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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
what the fuck did I just read? it's gross and sexist and reads like a short story but I'm blown away. not so much by the final reveal but a bit before that
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Ich meine ich habe das ganze Hörbuch durchgehört also kann ich nicht 0 Sterne vergeben.... Ich wollte dann doch noch endlich herausfinden, was es mit den Haarteppichen auf sich hat. Wenn dich das auch interessiert, du dich aber nicht durch das ganze Buch quälen willst, lies einfach das letzte Kapitel...
Das Buch ist am Anfang faszinierend und dann langweilig. Es ist ekelhaft. Ich habe mich so viel geekelt und war so unzufrieden. Das Ende ist mega unbefriedigend wenn man sich schon einmal komplett durchgequält hat. Warum hat der Autor das Buch überhaupt geschrieben?
Das Buch ist am Anfang faszinierend und dann langweilig. Es ist ekelhaft. Ich habe mich so viel geekelt und war so unzufrieden. Das Ende ist mega unbefriedigend wenn man sich schon einmal komplett durchgequält hat. Warum hat der Autor das Buch überhaupt geschrieben?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Murder
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The Carpet Makers is the story of a crumbling empire full of strange secrets. Through a series of vignettes, you get closer and closer to unwinding the central mystery. The prose is beautiful, and each vignette introduces an interesting character.
I enjoyed Eschbach's decision to write the book as a collection of connected short stories. Each individual chapter tells the story of one or two people, but together they tell the story of a world. He skillfully connects them, giving the novel the suspense and unifying story arc that most short story collections lack.
Eschbach has a delightful sense of humor. The book itself is not funny; indeed, almost all of the vignettes are tragic. However, the central conceit is one of the funniest and surprising things I have ever read, in a dark and terrible way. I've been giggling for two days. I have never read such a commitment to a joke before. I love it.
I enjoyed Eschbach's decision to write the book as a collection of connected short stories. Each individual chapter tells the story of one or two people, but together they tell the story of a world. He skillfully connects them, giving the novel the suspense and unifying story arc that most short story collections lack.
Eschbach has a delightful sense of humor. The book itself is not funny; indeed, almost all of the vignettes are tragic. However, the central conceit is one of the funniest and surprising things I have ever read, in a dark and terrible way. I've been giggling for two days. I have never read such a commitment to a joke before. I love it.
Really good example of elevated SF that succeeds in telling a story about people and their problems rather than problems and their people.
The problem, or theme, as stated on the blurb of my copy is "the absurdity of work and life itself". I also saw comment on the nature of power and slavish devotion to 'a greater cause' - be it a God-Emperor or The Economy.
Eschbach structures his story very cleverly, with each chapter telling a single experience of someone trapped in the system that produces literal hair carpets for the God-Emperor, or one of the members of the post-Emperor regime uncovering this insanity. Through each small person we /unweave/ the banal evil of the whole.
My criticisms are few and I still highly recommend the book, but to explain my four stars,
1. The final final reveal lacked punch for me.
2. I know this is a 90's work and may as well be another era in terms of gender and race representation expectations, but it's hard to separate what are the assumptions and prejudices of the world, and which are the authors.
Three (of 27) chapters are written from a female POV and two of those I thought where comparitively weak (that final final punch was one of them). I can't even complain about this second-last chapter properly because it would be a spoiler, but it got a huge eye-roll from me and feels weirdly clumsy compared to the rest of the book.
Also this intergalactic far-future empire is familiarly white (I'm inferring from the description of blonde and redheaded women) and patriarchal. I'm willing to find meaning in the use of traditional patriarchal structures for the carpet weavers, I'd just like to know it was thought out and intentional rather than automatic. Because, like a lot of our real world social structures, there's no actual objective reason for a lone male carpet weaver to make carpets out of the hair of his wives and daughters and kill off any extra boy children. Like ... boys can grow hair too? It doesn't naturally fall out at crew-cut length? Why turn down this hair-resource? Women can weave carpets? You know?
This is never questioned in the text and I find these kind of defaults pretty boring, but it is a 25 year old book. If it were explored more explicitly I think it would be an excellent comment on traditional family structures under capitalism but ah well.
The problem, or theme, as stated on the blurb of my copy is "the absurdity of work and life itself". I also saw comment on the nature of power and slavish devotion to 'a greater cause' - be it a God-Emperor or The Economy.
Eschbach structures his story very cleverly, with each chapter telling a single experience of someone trapped in the system that produces literal hair carpets for the God-Emperor, or one of the members of the post-Emperor regime uncovering this insanity. Through each small person we /unweave/ the banal evil of the whole.
My criticisms are few and I still highly recommend the book, but to explain my four stars,
1. The final final reveal lacked punch for me.
2. I know this is a 90's work and may as well be another era in terms of gender and race representation expectations, but it's hard to separate what are the assumptions and prejudices of the world, and which are the authors.
Three (of 27) chapters are written from a female POV and two of those I thought where comparitively weak (that final final punch was one of them). I can't even complain about this second-last chapter properly because it would be a spoiler, but it got a huge eye-roll from me and feels weirdly clumsy compared to the rest of the book.
Also this intergalactic far-future empire is familiarly white (I'm inferring from the description of blonde and redheaded women) and patriarchal. I'm willing to find meaning in the use of traditional patriarchal structures for the carpet weavers, I'd just like to know it was thought out and intentional rather than automatic. Because, like a lot of our real world social structures, there's no actual objective reason for a lone male carpet weaver to make carpets out of the hair of his wives and daughters and kill off any extra boy children. Like ... boys can grow hair too? It doesn't naturally fall out at crew-cut length? Why turn down this hair-resource? Women can weave carpets? You know?
This is never questioned in the text and I find these kind of defaults pretty boring, but it is a 25 year old book. If it were explored more explicitly I think it would be an excellent comment on traditional family structures under capitalism but ah well.