifically requested nominations not by white men for November.
