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multipletrees 's review for:
Vagabonds
by Hao Jingfang
I received a free ARC of this book from a Goodreads giveaway.
I think the contrast between socialism (is that the right word?) and capitalism is interesting, and I appreciate how the book doesn't seem to prefer a side. Early on, it made me think of The Dispossessed, but it's been too long since I read that for me to do much more of a comparison.
The action is mostly submerged under the thoughts and feelings of the characters. Things happen, but the book doesn't really care about the chain of events and increasing drama in the way most books do. It's more concerned about Luoying's thoughts and understandings of her experiences on Earth and her life on Mars and how the events shape her thought processes. Towards the end, her thought processes come back to shape events, but even here, it doesn't feel like anything had a real impact. The most impactful-feeling plotline for me is her brother Rudy's politicking, which does impact future events but has a similar feeling, because these events will nearly all take place after the end of the novel.
I appreciated the use of history as a theme.Part of the climax of the book involves Luoying learning new historical information which creates a new context for information that had been driving her feelings about plot events. This takes her view of history from a progressive, linear view to a cyclical view. I don't agree with her immediate actions based on the new knowledge, and I think that the reactions of others in the situation don't necessarily make sense. I do think that her choices in the longer term fit better with the way she had been thinking throughout the book, for me. I liked the shift from the linear conception of history to the cyclical, and I think it fits in an interesting way with the contrasts between Earth/Mars, socialism/capitalism, the various kinds of freedom, etc. I don't think I have a good enough handle on the book to address that further, though.
I think the contrast between socialism (is that the right word?) and capitalism is interesting, and I appreciate how the book doesn't seem to prefer a side. Early on, it made me think of The Dispossessed, but it's been too long since I read that for me to do much more of a comparison.
The action is mostly submerged under the thoughts and feelings of the characters. Things happen, but the book doesn't really care about the chain of events and increasing drama in the way most books do. It's more concerned about Luoying's thoughts and understandings of her experiences on Earth and her life on Mars and how the events shape her thought processes. Towards the end, her thought processes come back to shape events, but even here, it doesn't feel like anything had a real impact. The most impactful-feeling plotline for me is her brother Rudy's politicking, which does impact future events but has a similar feeling, because these events will nearly all take place after the end of the novel.
I appreciated the use of history as a theme.