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spookyjane 's review for:
The Carpet Makers
by Andreas Eschbach
This is probably the best 'novel' written as short stories, with each chapter following a different character, that I've read. You never come back to a single character's perspective, but you see many characters multiple times throughout, from different character's points of view, if that makes sense. I really quite liked this format (I generally struggle to read short story collections that aren't written in this way or aren't connected in some way). The themes of religion and society in this are so thought-provoking, and there are many quotes I'll be saving from this that touch on some of these themes. I really enjoyed much of the commentary on thought and religion, and the meaning of life, and the point of it all...
My only qualm is the way women are represented in this. They are not very present in the story in general (with the allowance that without them, obviously the hair carpets wouldn't exist). But mostly, they participate in typical 'female' roles (particularly on the more rural planets where their culture is so heavily ingrained in their religion), but things aren't great on the more central and 'modern' planets either. In these cases where the women are participating in discussion, have clear professions, and are professionals, they are still mostly referred to with respect to their physical presences - how good looking they are, or their breasts need to be described, their superiors are forcefully hitting on them.... I was disappointed, particularly for how vast a universe he created, perhaps there are places in the universe where women aren't subservients or sexual objects? That's actually a social construct and not the 'natural way of things.'
Overall though, I do recommend this book. The writing was beautiful, I must praise the writing and translator for sure. I do think I'll read more by Andreas in the future - hopefully they'll be translating more of his work into English, since I understand this did quite well.
My only qualm is the way women are represented in this. They are not very present in the story in general (with the allowance that without them, obviously the hair carpets wouldn't exist). But mostly, they participate in typical 'female' roles (particularly on the more rural planets where their culture is so heavily ingrained in their religion), but things aren't great on the more central and 'modern' planets either. In these cases where the women are participating in discussion, have clear professions, and are professionals, they are still mostly referred to with respect to their physical presences - how good looking they are, or their breasts need to be described, their superiors are forcefully hitting on them.... I was disappointed, particularly for how vast a universe he created, perhaps there are places in the universe where women aren't subservients or sexual objects? That's actually a social construct and not the 'natural way of things.'
Overall though, I do recommend this book. The writing was beautiful, I must praise the writing and translator for sure. I do think I'll read more by Andreas in the future - hopefully they'll be translating more of his work into English, since I understand this did quite well.