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squirrelsohno's review against another edition
3.0
Re-reading as an adult, there are some things that mark it as being very much a product of its time and in 2022 make you go >.>
elzabetg's review against another edition
3.0
I read this when it first came out in the 90s and I thought it was remarkably open minded and "progressive" at the time. It made me think a lot about presumed gender roles and the part culture plays in how those assigned-male or assigned-female (cis or trans) behave and choose how to live their lives which was not something I did a lot of in my 20s at all. As a GenX'er and a relatively sheltered one at that this book presented a whole 'nother way of thinking about those subjects.
Fast forward 25 years and this book strikes me as remarkably quaint and anachronistic and more than a little troubling. The underlying theme of "walk a mile in another person's moccasins" is still there but it isn't as fleshed out as it could have been. The protagonist was annoying and immature for a 20 year old raising a child of their own. He also kept referring to non-binary people as "it". One of the characters who did not conform to a binary choice was written as sad, weird, and somehow deranged. Do not get me started on the 60+ year old man and his questionable relationship choices and how no one in what is written as an incredibly tight community ever called him on said relationship choices which brings me inevitably to how the patriarchal nature of the governance and religion of Tober's Cove was the driving force behind all the gender-based nonsense. And then there is the "nosy dude from the Big City" who shows up and upsets everyone's apple carts with his own disrespectful behavior as he laughs up his sleeve at all the backwoods hillbillies.
And the timeline did not make sense. For 300 some years, Tober's Cove people would freely choose "neut" with no overt issues and people would, presumably do whatever job they felt called to. Suddenly 150 years ago some random with a chip on his shoulder changes ALL of society and says it's the will of the "gods"? Really? No one, not one person, kicked against that? Really? REALLY?
Definitely problematic.
There were things I enjoyed about the book. I wish the ending had not been so abrupt. A chapter or two to round out how the main characters faced the inevitable at home would have been nice.
Narration could have been better but it wasn't bad.
Story: 2.25
Narration: 2.5
Total: 2.37 Stars
Fast forward 25 years and this book strikes me as remarkably quaint and anachronistic and more than a little troubling. The underlying theme of "walk a mile in another person's moccasins" is still there but it isn't as fleshed out as it could have been. The protagonist was annoying and immature for a 20 year old raising a child of their own. He also kept referring to non-binary people as "it". One of the characters who did not conform to a binary choice was written as sad, weird, and somehow deranged. Do not get me started on the 60+ year old man and his questionable relationship choices and how no one in what is written as an incredibly tight community ever called him on said relationship choices which brings me inevitably to how the patriarchal nature of the governance and religion of Tober's Cove was the driving force behind all the gender-based nonsense. And then there is the "nosy dude from the Big City" who shows up and upsets everyone's apple carts with his own disrespectful behavior as he laughs up his sleeve at all the backwoods hillbillies.
And the timeline did not make sense. For 300 some years, Tober's Cove people would freely choose "neut" with no overt issues and people would, presumably do whatever job they felt called to. Suddenly 150 years ago some random with a chip on his shoulder changes ALL of society and says it's the will of the "gods"? Really? No one, not one person, kicked against that? Really? REALLY?
Definitely problematic.
There were things I enjoyed about the book. I wish the ending had not been so abrupt. A chapter or two to round out how the main characters faced the inevitable at home would have been nice.
Narration could have been better but it wasn't bad.
Story: 2.25
Narration: 2.5
Total: 2.37 Stars
msjenne's review against another edition
1.0
CLUNKY.
He had a cool idea, a society where you change gender every year till you're 20 and then you have to pick one (or both)...but then he went and did absolutely nothing interesting with it.
The characters were flat, there was basically no insight into gender roles whatsoever, and pretty much everything that could have been really thought-provoking or challenging just...wasn't.
He had a cool idea, a society where you change gender every year till you're 20 and then you have to pick one (or both)...but then he went and did absolutely nothing interesting with it.
The characters were flat, there was basically no insight into gender roles whatsoever, and pretty much everything that could have been really thought-provoking or challenging just...wasn't.
mburnamfink's review against another edition
4.0
Commitment Hour is a removal from the galactic exploration and politics of Expendable, towards an investigation of a very unusual small town. Tober Cove is a unique town, where children switch genders each year until they age of 20, where they must commit to one gender for the rest of their life. Fullin is a talented young musician, trying to avoid his soon-to-be jilted lover, when on the night before commitment he's visited by a powerful Spark Lord and a hated Neuter exile from his village, come to investigate the nature of Tober Cove.
The investigation of gender roles is in scifi in inextricably linked the Ursula K LeGuin, and Gardner builds on that tradition with a surprisingly egalitarian examination of the differences between men and women, and the benefits that experiencing both sides of the gender duality might bring*. Tabor Cove slots cleverly into the larger League of People's universe as an unethical science experiment set up on Old Earth and abandoned. I really enjoyed the details of the 400 years of history since first contact, and the authenticity of the small town culture.
That said, while the protagonist of this book felt believable as a person, Fullin was also a miserable brat. Fullin was so much obviously better as the female self, and his partner Cappie likewise as a male, that it was almost painful watching them walk towards locking themselves into the wrong gender. The actual timeline of the book was only a day, perhaps the worst day in anyone's life, and I'm surprised Fullin kept it together as well as he did. The book ends with a titanic shift in the nature of the Tabor's Cove, which is left unresolved.
This book is stylish, but I'm not sure how much I enjoyed reading it, or what exactly it had to say.
*Note: some people with really strong opinions about the Right Way that genders are may be offended, particularly trans activists and/or opponents, or gay people, of whom there are none in the novel. Fullin lives under the rule of particularly shitty patriarchal religion, but I'm not sure that Watsonian explanation holds up.
The investigation of gender roles is in scifi in inextricably linked the Ursula K LeGuin, and Gardner builds on that tradition with a surprisingly egalitarian examination of the differences between men and women, and the benefits that experiencing both sides of the gender duality might bring*. Tabor Cove slots cleverly into the larger League of People's universe as an unethical science experiment set up on Old Earth and abandoned. I really enjoyed the details of the 400 years of history since first contact, and the authenticity of the small town culture.
That said, while the protagonist of this book felt believable as a person, Fullin was also a miserable brat. Fullin was so much obviously better as the female self, and his partner Cappie likewise as a male, that it was almost painful watching them walk towards locking themselves into the wrong gender. The actual timeline of the book was only a day, perhaps the worst day in anyone's life, and I'm surprised Fullin kept it together as well as he did. The book ends with a titanic shift in the nature of the Tabor's Cove, which is left unresolved.
This book is stylish, but I'm not sure how much I enjoyed reading it, or what exactly it had to say.
*Note: some people with really strong opinions about the Right Way that genders are may be offended, particularly trans activists and/or opponents, or gay people, of whom there are none in the novel. Fullin lives under the rule of particularly shitty patriarchal religion, but I'm not sure that Watsonian explanation holds up.
jenblei's review
4.0
I'm enjoying this series so much I'm not sure whether to move right on to the next book, or take a break for a bit.
Loved this one, not least because my father lives on the "Bruise" Peninsula :-) Lots of fun worldbuilding around that.
I was afraid that this series would end up all being about the same characters, so I was glad that we moved on to a different world and different characters. Interesting concepts, and societies...I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
Loved this one, not least because my father lives on the "Bruise" Peninsula :-) Lots of fun worldbuilding around that.
I was afraid that this series would end up all being about the same characters, so I was glad that we moved on to a different world and different characters. Interesting concepts, and societies...I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
paultamborino's review
2.0
Had some interesting social issues that might have been more risqué back when it was published, but over all it was just okay. The writing was very simplistic (almost seemed like a YA novel except for the subject matter), the protagonist was mostly annoying. The other characters, although mostly pretty two dimensional, at least provoked some sympathy. Read this for my book group.
jenne's review
1.0
CLUNKY.
He had a cool idea, a society where you change gender every year till you're 20 and then you have to pick one (or both)...but then he went and did absolutely nothing interesting with it.
The characters were flat, there was basically no insight into gender roles whatsoever, and pretty much everything that could have been really thought-provoking or challenging just...wasn't.
He had a cool idea, a society where you change gender every year till you're 20 and then you have to pick one (or both)...but then he went and did absolutely nothing interesting with it.
The characters were flat, there was basically no insight into gender roles whatsoever, and pretty much everything that could have been really thought-provoking or challenging just...wasn't.
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