Scan barcode
readerpants's review against another edition
5.0
Around 2010, I got a random donation in the bookdrop at my library, a hardback picture book from the Weekly Reader Book Club circa 1952 called A Little Old Man by Natalie Norton. It's one of my favorite read alouds of all time, mostly because it's DEEPLY satisfying. A little old man lives by himself on a tiny island and wishes he had a cat bc he's lonely. One day there's a huge storm that washes his house away. But then an empty, furnished houseboat washes up on the island and inside are a cat and a litter of kittens. Nobody ever appears to claim the boat and the little old man and his cats are never lonely again. It's... so self contained. So profoundly satisfying. I love it.
So honestly this is satisfying in a very similar way, not just because of the cats! It's about a girl and her cat: that's the plot. I kept expecting macro twists and turns, for the adult action to take center stage, but nope.
Everything works out. There are pretty much only women in speaking roles, but matter-of-factly. All women of color, too. Like how Asimov has no ladies and you don't really notice because there's no misogyny and then are like, oh, huh, look, no ladies I guess?
There's science and also engineers who love cats. And at the end, the aliens are like, hey, we like your cat! It makes great music! And it all ends abruptly but kind of wonderfully, the kind of vignette that I don't know if I've ever seen in SF like this. Strangely delightful and highly recommended.
(Bonus, mine came with a bookstore receipt from March 1989.)
So honestly this is satisfying in a very similar way, not just because of the cats! It's about a girl and her cat: that's the plot. I kept expecting macro twists and turns, for the adult action to take center stage, but nope.
Everything works out. There are pretty much only women in speaking roles, but matter-of-factly. All women of color, too. Like how Asimov has no ladies and you don't really notice because there's no misogyny and then are like, oh, huh, look, no ladies I guess?
There's science and also engineers who love cats. And at the end, the aliens are like, hey, we like your cat! It makes great music! And it all ends abruptly but kind of wonderfully, the kind of vignette that I don't know if I've ever seen in SF like this. Strangely delightful and highly recommended.
(Bonus, mine came with a bookstore receipt from March 1989.)
bailey_the_bookworm's review
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
A cute, fast read—definitely aimed at younger readers, to whom it would probably be immediately appealing (plucky orphan smuggles contraband cat onto space station; hijinks ensue). But there’s some really good science in that there fiction, and the contact scene at the end is lovely .
kappafrog's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
snazel's review
3.0
The adorable tale of how a girl with heart issues, her foster sister, and their cat accidentally made first contact. The aliens are gonna change everything. But the girls' lives are more impacted by the cat. Fair enough.
I read it to try and stop being angry (I am so angry this week), and it worked well enough as a distraction. I'm still angry though.
I read it to try and stop being angry (I am so angry this week), and it worked well enough as a distraction. I'm still angry though.
a_h_haga's review against another edition
2.0
Actual rating: 1.5/5 stars
I picked this up because it was for free on Audible and rather short, so I figured it would be an easy read. While the story was fun - all about smuggling a cat to a space station and how to keep him hidden, and there were some aliens as well - I found everything flat.
The characters were one-sided - probably a product of there being so many of them in so few pages.
The story never actually came clear, other than what was explained above. Had the book been longer, I'd have DNFed it. But, because it was so short, I figured I might just stick with it.
And the writing was stakkato and flat as well. It felt like I was listening to a telegram being read, not a story.
I did find some points of it interesting, though. Like the aliens and their... whole thing.
As well as what Jane said about women of color in power. It's interesting that this book was written and published so many years ago, and it's still relevant today! Interesting, because it's good seeing someone visualize a better future back in the ''golden age of sci-fi'', as well as sad, because of how things were and what they could mean for our own future.
Also: DISABILITY REP! Woho!
I picked this up because it was for free on Audible and rather short, so I figured it would be an easy read. While the story was fun - all about smuggling a cat to a space station and how to keep him hidden, and there were some aliens as well - I found everything flat.
The characters were one-sided - probably a product of there being so many of them in so few pages.
The story never actually came clear, other than what was explained above. Had the book been longer, I'd have DNFed it. But, because it was so short, I figured I might just stick with it.
And the writing was stakkato and flat as well. It felt like I was listening to a telegram being read, not a story.
I did find some points of it interesting, though. Like the aliens and their... whole thing.
As well as what Jane said about women of color in power. It's interesting that this book was written and published so many years ago, and it's still relevant today! Interesting, because it's good seeing someone visualize a better future back in the ''golden age of sci-fi'', as well as sad, because of how things were and what they could mean for our own future.
Also: DISABILITY REP! Woho!
hoppy500's review against another edition
4.0
Barbary by Vonda N. McIntyre
Since I have been reading science fiction literature related to cats lately, I thought I would have a look at this classic story from the 1980s.
This is a work of children's/young-adult fiction, so more mature readers may feel that the content is a little lacking in depth. It is a relatively short book, and the writing style of the author makes it engaging and very easy to read.
The main plotline is about a twelve-year-old girl who smuggles a cat onto a space station, while a first-contact subplot unfolds in the background.
The characters are well developed and realistic, and there are women in positions of influence in science and government. The young people (Barbary and Heather) care about the kinds of things you would expect. Thus, while the attention of the adults in the story is firmly fixed on the alien craft swiftly approaching the space station, the two girls are more concerned with the activities of Mickey the cat.
Although this book was written in the relatively recent 1980s (which I remember well), there are aspects which make it feel dated. Firstly, the spaceport security is frighteningly lax, which marks this as a pre-911 work of fiction. Secondly, although the girls interact with talking computers, there are none of the handheld devices which now rule the lives of many people.
Despite those excusable divergences from our reality, the ways in which the laws of physics affect life on a space station are described very convincingly, and are more detailed and accurate than the depictions in many novels written for more mature audiences. Vonda McIntyre's Barbary would undoubtedly be a good introduction to hard science fiction for young people. In addition, the aliens are also quite believable and certainly not of the stereotypical little-green-man kind.
I am sure that if I had read this book as a child, I would have thoroughly enjoyed it. As an adult and regular reader of science fiction, I still found it satisfying. So much so, in fact, that I have gone on without delay to read the award-winning novel Dreamsnake by the same author.
Since I have been reading science fiction literature related to cats lately, I thought I would have a look at this classic story from the 1980s.
This is a work of children's/young-adult fiction, so more mature readers may feel that the content is a little lacking in depth. It is a relatively short book, and the writing style of the author makes it engaging and very easy to read.
The main plotline is about a twelve-year-old girl who smuggles a cat onto a space station, while a first-contact subplot unfolds in the background.
The characters are well developed and realistic, and there are women in positions of influence in science and government. The young people (Barbary and Heather) care about the kinds of things you would expect. Thus, while the attention of the adults in the story is firmly fixed on the alien craft swiftly approaching the space station, the two girls are more concerned with the activities of Mickey the cat.
Although this book was written in the relatively recent 1980s (which I remember well), there are aspects which make it feel dated. Firstly, the spaceport security is frighteningly lax, which marks this as a pre-911 work of fiction. Secondly, although the girls interact with talking computers, there are none of the handheld devices which now rule the lives of many people.
Despite those excusable divergences from our reality, the ways in which the laws of physics affect life on a space station are described very convincingly, and are more detailed and accurate than the depictions in many novels written for more mature audiences. Vonda McIntyre's Barbary would undoubtedly be a good introduction to hard science fiction for young people. In addition, the aliens are also quite believable and certainly not of the stereotypical little-green-man kind.
I am sure that if I had read this book as a child, I would have thoroughly enjoyed it. As an adult and regular reader of science fiction, I still found it satisfying. So much so, in fact, that I have gone on without delay to read the award-winning novel Dreamsnake by the same author.
honeycomb_system's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
More...