cryingalot49 's review for:

Vacuum Flowers by Michael Swanwick

3.0

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A love story and self-discovery tale strung together with manic, glittering concepts swiping the pages by. Who are you?, we watch the story ask its protagonist in as many ways as it can, from sensual contact to tinkering with programmed personalities to a lover with four personas in one body, through fringe societies living in secret jungles and canisters. Overstimulation jerks and wheels like a high-octane performance specifically to entertain a desensitized audience, and to give a beating to the main character's bearings, all in the name of asking whether one can retain their personality in a time when a new culture and new perspective is knocking on the door every day.