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sailsgoboom 's review for:
Native Tongue
by Suzette Haden Elgin
This does so many things I love. The reader is dropped into this new world, with exposition hinted at and doled out piece by piece -- through new characters, passing conversations, snippets of textbooks and letters and poems that feel like they exist in the world. This kept me hungry to learn more, lapping at details and implications. The characters were not perhaps richly textured individuals, but the impotence that the women had when trying/failing to express themselves to men who had no basis of understanding (or will to listen) was eminently relatable -- I felt that. It also introduces and explores interesting concepts that were the real reason I read this -- can a language be used to throw off oppression? can one be constructed that reshapes reality by expressing ideas not expressible in current tongues? if you and another person do not share fundamental perspectives about reality, is there a way to bridge that gap with language or does it require a shift too earth-shattering to withstand?
This book is readable and enticingly written, but unfortunately it brings up a lot of questions without enough else to be satisfactory. I had too many questions on a more basic comprehension level -- about the political history with regards to the linguists, about any nuance at all with regards to gender and individuals, about why the women's language led at all to the result it did at the end (and why??), how that conclusion would be built upon in the future or if it would or if that was enough of a goal in itself, and what about the aliens? what was their deal and have their cultures/perspectives made any impact on the human world and what is the role of the nonhumanoids in the galaxy even... the list goes on.
There are sequels that I definitely want to read, and while I did get what I wanted out of this book, what I loved about it was just enough for me to wish that it were more satisfying on its own.
This book is readable and enticingly written, but unfortunately it brings up a lot of questions without enough else to be satisfactory. I had too many questions on a more basic comprehension level -- about the political history with regards to the linguists, about any nuance at all with regards to gender and individuals, about why the women's language led at all to the result it did at the end (and why??), how that conclusion would be built upon in the future or if it would or if that was enough of a goal in itself, and what about the aliens? what was their deal and have their cultures/perspectives made any impact on the human world and what is the role of the nonhumanoids in the galaxy even... the list goes on.
There are sequels that I definitely want to read, and while I did get what I wanted out of this book, what I loved about it was just enough for me to wish that it were more satisfying on its own.