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tani's review against another edition
5.0
I was going through my massive to-read list last night, and when I sorted it by number of pages, I realized I have some short stories/novelettes/novellas on there. Knowing that some publishers will offer these free to read online, I checked out this one, and sure enough! There it was on Tor's website. So if you're at all interested in this story, you should go read it at once!
I'm not a huge fan of the short story/novelette/whatever you call this short stuff. I grew up on Robert Jordan and other epic fantasy, and there's a part of me that looks at short works and instantly labels them as a disappointment. They're just too short! However, after reading this and some other shorter works recently, I think I'm going to have to work on eliminating that knee-jerk reaction.
This is the story of the first lady astronaut of Mars, years later, when she's too old to fly most missions. She lives on Mars with her husband, who is very ill. Dying, in fact, a slow and humiliating death. She is 63, and doesn't expect to ever get another mission. Until she does, and she's faced with the choice of being there for her husband's death, or returning to the stars that she loves.
I teared up several times while reading this. It really struck an emotional note with me as far as the relationship between Elma and her husband, and the choice that she is faced with. I never want to be faced with that kind of decision. The mere thought terrifies me. My rating is based almost entirely on that emotional reasoning. The story is quite short, so the emotion was more than enough to carry me through. I didn't need anything other than the tears in my eyes to make it warrant the five star rating.
I'm not a huge fan of the short story/novelette/whatever you call this short stuff. I grew up on Robert Jordan and other epic fantasy, and there's a part of me that looks at short works and instantly labels them as a disappointment. They're just too short! However, after reading this and some other shorter works recently, I think I'm going to have to work on eliminating that knee-jerk reaction.
This is the story of the first lady astronaut of Mars, years later, when she's too old to fly most missions. She lives on Mars with her husband, who is very ill. Dying, in fact, a slow and humiliating death. She is 63, and doesn't expect to ever get another mission. Until she does, and she's faced with the choice of being there for her husband's death, or returning to the stars that she loves.
I teared up several times while reading this. It really struck an emotional note with me as far as the relationship between Elma and her husband, and the choice that she is faced with. I never want to be faced with that kind of decision. The mere thought terrifies me. My rating is based almost entirely on that emotional reasoning. The story is quite short, so the emotion was more than enough to carry me through. I didn't need anything other than the tears in my eyes to make it warrant the five star rating.
jdubbs8791's review against another edition
4.0
So many feels....
I read the prequel in F&SF magazine, and this is s touching follow-up. They do stand alone.
This was a lovely piece on tough decisions, and I loved the point of view of aging characters.
I read the prequel in F&SF magazine, and this is s touching follow-up. They do stand alone.
This was a lovely piece on tough decisions, and I loved the point of view of aging characters.
laurazdavidson's review against another edition
4.0
Lovely, bittersweet coda to the Lady Astronaut series. (2014 Hugo Award - Novelette)
moonpie's review against another edition
5.0
Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer’s wife. She met me, she went on to say, when I was working next door to their farm under the shadow of the rocket gantry for the First Mars Expedition.
cmzukowski's review against another edition
4.0
For as short as this book was it was still very emotional and powerful. It is less about space and being an astronaut and more about relationships and how life changes as we get older. It was beautifully written and had a good message and I really enjoyed reading it.
tzurky's review against another edition
1.0
This is just sad. See, I would have really liked this if I had read it before the two books in the series, but I happened to read things chronologically and it made all the difference.
The impact of the story and its central message hinge on how you perceive the relationship between Elma and her husband. If you start off by reading the short story, you could be forgiven for thinking that they have a loving, mutually supportive relationship and that Elma struggles to decide between her love for her husband and her passion for space flight.
If you read the books, you know better. Specifically, you know that every single time Elma has to decide between her husband and his wishes or her passion, she will always choose her passion, no questions asked (and almost no qualms). Sure, the books twist themselves into knots to try to convince you that yes, this is perfectly fine and not a sign of narcissism or a one-sided relationship at all, because see, HE'S OK WITH IT. Now, that worked in the beginning but after the umpteenth time the author pulled that shit in book two, all I could do was roll my eyes.
And then this short story comes along and pulls the same shit all over again. Ugh. Not only that, it references a major plot point of the second book (Elma's decision not to have children), which is a particularly egregious example of this whole thing. See, we get told that it was a mutually agreed thing, but that's not what happened in the books. In the books, Elma finds out she can go to Mars, goes in to tell her husband that she's going, realizes that she's therefore giving up children on behalf of both of them, sees that her husband wants to protest but doesn't out of love for her and tells him she'll think on it. And then goes ahead and accepts anyway, even pointing out to herself how she took the decision all on her own. Does she feel bad for it? For all of 30 seconds.
And that's it folks, that's Elma's relationship with her husband in a nutshell. So you see how I may be forgiven for being mightily unimpressed with the short story. This is not the type of relationship I can be invested in and that can carry the intended emotional core of the story. Instead, it's all turned on its head and degenerates into an egregious example of emotional and physical neglect.
Awful, just awful. And worst of all is that the author actually believes it's empowering somehow. Or that it's brave of Elma to take the decisions she takes. Because selfishly following your desires to the exclusion of any thought for your friends, family and husband is sooooo very brave. Gtfo with this tripe.
The impact of the story and its central message hinge on how you perceive the relationship between Elma and her husband. If you start off by reading the short story, you could be forgiven for thinking that they have a loving, mutually supportive relationship and that Elma struggles to decide between her love for her husband and her passion for space flight.
If you read the books, you know better. Specifically, you know that every single time Elma has to decide between her husband and his wishes or her passion, she will always choose her passion, no questions asked (and almost no qualms). Sure, the books twist themselves into knots to try to convince you that yes, this is perfectly fine and not a sign of narcissism or a one-sided relationship at all, because see, HE'S OK WITH IT. Now, that worked in the beginning but after the umpteenth time the author pulled that shit in book two, all I could do was roll my eyes.
And then this short story comes along and pulls the same shit all over again. Ugh. Not only that, it references a major plot point of the second book (Elma's decision not to have children), which is a particularly egregious example of this whole thing. See, we get told that it was a mutually agreed thing, but that's not what happened in the books. In the books, Elma finds out she can go to Mars, goes in to tell her husband that she's going, realizes that she's therefore giving up children on behalf of both of them, sees that her husband wants to protest but doesn't out of love for her and tells him she'll think on it. And then goes ahead and accepts anyway, even pointing out to herself how she took the decision all on her own. Does she feel bad for it? For all of 30 seconds.
And that's it folks, that's Elma's relationship with her husband in a nutshell. So you see how I may be forgiven for being mightily unimpressed with the short story. This is not the type of relationship I can be invested in and that can carry the intended emotional core of the story. Instead, it's all turned on its head and degenerates into an egregious example of emotional and physical neglect.
Awful, just awful. And worst of all is that the author actually believes it's empowering somehow. Or that it's brave of Elma to take the decisions she takes. Because selfishly following your desires to the exclusion of any thought for your friends, family and husband is sooooo very brave. Gtfo with this tripe.
seeinghowitgoes's review against another edition
5.0
The first written in the series, but last chronologically. Personally I feel reading at the end of the series gives a bittersweet sense that I really enjoyed. There's not much I can do to describe the novella without giving spoilers, but we are reunited with Elma and Nathaniel years after they land on Mars as they both ponder their next step in life.
The length is perfect, leaves you wanting more but with enough detail to be able to draw the picture perfectly in your mind.
The length is perfect, leaves you wanting more but with enough detail to be able to draw the picture perfectly in your mind.