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A review by haleandwellmet
Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
4.0
By following a handful of characters at various ages and stages in life, this manages to address a lot of expansive topics—life, death, resilience, adaptation, tradition, purpose (or lack thereof), relationships, cultural exchange, etc.—in a really personal, contemplative way. Sometimes Becky challenges our human ways, other times she affirms them, reminding us that there will always be so many ways to live as an individual and as a collective.
Throughout this series, Becky’s reimaginations of daily life are always compassionate and open minded without being unrealistically utopic. In this book, I was particularly invested in seeing collectivist communities working together, effortless queerness (including an implicitly aromantic character who has sex regularly and—shocker—remains aromantic!!), unique but functional approaches to marriage/family/child-rearing, and a really positive, healthy representation of sex work (being a “host” is a well known, respected line of work and a public service).
I took off a star because this book is pretty slow, especially in the first half, even for literary fiction. But Becky is just so wise and she really brought it all home in the back half, so I can’t fault it too much.
Throughout this series, Becky’s reimaginations of daily life are always compassionate and open minded without being unrealistically utopic. In this book, I was particularly invested in seeing collectivist communities working together, effortless queerness (including an implicitly aromantic character who has sex regularly and—shocker—remains aromantic!!), unique but functional approaches to marriage/family/child-rearing, and a really positive, healthy representation of sex work (being a “host” is a well known, respected line of work and a public service).
I took off a star because this book is pretty slow, especially in the first half, even for literary fiction. But Becky is just so wise and she really brought it all home in the back half, so I can’t fault it too much.