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A review by pugloaf
Don’t Bite the Sun by Tanith Lee
4.0
What a unique atmosphere this book has. The world it builds and the characters are such as I've never really seen before. Particularly the thought processes of the characters: what they do and how they react is so alien to how I think a person can act and only the disposition towards preferences has any overlap. Not something I burned through but so interesting a space that I can't help but like it and the way it lays out its story.
The fact that characters don't really get mad at each other; don't harbor any sort of grudges or deep differences, treat things so matter of fact as well as if nothing matters lends itself to bizarre situations. Even from the opening where the main character tells another they are cut from their friend group holds no real consequence to either; in fact they call and hang out normally as if it didn't mean anything.
And that seems to be the crux of the book; a drive for real consequences. In this utopian world (not even one that can be seen as fake or twisted into distopia: purely genuine) the characters have no real frame of reference for consequence- for 'real' experience. Changing bodies and sex casually, killing themselves casually, 'marrying' and 'annulling' casually- nothing has consequences beyond immediate pleasure, desire, or fancy. The main character stealing is another good example, you can pay or not pay if you don't want to- steal if you want to. There are no consequences or even punishments in this utopia.
I see the evolution over time of the wants of our protagonist as they naively try to figure out what they are missing- to find something that can fill this burgeoning drive (that they can't even articulate/understand well). Being and Older Person, having a kid, the expedition- all is to find some way of having that genuine experience. And she does- through the desert and the pet. Through its wild realness and ultimately the real loss. Real consequence. And we see that she's not the only one trying to clumsily work towards this. Hegel with using real pain to find real experience. Hattie through real love. But these real experiences require real consequences which in this utopia cannot exist. The Q-R seem to understand and are sympathetic to this end but its a hard pill to swallow. Biting the Sun, trying to find some portion where the utopia does not shield real consequence, may be futile but we see that these humans that still have the spark of life still seek it even it they do not know what it is.
The fact that characters don't really get mad at each other; don't harbor any sort of grudges or deep differences, treat things so matter of fact as well as if nothing matters lends itself to bizarre situations. Even from the opening where the main character tells another they are cut from their friend group holds no real consequence to either; in fact they call and hang out normally as if it didn't mean anything.
And that seems to be the crux of the book; a drive for real consequences. In this utopian world (not even one that can be seen as fake or twisted into distopia: purely genuine) the characters have no real frame of reference for consequence- for 'real' experience. Changing bodies and sex casually, killing themselves casually, 'marrying' and 'annulling' casually- nothing has consequences beyond immediate pleasure, desire, or fancy. The main character stealing is another good example, you can pay or not pay if you don't want to- steal if you want to. There are no consequences or even punishments in this utopia.
I see the evolution over time of the wants of our protagonist as they naively try to figure out what they are missing- to find something that can fill this burgeoning drive (that they can't even articulate/understand well). Being and Older Person, having a kid, the expedition- all is to find some way of having that genuine experience. And she does- through the desert and the pet. Through its wild realness and ultimately the real loss. Real consequence. And we see that she's not the only one trying to clumsily work towards this. Hegel with using real pain to find real experience. Hattie through real love. But these real experiences require real consequences which in this utopia cannot exist. The Q-R seem to understand and are sympathetic to this end but its a hard pill to swallow. Biting the Sun, trying to find some portion where the utopia does not shield real consequence, may be futile but we see that these humans that still have the spark of life still seek it even it they do not know what it is.