A review by reasie
The Science of Herself by Karen Joy Fowler

4.0

One of the more diverse of the Outspoken Authors series in content, since Karen herself has a foot in both literary and genre fiction. The first offering is a poetic if subtle alternate history of 19th Century British Paleontologist Mary Anning, interspersed with other great figures of the day. Nothing magically different happens. It's very grounded in reality, very historical. Leaves you having to go back to your notes to see what /has/ been changed, or if it is all merely extrapolation of between-scenes.

The general feminist feel continues into her essay on the "Mother Myth" - starting with a spark of asking to destroy comfortable myths like 'mom and apple pie' she tries to deconstruct just what our mother myth really is.

Karen follows this up with an unexpectedly boyish piece about a young man being forced to play little league for all the usual reasons. It felt very warm and real. And of course it is feminist in its way, too, showing from a young boy's perspective the terrible pressures of gender role conformity.