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revvyrouser's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
msjenne's review against another edition
4.0
Quakers! In! Spaaaaace!!!
So interesting to have what is basically a hard SF premise (generation starship) done in a very intimate, character-meditation way. Kinda loved it, even though it was uncomfortable to read at times.
So interesting to have what is basically a hard SF premise (generation starship) done in a very intimate, character-meditation way. Kinda loved it, even though it was uncomfortable to read at times.
inquisitrix's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
cameroncl's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Incredibly interesting premise - an ark-ship with a crew comprised entirely of Quakers leaves a dying Earth to find another habitable world - but mixed execution. Exploration of religious ideas felt lacking, and the plot felt like it needed another 100-120 pages.
shimmer's review against another edition
5.0
The marvel of this novel—and it is marvelous—is that it takes possibly the biggest story that could be told about human culture, the abandonment of Earth in search of a new home planet, and tells it not through the grand, dramatic, "space operatic" moments but rather in the most intimate events of death, illness, divorce, and the like. That seems like a risky choice but it makes for a brilliant, stirring read. The world-building is superb, exploring without drawing too much attention to itself how language, family names, race, local mythology and custom, etc. would all be altered by prolonged life in the contained ecosystem of a deep space craft. Not in a predictive or didactic way, but in a way that gently yet provocatively asks who "we" might become under these circumstances, how this Quaker settlement might remain who they were on Earth while also being altered by generations adrift. And the final chapter is one of the most exquisite passages of writing I think I've ever read.
wealhtheow's review against another edition
2.0
A loose, slow-paced novel about a small colony of Quakers who have finally arrived at a habital planet after 175 years in transit. Slowly but surely, they reach a consensus about whether to colonize the planet or stay aboard the colony ship that is all they've known for generations.
This book really frustrated me. It was so unfocused, and although all sorts of exciting things happen (crashlanding on a planet! a desperate rescue mission! a plague!) they all happen in the peripheral vision of the characters. Even when a POV character is trying to pull someone from a surging sea, they've got page upon page of stream of consciousness about how they feel about their daughter's marriage and how they used to ski on a nearby mountain and such. The constant ruminations not only slow the book down to a snail's pace, but they feel completely unreal. I'd buy that one or two people undergo long thought processes during stressful life-or-death moments, but to have the entire book consist of characters thinking about their feelings and half-remembered memories and inconsequential opinions about people the reader doesn't know--it strains belief and a reader's ability to stay interested. The characters are, by and large, unpleasant people in a very minor, understated way. They think uncharitable thoughts about those they're surrounded by, or blame others for not mysteriously understanding things they've never mentioned...I know that some people are like that, but *all* of them? It was too much, and listening to their POVs left me in an unpleasant mood.
I did like the discussions that took place about whether or not to stay on the Dusky Miller. But that was literally the only thing I enjoyed in this entire book. And considering how fascinating the premise is, that is a damn shame.
Contains suicide, various bodily indignities due to old age and illness, rape, and the death of a child. There are numerous POV characters, all people of color, and most of them are middle aged or elderly women, which is a nice change.
This book really frustrated me. It was so unfocused, and although all sorts of exciting things happen (crashlanding on a planet! a desperate rescue mission! a plague!) they all happen in the peripheral vision of the characters. Even when a POV character is trying to pull someone from a surging sea, they've got page upon page of stream of consciousness about how they feel about their daughter's marriage and how they used to ski on a nearby mountain and such. The constant ruminations not only slow the book down to a snail's pace, but they feel completely unreal. I'd buy that one or two people undergo long thought processes during stressful life-or-death moments, but to have the entire book consist of characters thinking about their feelings and half-remembered memories and inconsequential opinions about people the reader doesn't know--it strains belief and a reader's ability to stay interested. The characters are, by and large, unpleasant people in a very minor, understated way. They think uncharitable thoughts about those they're surrounded by, or blame others for not mysteriously understanding things they've never mentioned...I know that some people are like that, but *all* of them? It was too much, and listening to their POVs left me in an unpleasant mood.
I did like the discussions that took place about whether or not to stay on the Dusky Miller. But that was literally the only thing I enjoyed in this entire book. And considering how fascinating the premise is, that is a damn shame.
Contains suicide, various bodily indignities due to old age and illness, rape, and the death of a child. There are numerous POV characters, all people of color, and most of them are middle aged or elderly women, which is a nice change.
sarrie's review against another edition
5.0
I definitely want to add a content warning to this of a rape scene on page, and references to the death of a young child in the past.
This, I'm going to be honest, was almost a DNF. It has a very slow, literary style of writing that took me a short while to get used to. However once I was there and in the story it was gripping and beautiful. I looked at a lot of themes within a traditional structure of 'fleeing a dying earth, life on a space vessel'. Life, death, family, community, sickness, etc.
I was left a bit stunned by the end, I'm not going to lie. I really enjoyed this and the carry away I ultimately got here.
This, I'm going to be honest, was almost a DNF. It has a very slow, literary style of writing that took me a short while to get used to. However once I was there and in the story it was gripping and beautiful. I looked at a lot of themes within a traditional structure of 'fleeing a dying earth, life on a space vessel'. Life, death, family, community, sickness, etc.
I was left a bit stunned by the end, I'm not going to lie. I really enjoyed this and the carry away I ultimately got here.
pussreboots's review against another edition
4.0
The Dazzle of Day by Molly Gloss is is a generation ship saga written in the style of A Canticle for Leibowitz. It has three distinct parts: planning to leave, a death en route, and life on the new planet.
Although there isn't a single character to carry the book through from start to finish, Gloss manages to still make it a very character driven book. Each section reads like a self contained novella, thematically tied together.
My favorite part was the first story. In it, an older woman is thinking about her life in the South American Quaker community that will now be leaving Earth. She tries to compare the life she knows with the sacrifices that will be expected on the ship. It's an interesting way to begin a Generation Ship story.
If you've read Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder and want to read something just as enjoyable but more literary, give The Dazzle of Day a try.
Although there isn't a single character to carry the book through from start to finish, Gloss manages to still make it a very character driven book. Each section reads like a self contained novella, thematically tied together.
My favorite part was the first story. In it, an older woman is thinking about her life in the South American Quaker community that will now be leaving Earth. She tries to compare the life she knows with the sacrifices that will be expected on the ship. It's an interesting way to begin a Generation Ship story.
If you've read Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder and want to read something just as enjoyable but more literary, give The Dazzle of Day a try.
inkletter7's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyable and engaging. It certainly packs a lot of speculation into only a few pages. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of the ship and it's self-contained little world. I was hoping for more discussion on how the families might make it work on their new world, but the second half took a different direction.
reallifereading's review
4.0
Molly Gloss has written an intriguing, quiet book that speaks volumes in The Dazzle of Day. This is a very international book. Escaping from a dying Earth, Quakers from various countries (they speak Esperanto!) have found themselves a home on board the Dusty Miller, a self-sustaining but ageing spaceship. A crew has been sent out to explore a frozen planet as a possible future home. Bjoro is among the crew, and the planet isn’t something he’s prepared for:
“He had thought in the filmcards he had studied of unbounded landscapes, of storms and snows and seas, there remained no surprises. It hadn’t occurred to him, the vast depth of the third dimension. He hadn’t thought he would fear the sky.”
The funny thing about The Dazzle of Day is that nothing seems to be happening, although things are actually happening. The crew crashes on the frozen planet, someone dies when out working on the sail, all major events that are but a sideline to the relationships, to the tales of the daily lives of these Quakers, such as Bjoro’s wife Joko and son Cejo, these people who work the fields, who cook in the kitchen houses, who take part in meetings and discuss their future on this frozen planet, who look after their families and each other.
“For 175 years they had gone on talking and thinking and making ready for leaving this world. They had lived for 175 years in a kind of suspended state, a continual waiting for change, but it was a balanced and deep-grounded condition, an equilibrium. They knew their world, root and branch, knew its history and its economies. The human life of the Miller and the life of its soil and its plants and animals revolved together, in a society that was well-considered, a community that was sustaining. Some people thought they had lived for 175 years in a world that was a kind of Eden.”
But there are no answers. Or at least the book doesn’t leave us with any firm ones.
The Dazzle of Day is a book best described in opposites. There is an ending, but it is not really the end. It is a story of beginnings and endings. The words are quiet, but also full of strength and understanding.
“He had thought in the filmcards he had studied of unbounded landscapes, of storms and snows and seas, there remained no surprises. It hadn’t occurred to him, the vast depth of the third dimension. He hadn’t thought he would fear the sky.”
The funny thing about The Dazzle of Day is that nothing seems to be happening, although things are actually happening. The crew crashes on the frozen planet, someone dies when out working on the sail, all major events that are but a sideline to the relationships, to the tales of the daily lives of these Quakers, such as Bjoro’s wife Joko and son Cejo, these people who work the fields, who cook in the kitchen houses, who take part in meetings and discuss their future on this frozen planet, who look after their families and each other.
“For 175 years they had gone on talking and thinking and making ready for leaving this world. They had lived for 175 years in a kind of suspended state, a continual waiting for change, but it was a balanced and deep-grounded condition, an equilibrium. They knew their world, root and branch, knew its history and its economies. The human life of the Miller and the life of its soil and its plants and animals revolved together, in a society that was well-considered, a community that was sustaining. Some people thought they had lived for 175 years in a world that was a kind of Eden.”
But there are no answers. Or at least the book doesn’t leave us with any firm ones.
The Dazzle of Day is a book best described in opposites. There is an ending, but it is not really the end. It is a story of beginnings and endings. The words are quiet, but also full of strength and understanding.