Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An excellently plotted novel that starts off on an arid planet where men spend all their lives weaving a carpet made out of hair of their wives and daughters. Knotting no more than a fingernail each day, it takes a man a lifetime to finish the work. The man-sized carpet is then sold and the proceeds given to his son to support him while he too starts weaving a carpet. The carpets are collected and taken to the emperor, seemingly immortal and worshiped as a god in his palace on another world. This has been going for generations, for as long as anyone can remember.
Each chapter of The Hair Carpet Weavers is told from a different viewpoint: a hair carpet weaver, a village teacher, carpet trader, a pedlar, an imperial tax collector and so on and the story of how and why the hair carpets came to be and what is their purpose slowly unravels over the course of the individual narratives. It is a story of religion, dogma and tradition, of real absolute power and its effects and it is fascinating and chilling in equal measure. A great read, albeit one that, like a jigsaw, focuses on the build up of the overall picture rather than characterisation and where women don’t have much of a voice.
First published in Germany in 1995, Andreas Eschbach’s The Hair Carpet Weavers is one of the launch titles of an admirable new Penguin Classics series aiming to bring science fiction to a broader readership. Some of the titles are by well known authors including Kurt Vonnegut and Yevgeny Zamyatin, others by authors I’m not familiar with and look forward to exploring.
Highly recommended. My thanks to Penguin Classics and Netgalley for the opportunity to read The Hair Carpet Weavers.
Each chapter of The Hair Carpet Weavers is told from a different viewpoint: a hair carpet weaver, a village teacher, carpet trader, a pedlar, an imperial tax collector and so on and the story of how and why the hair carpets came to be and what is their purpose slowly unravels over the course of the individual narratives. It is a story of religion, dogma and tradition, of real absolute power and its effects and it is fascinating and chilling in equal measure. A great read, albeit one that, like a jigsaw, focuses on the build up of the overall picture rather than characterisation and where women don’t have much of a voice.
First published in Germany in 1995, Andreas Eschbach’s The Hair Carpet Weavers is one of the launch titles of an admirable new Penguin Classics series aiming to bring science fiction to a broader readership. Some of the titles are by well known authors including Kurt Vonnegut and Yevgeny Zamyatin, others by authors I’m not familiar with and look forward to exploring.
Highly recommended. My thanks to Penguin Classics and Netgalley for the opportunity to read The Hair Carpet Weavers.
Okay, so there's this planet, see, whose entire economy is based on these carpet makers who each spend their entire life making one carpet out of the hair of their wives and daughters. And they send the carpets to this sort of god-emperor in space...but then it turns out that there isn't an emperor any more, and maybe there are other planets making these carpets, and I won't tell you how it all turns out, but it will BLOW YOUR MIND, MAN.
This is probably the best 'novel' written as short stories, with each chapter following a different character, that I've read. You never come back to a single character's perspective, but you see many characters multiple times throughout, from different character's points of view, if that makes sense. I really quite liked this format (I generally struggle to read short story collections that aren't written in this way or aren't connected in some way). The themes of religion and society in this are so thought-provoking, and there are many quotes I'll be saving from this that touch on some of these themes. I really enjoyed much of the commentary on thought and religion, and the meaning of life, and the point of it all...
My only qualm is the way women are represented in this. They are not very present in the story in general (with the allowance that without them, obviously the hair carpets wouldn't exist). But mostly, they participate in typical 'female' roles (particularly on the more rural planets where their culture is so heavily ingrained in their religion), but things aren't great on the more central and 'modern' planets either. In these cases where the women are participating in discussion, have clear professions, and are professionals, they are still mostly referred to with respect to their physical presences - how good looking they are, or their breasts need to be described, their superiors are forcefully hitting on them.... I was disappointed, particularly for how vast a universe he created, perhaps there are places in the universe where women aren't subservients or sexual objects? That's actually a social construct and not the 'natural way of things.'
Overall though, I do recommend this book. The writing was beautiful, I must praise the writing and translator for sure. I do think I'll read more by Andreas in the future - hopefully they'll be translating more of his work into English, since I understand this did quite well.
My only qualm is the way women are represented in this. They are not very present in the story in general (with the allowance that without them, obviously the hair carpets wouldn't exist). But mostly, they participate in typical 'female' roles (particularly on the more rural planets where their culture is so heavily ingrained in their religion), but things aren't great on the more central and 'modern' planets either. In these cases where the women are participating in discussion, have clear professions, and are professionals, they are still mostly referred to with respect to their physical presences - how good looking they are, or their breasts need to be described, their superiors are forcefully hitting on them.... I was disappointed, particularly for how vast a universe he created, perhaps there are places in the universe where women aren't subservients or sexual objects? That's actually a social construct and not the 'natural way of things.'
Overall though, I do recommend this book. The writing was beautiful, I must praise the writing and translator for sure. I do think I'll read more by Andreas in the future - hopefully they'll be translating more of his work into English, since I understand this did quite well.
This book was a little weird; somewhat disjointed; it read almost like historical fiction but there was a heavy Science Fiction theme weaved into the story. Reminds me of the original Star Gate movie, mixing ancient (Middle Eastern) culture with a very strong Sci-Fi style. The novel starts off with what seems like a very basic story, but as you continue on it gets more complex and the world seems more sinister than expected.
The pre-historic carpet maker’s life seems a little weird, a tradition that didn’t seem to sit well with me; this could have been simply because I was expecting more out of their lives. These carpet makers make one carpet in their life time and their debts are passed on from generation to generation. But as you read further through this book you begin to understand their lifestyle a little better and while don’t wish to take up the tradition, I’ve come to accept it.
Overall the writing style was a little strange and took a while to get use to. I often found myself completely lost and not sure what is happening. It is quite possible some of the story got lost in translation but I felt like there was far too much in the story that never seemed to get resolved; I don’t want everything wrapped up in a neat bow but I would like some sense of closure, but I never got this here.
Well worth reading this book, it is quiet unusual and the journey was enjoyable. I think even readers that aren’t fans of Science Fiction may even enjoy this book.
The pre-historic carpet maker’s life seems a little weird, a tradition that didn’t seem to sit well with me; this could have been simply because I was expecting more out of their lives. These carpet makers make one carpet in their life time and their debts are passed on from generation to generation. But as you read further through this book you begin to understand their lifestyle a little better and while don’t wish to take up the tradition, I’ve come to accept it.
Overall the writing style was a little strange and took a while to get use to. I often found myself completely lost and not sure what is happening. It is quite possible some of the story got lost in translation but I felt like there was far too much in the story that never seemed to get resolved; I don’t want everything wrapped up in a neat bow but I would like some sense of closure, but I never got this here.
Well worth reading this book, it is quiet unusual and the journey was enjoyable. I think even readers that aren’t fans of Science Fiction may even enjoy this book.
Holy cow.
This novel is not easy to find, but it's well worth the effort. At first the writing is sort of Ursula LeGuin-ish (sparse, but hiding a remarkable amount of depth) but then everything changes about halfway through, and by the end it's just breathtaking. I've really never read anything like it.
This novel is not easy to find, but it's well worth the effort. At first the writing is sort of Ursula LeGuin-ish (sparse, but hiding a remarkable amount of depth) but then everything changes about halfway through, and by the end it's just breathtaking. I've really never read anything like it.
This is a terrible book that wants to be a smart Ursula K. LeGuin Hainish novel, while also being a Jack Vance Planet of Assholes novel, but fails to be either and instead becomes a craptastic Dune novel with a planet-sized toupee taking the place of the Spice.
One of the best examples of a novel in short stories I have read. This wasn't just loosely interconnected stories of chapters the author couldn't bother to bridge. The trajectory of the plot advanced with each story, slowly unraveling the creepy history of the carpet makers.