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A review by fishky
Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeer
3.0
This and Dead Astronauts were probably 3.5s. What confused me about this book is that it was a single person POV narrative that followed a clear timeline, instead of the abstract chaos I was expecting from a Vandermeer book.
The start and the end were both intriguing to me, but the action-packed middle somehow made me feel.....detached. "Jane" has no real human relationships or interactions: her aloofness is relatable at first, and then kind of exhausting. I did not really care about the siblings, John, her brother, Shot, or Silv -- none of them felt very textured. I wish I'd learned more about her husband, daughter and Allie. I wish the Ned connection had meant more. I didn't understand why Silv learning (how?) what Jane did to Shot would cause her to justify the wreckage she inflicted, nor did I understand what was contentious about Silv's beliefs or why anyone even had to die for them. Maybe I didn't understand the syringes enough.
I wish the mysteries were the kind that made you go "OH!" instead of patterns that only made sense with backstory we didn't have.
What was the significance of the taxidermy book????
The story itself reminded me of my own attempts at writing through existential eco-future panic, and Jane's final decision -- and her feelings about Silv -- were, somehow, a weird mix of calm and emotional, rational in a whimsical framework, giving up/ giving in/ rising above and probably what I at that point would decide to do. I felt emotionally affirmed, but it wasn't a cathartic moment. And I loved everything about the hummingbirds and salamanders. If I imagine this as like, a movie starring Gwendoline Christie, I can see this pacing and the action/escalation as making sense, especially if the pacing with the larger environment around the characters is kept more obviously in parallel. But as is, I feel like there was a missed opportunity for worldbuilding and backstory.
Headcannon: Jane is Salamander from Dead Astronauts.
Spoiler
The start and the end were both intriguing to me, but the action-packed middle somehow made me feel.....detached. "Jane" has no real human relationships or interactions: her aloofness is relatable at first, and then kind of exhausting. I did not really care about the siblings, John, her brother, Shot, or Silv -- none of them felt very textured. I wish I'd learned more about her husband, daughter and Allie. I wish the Ned connection had meant more. I didn't understand why Silv learning (how?) what Jane did to Shot would cause her to justify the wreckage she inflicted, nor did I understand what was contentious about Silv's beliefs or why anyone even had to die for them. Maybe I didn't understand the syringes enough.
I wish the mysteries were the kind that made you go "OH!" instead of patterns that only made sense with backstory we didn't have.
What was the significance of the taxidermy book????
The story itself reminded me of my own attempts at writing through existential eco-future panic, and Jane's final decision -- and her feelings about Silv -- were, somehow, a weird mix of calm and emotional, rational in a whimsical framework, giving up/ giving in/ rising above and probably what I at that point would decide to do. I felt emotionally affirmed, but it wasn't a cathartic moment. And I loved everything about the hummingbirds and salamanders. If I imagine this as like, a movie starring Gwendoline Christie, I can see this pacing and the action/escalation as making sense, especially if the pacing with the larger environment around the characters is kept more obviously in parallel. But as is, I feel like there was a missed opportunity for worldbuilding and backstory.
Headcannon: Jane is Salamander from Dead Astronauts.