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northofnow 's review for:
Ringworld
by Larry Niven
I'm.... wondering if this would have been better as a paper book vs an audio book? I get the feeling that there were layers that I didn't quite catch, since I tend to audiobook-while-doing-other-things.
Ringworld is a mix of post-apocalyptic, space exploration a-la Star Trek, and that weird genre of 19-earlies "utopian" fiction where they explore the strange new world and travel-documentary the culture to you. When it comes to pure style and substance, it reminded me of a more technological, less feminist, version of [b:Herland|531509|Herland|Charlotte Perkins Gilman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403189138s/531509.jpg|83484]. Which is ironic, because the main reason I did not like this book was the heavy-handed sexism.
Like, we're talking serious sexism here folks. The not-able-to-wave-away-just-because-of-when-it-was-written kind. In a book that eventually reveals that the whole plot was dictated by, it shouldn't even have been possible for it to get as bad as it got. But it did.
There are two female characters that take up significant page time in this story, Teela and Prillar, are both treated as objects throughout. At one point, the main character, Louis, tells Teela that she'll never have freewill. This is right after he chooses to "sell" her to her new boyfriend instead of going through the trouble of explaining to him that Teela is her own person, and can choose to go with him of her own volition. Who's denying who freewill now, Louis?
At another point, while Prillar is being controlled by a pleasure-inducing machine called a "tasp" (think mechanized, weaponized super-cocaine!), she tries to turn around on Louis and control him right back. Louis opines that all women are really powerful because they have a "tasp" built in to their bodies -- their magical vaginas! Because the only thing women are good for, or good at, is sex, and all men can be easily be controlled by sex because they want it all the time. Right. Eeesh.
There is a time, close to the end of the book, where Prillar tries to defend her previous trade (long-haul space travel ship's prostitute) by talking about all the technical skills and knowledge required by her profession. She's fighting for Louis to see her as a person -- it almost feels like she's breaking the fourth wall, and trying to get both the reader and Larry Niven himself to see her as a person. She gets brushed off.
There were some cool ideas that could have been explored in more depth: What is the difference between our biological imperatives and our selves? What is freewill? What causes cultures to rise and fall? How do we avoid the patterns of the past? But they never really get fully explored because Niven doesn't allow his characters to be people, just cardboard cutouts.
Ringworld is a mix of post-apocalyptic, space exploration a-la Star Trek, and that weird genre of 19-earlies "utopian" fiction where they explore the strange new world and travel-documentary the culture to you. When it comes to pure style and substance, it reminded me of a more technological, less feminist, version of [b:Herland|531509|Herland|Charlotte Perkins Gilman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403189138s/531509.jpg|83484]. Which is ironic, because the main reason I did not like this book was the heavy-handed sexism.
Like, we're talking serious sexism here folks. The not-able-to-wave-away-just-because-of-when-it-was-written kind. In a book that eventually reveals that the whole plot was dictated by
Spoiler
a female character's luckThere are two female characters that take up significant page time in this story, Teela and Prillar, are both treated as objects throughout. At one point, the main character, Louis, tells Teela that she'll never have freewill. This is right after he chooses to "sell" her to her new boyfriend instead of going through the trouble of explaining to him that Teela is her own person, and can choose to go with him of her own volition. Who's denying who freewill now, Louis?
At another point, while Prillar is being controlled by a pleasure-inducing machine called a "tasp" (think mechanized, weaponized super-cocaine!), she tries to turn around on Louis and control him right back. Louis opines that all women are really powerful because they have a "tasp" built in to their bodies -- their magical vaginas! Because the only thing women are good for, or good at, is sex, and all men can be easily be controlled by sex because they want it all the time. Right. Eeesh.
There is a time, close to the end of the book, where Prillar tries to defend her previous trade (long-haul space travel ship's prostitute) by talking about all the technical skills and knowledge required by her profession. She's fighting for Louis to see her as a person -- it almost feels like she's breaking the fourth wall, and trying to get both the reader and Larry Niven himself to see her as a person. She gets brushed off.
There were some cool ideas that could have been explored in more depth: What is the difference between our biological imperatives and our selves? What is freewill? What causes cultures to rise and fall? How do we avoid the patterns of the past? But they never really get fully explored because Niven doesn't allow his characters to be people, just cardboard cutouts.