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A review by posole
The Melancholy of Mechagirl by Catherynne M. Valente
2.0
This was hard for me to rate… I found most of these stories inscrutable, knowing little about Japanese mythology. They were a bit too abstract for me to appreciate, or maybe too personal (many stories were semi-autobiographical) - but the threads running through them were intriguing. Also the poetry was lost on me, an uncultured brute.
My favorite story was Fade to White, about a alternate post WW-II America whose population has been decimated by war. In response, the government develops a breeding program for the smartest, most fertile white men and women. The story jumps from the perspective of a young man whose life’s dream is to be a good husband and have children, and a young Asian woman passing as white, who is silently and begrudgingly resigned to her role as a future housewife of America.
I also enjoyed Silently and Very Fast, a novella about humans and artificial intelligence that I thought was very original.
My favorite story was Fade to White, about a alternate post WW-II America whose population has been decimated by war. In response, the government develops a breeding program for the smartest, most fertile white men and women. The story jumps from the perspective of a young man whose life’s dream is to be a good husband and have children, and a young Asian woman passing as white, who is silently and begrudgingly resigned to her role as a future housewife of America.
I also enjoyed Silently and Very Fast, a novella about humans and artificial intelligence that I thought was very original.