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embrightreads 's review for:
Cottonwood
by R. Lee Smith
The blurb for Cottonwood is ominous as fuck, but I’ll give you a brief overview:
Aliens came to Earth twenty years ago and the humans (awful ones) who received the aliens used first contact to steal the alien technology off of the ship and capture them.
The aliens were put in what I would venture to call internment camps, a concentration camp for all intents and purposes. The picture of these camps, painted by R Lee Smith is a dismal one, and thorough (I personally imagined some sort of mash up between the favelas in Brazil and the ghettos of Warsaw during WWII).
The aliens are insect-esque. They have hard outer shells, they have antennae, they have papule. They are bugs. However the word “bug” is a slur in this world that Smith created and I’ve come to love the characters so much, I hate to use it as a descriptor.
The main character, Sanford, is one of the aliens who was stranded on earth. On his home planet he was a soldier, with a family, he was important and came from wealth. Sanford was also kind, thoughtful, smart and infinitely patient. He has a son, T’aki. T’aki takes after his father, he is smart and cute and unendingly lovable. He’s never known a life outside of Cottonwood and it’s depressing as all get out.
Sarah, an optimist down to the marrow of her bones takes a job at Cottonwood hoping to make a difference and help the residents at the camp as a social worker. She is thrown to the proverbial sharks on her first day on her job. Her eyes are opened to the infinite horrors of Cottonwood and she ends up befriending and taking solace with Sanford. She pulls a Ghandi and becomes the change she wishes to see in the world.
Cottonwood’s World building was A+, the plot was strong, the characters were well developed and it was a different take on the typical sci-fi novel. I loved the reading the day to day of each character. I enjoyed the different point of views. I LOVED getting a point of view from the villain. I liked that this book made me think about the world around me. I liked that the romance was a kind one- it began as tentative trust that grew to friendship and it was a safe space for the characters. I liked the optimism that was woven through out the novel, even during the worst of situations. The ending of this book is one of the best I’ve read! You will cry. I know I did.
Cottonwood was a very well written book and I will sing It’s praises from the rooftops.
Cottonwood is a didactic novel and is rife with ethical and moral predicaments. On more than one occasion while reading, I pondered how I myself would handle some of the situations that befell the main characters. I’m not sure if the author intended for this book to have such a ethical-political impact on the reader, but it sure as heck made an impression on me.
This book was really and truly excellent.
Not at all what I was expecting, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and I have had the urge to re-read it more than once since finishing.
R. Lee Smith really wrote something special when she wrote Cottonwood and I’m very excited to read some of her backlist now.
Aliens came to Earth twenty years ago and the humans (awful ones) who received the aliens used first contact to steal the alien technology off of the ship and capture them.
The aliens were put in what I would venture to call internment camps, a concentration camp for all intents and purposes. The picture of these camps, painted by R Lee Smith is a dismal one, and thorough (I personally imagined some sort of mash up between the favelas in Brazil and the ghettos of Warsaw during WWII).
The aliens are insect-esque. They have hard outer shells, they have antennae, they have papule. They are bugs. However the word “bug” is a slur in this world that Smith created and I’ve come to love the characters so much, I hate to use it as a descriptor.
The main character, Sanford, is one of the aliens who was stranded on earth. On his home planet he was a soldier, with a family, he was important and came from wealth. Sanford was also kind, thoughtful, smart and infinitely patient. He has a son, T’aki. T’aki takes after his father, he is smart and cute and unendingly lovable. He’s never known a life outside of Cottonwood and it’s depressing as all get out.
Sarah, an optimist down to the marrow of her bones takes a job at Cottonwood hoping to make a difference and help the residents at the camp as a social worker. She is thrown to the proverbial sharks on her first day on her job. Her eyes are opened to the infinite horrors of Cottonwood and she ends up befriending and taking solace with Sanford. She pulls a Ghandi and becomes the change she wishes to see in the world.
Cottonwood’s World building was A+, the plot was strong, the characters were well developed and it was a different take on the typical sci-fi novel. I loved the reading the day to day of each character. I enjoyed the different point of views. I LOVED getting a point of view from the villain. I liked that this book made me think about the world around me. I liked that the romance was a kind one- it began as tentative trust that grew to friendship and it was a safe space for the characters. I liked the optimism that was woven through out the novel, even during the worst of situations. The ending of this book is one of the best I’ve read! You will cry. I know I did.
Cottonwood was a very well written book and I will sing It’s praises from the rooftops.
Cottonwood is a didactic novel and is rife with ethical and moral predicaments. On more than one occasion while reading, I pondered how I myself would handle some of the situations that befell the main characters. I’m not sure if the author intended for this book to have such a ethical-political impact on the reader, but it sure as heck made an impression on me.
This book was really and truly excellent.
Not at all what I was expecting, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and I have had the urge to re-read it more than once since finishing.
R. Lee Smith really wrote something special when she wrote Cottonwood and I’m very excited to read some of her backlist now.