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aardwyrm's review
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Just gonna start with the fact that like many things labeled as subversive and full of subtext *for its time*, it's just frantically racist. Spare yourself that if you want. And most of the transgressive queerness is vanilla and silly if you're not living in a pretty repressed portion of 1928.
Like many things occupied with being literature and saying things of importance, the book doesn't have much in the way of characters or plot, but it's not really about either of those things, it's about wry social commentary from a position that doesn't recognize itself as privileged and blinkered, and it's pretty good at being that? I'd never noticed that Douglas Adams had some very Virginia Woolf rhythms before, anyway. And a rewrite that dealt with the fact that this is in fact a sci-fi novel would be fascinating.
Like many things occupied with being literature and saying things of importance, the book doesn't have much in the way of characters or plot, but it's not really about either of those things, it's about wry social commentary from a position that doesn't recognize itself as privileged and blinkered, and it's pretty good at being that? I'd never noticed that Douglas Adams had some very Virginia Woolf rhythms before, anyway. And a rewrite that dealt with the fact that this is in fact a sci-fi novel would be fascinating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation