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tani's review
4.0
I liked this book a lot more than the first book, so it's feels kind of strange giving it the same rating, but it's not quite a five star book for me. It was just a little bit too slow, and although I really enjoyed the experience of reading it, even now, just two days after finishing the book, I can tell that I'm not going to remember a lot of it. It's just not going to stick, which tells me it doesn't qualify for those five stars.
Anyway. This book follows the further adventures of Alldera, as she finds free women and fems in the supposedly unpopulated wilderness, and tries to figure out her place among them. It's a slow book where there's a lot of introspection and learning about different belief systems, and not a lot of action. And yet, it was incredibly readable for me. I did not want to put this book down, which is why I feel it's so close to being a five star read for me. Even though not a lot was happening in concrete terms, a lot was happening in Alldera's heart and soul, and that drew me in.
One of the things that I really liked about this book was the commitment to the premise. Suzy McKee Charnas really follows through on her ideas. There is no romanticization, ever. If you think there is, you probably just haven't gotten to your reality check yet. The women may seem almost utopian at first, but just you wait. There's a hidden side to everything. I liked how it took time for Alldera to learn about her new surroundings and time for her to figure out what she felt like she should be doing. There are no easy answers for her, and that felt very true to me.
For all the flaws of the women and fems, it was nice to see that the entire world isn't the bleakness that was shown in the first book. I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series, although given my reading schedule, I have no idea of when I might be able to get to it.
Anyway. This book follows the further adventures of Alldera, as she finds free women and fems in the supposedly unpopulated wilderness, and tries to figure out her place among them. It's a slow book where there's a lot of introspection and learning about different belief systems, and not a lot of action. And yet, it was incredibly readable for me. I did not want to put this book down, which is why I feel it's so close to being a five star read for me. Even though not a lot was happening in concrete terms, a lot was happening in Alldera's heart and soul, and that drew me in.
One of the things that I really liked about this book was the commitment to the premise. Suzy McKee Charnas really follows through on her ideas. There is no romanticization, ever. If you think there is, you probably just haven't gotten to your reality check yet. The women may seem almost utopian at first, but just you wait. There's a hidden side to everything. I liked how it took time for Alldera to learn about her new surroundings and time for her to figure out what she felt like she should be doing. There are no easy answers for her, and that felt very true to me.
For all the flaws of the women and fems, it was nice to see that the entire world isn't the bleakness that was shown in the first book. I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series, although given my reading schedule, I have no idea of when I might be able to get to it.
el_entrenador_loco's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
ejimenez's review
5.0
This novel is intense, and at times very strange, but also beautiful and insightful. Human communities finding hope and meaning in a post-apocalyptic world - which is cliched in a way, but Charnas doesn't handle these themes in a way that is typical at all.
nwhyte's review
4.0
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2237380.html[return][return]Motherlines takes a lot of Walk to the End of the World and inverts it - we switch from a male to a female central character, and discover that a lot of what had been presented as unchallengeable fact in the first volume is in fact very different looked at from the other side of the gender divide. In addition, the actual plot has some very impressive twists and turns in what is still a very short book.[return][return]Motherlines is really excellent, and though Walk to the End of the World is not quite as good you enjoy the second much more for having read the first. And neither is very long.
tjoliverbooks's review
2.0
A product of its time, an interesting look into the perspectives of one woman author regarding a possible dystopian future. The notion that some sort of nuclear war has taken out most of humanity and left the Earth a barren wasteland is not new, but the reason I picked up this book to read was that it offered a female perspective on surviving under such circumstances. There's tons of literature out in the world sharing a male perspective, so I was intrigued.
I just couldn't get past the use of GMO tech to modify women and horses so that women could breed without men, but instead use these special "creatures" to help them create motherlines. My thought is that this author could have done a motherline concept better justice if she'd just invented a breeding process sans bestiality.
Some followup questions I have... Why did the author stop there with GMO? Why not explore other aspects of its impact on the future as Margaret Atwood did in some of her stories such as Oryx and Crake?
Also, the relationships these women have with one another remind me too strongly of outdated butch vs. femme expectations of lesbian loves and lesbian hates. In my view, lesbianism goes beyond simplification and there are many sorts of dynamics within communities of women including women who chose not to be with anyone at all, women who are gender fluid, women who date a spectrum of genders, etc. Additionally, I'm pretty well tired of butch women in stories being turned into abusers in their love relationships.
Overall, this story was just not my cup of tea.
I just couldn't get past the use of GMO tech to modify women and horses so that women could breed without men, but instead use these special "creatures" to help them create motherlines. My thought is that this author could have done a motherline concept better justice if she'd just invented a breeding process sans bestiality.
Some followup questions I have... Why did the author stop there with GMO? Why not explore other aspects of its impact on the future as Margaret Atwood did in some of her stories such as Oryx and Crake?
Also, the relationships these women have with one another remind me too strongly of outdated butch vs. femme expectations of lesbian loves and lesbian hates. In my view, lesbianism goes beyond simplification and there are many sorts of dynamics within communities of women including women who chose not to be with anyone at all, women who are gender fluid, women who date a spectrum of genders, etc. Additionally, I'm pretty well tired of butch women in stories being turned into abusers in their love relationships.
Overall, this story was just not my cup of tea.
giddypony's review
4.0
This book felt a little slower than the first, Walk to the End of the World, and some of the way the world of the women works is a bit offputting and strangely explained. But toward the end where two societies meet, and attempt to work with one another, is fascinating. Both contemporary and remniscent of the past, the tense between assimilating what is good, and leaving behind negative behaviors born out of post traumatic stress from a life time of abuse is very well done, as is the simple misunderstanding and lack of patience on the part of the people who have not grown up in an abusive environment. The end started to feel old testament to me. I will definitely read the next two books, and that is rare for me because I usually get bored with series. Also interesting because there are no male characters in the ook.
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