Reviews

Native Tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin

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morgob's review

5.0

This was a phenomenal book. It took me a little while to get into, but once I was in I was hooked. Elgin explores the idea that women have the majority of their human rights taken away in the near future (at the time she wrote it, it was the near future). By the time the book's story begins, women have been reduced to being treated like children, second-class citizens to the t. The book made me irrationally angry at a future that doesn't exist (yet). I know this book is fiction, it's just that the present is getting kind of scary for women's rights, and I don't want this to be one of those books that ends up accidentally predicting the future. I'd like to have more faith in my fellow man than that.
When I first finished reading, I thought to myself that if this is not the most exciting book I've read this year, it is probably the most important. A lot of women at this time had some of the same ideas, this fear of getting our rights taken away. And now again. It made me buy some books similar to this, like The Red Clocks, which I am anxious to get to. My heart ached for Nazareth (badass name, by the way) through this whole book, and I wanted the women to "win" so badly. Feminist that I am, I had to catch myself when, towards the end of the book, I was rooting for the women to try to take over the world and put the men down below them. Obviously, I realized that that would be further perpetuating the problem.
Anyway, I loved this book and the ideas it explores (I so wanted to learn more of the language, though!!), and I really really enjoyed reading it. I'm not sure if I'll read the sequel because I'm afraid of sullying this first one, but I may change my mind someday.

sarahsg's review

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challenging inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I loved this. Maybe “hard” sci-fi is the genre for me. This is a slow build but in a god way, with an ever encroaching unease. The way this used the understated power and freedom, the ability to communicate even the most confounding of emotions or experience is magnificent. I will be continuing with this series.

mkrsksms's review against another edition

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3.0

I found the premise of this book to be incredibly fascinating. Conlangs are already interesting by themselves, and here was one that was created by women FOR women, in order to free them from the men's control.

I enjoyed reading about the descriptions of language and its development and acquisition. I rooted for the women to outsmart the men. I was frustrated at the ridiculousness of the men. However, I felt that the book was lacking in its world-building. There was so much potential, but the gaps in the world-building, the holes in the plot, the hand-wavy explanations that were glossed over and were meant to be accepted as they were, no questions asked - these made it too difficult for me to fully immerse myself in the book.

Nevertheless, I thought it was quite thought-provoking (although understandably dated in its concepts), and I appreciate what it was trying to do.