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ogreart's review
4.0
If you are looking for an action packed adventure, this is not that. It is a deeply thoughtful book that is engrossing. The care and detail with which Sturgeon set up his fictional society was amazing. The philosophical discussions juxtaposed with "slice of life" contemporary (at the time) America made for an effective day to deliver his thoughts.
johnbreeden's review
4.0
This book is an exploration of the extend of differences between men and women. There are two stories running through the book: one a time travel experience, the other a modern suburban world. This story's main focus is on Charlie Johns, who is pulled out of his own time into a future populated by the next evolution of humanity. The residents of this new world, Ledom, no longer exist as male and female, but instead are a joined-sex species, with all members bearing the aspects of both genders.
While the book primarily focuses on Charlie's experiences in learning about Ledom, it is interwoven with a narrative regarding a more day-to-day homo-sap(ien) community. Here, the reader is given examples of the way modern life brews conflict between the genders. Where the main story talks in depth about the similarities of men and women and how few the differences are, the secondary illustrates that these differences, though very minor, are used to push social ideologies and unnecessarily restrictive gender roles.
Sturgeon's work is a study in the role of gender in daily life and to what extent humanity has simply made up the differences in their own minds.
While the book primarily focuses on Charlie's experiences in learning about Ledom, it is interwoven with a narrative regarding a more day-to-day homo-sap(ien) community. Here, the reader is given examples of the way modern life brews conflict between the genders. Where the main story talks in depth about the similarities of men and women and how few the differences are, the secondary illustrates that these differences, though very minor, are used to push social ideologies and unnecessarily restrictive gender roles.
Sturgeon's work is a study in the role of gender in daily life and to what extent humanity has simply made up the differences in their own minds.
mxsallybend's review
1.0
While I'm sure it was ground-breaking when it was published, I personally don't feel it's stood the test of time. About halfway through I began skimming the chapters, more to get a sense of what the final 'twist' would be, than to really follow the plot. A few late chapters detailing the nature of the hermaphrodite race caught my attention, and are probably the only reason I would recommend picking this one up.
scheu's review
5.0
Surprising. I can easily imagine Sturgeon catching hell for this book in 1960. I can imagine him catching hell for it now.
shane_tiernan's review
1.0
This is strike 2 for Sturgeon, for me. Only made it about 20 pages in before I felt like I was reading random words put together into sentences. Just kept on finishing paragraphs thinking, "What?" I was interested in what was happening with the aliens, but it was just too much of a task slogging through what seemed like extra just thrown in as filler.
canadajanes's review
3.0
Not sure what to think. I like the idea of the story and at times it felt well executed. But at other times it felt garbled and I'm also not sure I liked or understood the conclusions.
radiator_phillip's review
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
literatetexan's review against another edition
2.0
This was probably controversial, groundbreaking stuff when it was originally published, but it's old hat now. It was also slow going. I had to force myself to finish it. This probably would have worked better as a short story rather than as a novel.
sfwordsofwonder's review
3.0
Check out my full, spoiler-free, video review HERE.
Another interesting, thought experiment from Theodore.
Another interesting, thought experiment from Theodore.
david_agranoff's review
3.0
I read this book in part because I heard it came in second in the voting for the Hugo's in 1960. Losing to Canticle for Lebowitz is no shame. When I saw the concept I was interested to see how a Cis gender sci-fi writer of 60 years ago handled this topic. It is a mixed bag, in some ways better than I expected but I didn't enjoy the story much. Full review coming to the blog.