Ada Palmer
Autore di Too Like the Lightning
Sull'Autore
Serie
Opere di Ada Palmer
Opere correlate
Shadow & Claw: The First Half of The Book of the New Sun (1980) — Introduzione, alcune edizioni — 3,940 copie
Sword & Citadel: The Second Half of The Book of the New Sun (1982) — Introduzione, alcune edizioni — 2,611 copie
Pythagorean knowledge from the ancient to the modern world : askesis, religion, science (2016) — Collaboratore — 6 copie
Lucretius Poet and Philosopher: Background and Fortunes of De Rerum Natura (Trends in Classics - Supplementary Volumes,… (2020) — Collaboratore — 3 copie
Etichette
Informazioni generali
- Data di nascita
- 1981-06-09
- Sesso
- female
- Nazionalità
- USA
- Luogo di nascita
- Washington, DC, USA
- Luogo di residenza
- Annapolis, Maryland, USA
Chicago, Illinois, USA - Istruzione
- Bryn Mawr College
Harvard University (PhD, 2009) - Attività lavorative
- Professor of History (University of Chicago)
- Agente
- Amy Boggs
Utenti
Recensioni
Liste
Premi e riconoscimenti
Potrebbero anche piacerti
Autori correlati
Statistiche
- Opere
- 10
- Opere correlate
- 6
- Utenti
- 3,160
- Popolarità
- #8,085
- Voto
- 4.1
- Recensioni
- 156
- ISBN
- 65
- Lingue
- 4
- Preferito da
- 5
This is a kind of book to discuss in seminars at university, to be reread and written about, as there are so many layers to unpack. Palmer purposefully builds a universe which is both a dystopia and a utopia. It is a sandbox universe for me, not realistic or believable, but intriguing as a thought experiment.
The world we read about is the one where people don't live in nation-states but in "hives" of their own choosing. Hives are huge, almost like continents, with capital cities connected with super-fast travel networks. People don't live in families but in groups they choose based on their preferences and vocation called "bash'es". Following religious wars in the 22nd century, organized religion is the ultimate taboo. Instead of religion, the human need for spirituality is "taken care of" by spiritual advisors, sensayers.
The part I struggled the most with about this book was the style. The narrator of the book is a convict, who in the 25th-century future lives his punishment by doing public service. (The nature of his crime was shocking to me, completely unexpected.) Mostly he is a servant for people in high offices, so he seems to be the perfect person to retell the events we read about. However, he is telling this story in the manner of 18th-century literature which makes it difficult to follow in the context of futuristic sci-fi. But, the most confusing part was the novel's treatment of gender, and this was done on purpose. In this world gender is considered obsolete, everyone is referred to as "they". However, Mycroft is using gendered pronouns, but not always "correctly" or as expected. It takes a while to get used to this, especially because Mycroft is not always a reliable narrator, as he claims himself very early on (so not a spoiler).
Books like this can feel gimmicky and pretentious and this one does, too. You truly can have too much of a good thing. I feel it is asking a tremendous effort from the reader, but the payoff is not that great. This is still an intriguing read, esp. for lovers of heavy politics and philosophy. I wonder if sequels redeem this heavy start, but have no time or patience to go there just yet.… (altro)