Jun 11, 2022·edited Jun 11, 2022Liked by Lani Diane Rich
Chapter 13 - I liked the (some of) the world building around the cities. Using myths and actual events as metaphor for failed births of the cities is interesting but doesn’t totally line up. New Orleans, maybe… No way Port au Prince was a candidate for birth before New York, Istanbul, Nairobi, Havana, Lagos. Goes against what the Woman in White told Aislyn in Chapter 12 about the “hybrid vigor” and mixing of cultures required to build that critical mass.
Veneza calling the Woman in White “squigglebitch” gives me joy.
And yay Madison is back!
Chapter 14 - Bronca & Brooklyn’s conversation is important but fells like Jemisin is telling instead of showing. And I always thought Starbucks was evil.
Chapter 15 - oh Aislyn, you should’ve done better. Does anyone else think her assuming Hong Kong is Japanese is just another way to paint her as xenophobic and maybe a little stupid?
Manny becomes King Kong?!? Really? Looks like I need to watch more movies about NYC too.
Chapter 16 - I like the chosen family nod of bringing Veneza into the fold, and maybe that cities need their suburbs too? But then why just substitute one suburb for Staten Island? Is 5 is the magic number? Shouldn’t you need the energy of some of the others too? I legit don’t know, how many NYC suburbs have enough of their own character to be an avatar? Because I would assume the generic McMansion and strip mall purgatory suburbs wouldn’t qualify? Does Staten Island secede and join Connecticut?
Coda - lovely vignette but doesn’t provide closure - again, I suspect that is the point.
And Jemisin acknowledges all the people who helped craft the different characters, so that allays some of the concerns from my first post. Although I didn’t read Padmini as Dalit, most lower caste Indians would not have the means or the political pull to emigrate. More than 90% of Indians who live in the US are from high castes.
Responding to Lani - I don’t read Aislyn as a analog for white feminism, for me, she would need a few girl power moments to feel like any kind of feminist. I think Jemisin might’ve been trying to do something with Conall the rapist’s outer appearance reading hipster while he was white supremacist neoNazi on the inside, but that didn’t go anywhere.
My take on the Conalls is that “Matt’s” son would’ve grown up to be another toxic male. I need to look back, was it known or just assumed that the fetus was male? Because of course it would be a firstborn son… Would Kendra have been far enough along to know?
And I agree that the conflict of the primary feeding on the boroughs is unearned. Waved away with “well, of course NY and London are different”. Unnecessary drama.
Guess I am learning things from Lani’s HSW book and podcasts.
I read the acknowledgments because it was right there after the coda so of course I did, and Jemisin says that this is the start of a trilogy. Is this why the story didn’t end satisfyingly for me? Or was it because there were so many points of view (I’ve heard other people who struggle with this in books and I’m wondering if I fall into this camp). I still feel like I’m missing something.
My favourite parts were the diversity and the depiction of white supremacy, both I don’t think we see enough of. Jemisin’s use of language is also wonderful and evocative and seemingly effortless. But to be honest I don’t think I’ll read the next book, it didn’t hook me like I was hoping it would.
Chapter 13 - I liked the (some of) the world building around the cities. Using myths and actual events as metaphor for failed births of the cities is interesting but doesn’t totally line up. New Orleans, maybe… No way Port au Prince was a candidate for birth before New York, Istanbul, Nairobi, Havana, Lagos. Goes against what the Woman in White told Aislyn in Chapter 12 about the “hybrid vigor” and mixing of cultures required to build that critical mass.
Veneza calling the Woman in White “squigglebitch” gives me joy.
And yay Madison is back!
Chapter 14 - Bronca & Brooklyn’s conversation is important but fells like Jemisin is telling instead of showing. And I always thought Starbucks was evil.
Chapter 15 - oh Aislyn, you should’ve done better. Does anyone else think her assuming Hong Kong is Japanese is just another way to paint her as xenophobic and maybe a little stupid?
Manny becomes King Kong?!? Really? Looks like I need to watch more movies about NYC too.
Chapter 16 - I like the chosen family nod of bringing Veneza into the fold, and maybe that cities need their suburbs too? But then why just substitute one suburb for Staten Island? Is 5 is the magic number? Shouldn’t you need the energy of some of the others too? I legit don’t know, how many NYC suburbs have enough of their own character to be an avatar? Because I would assume the generic McMansion and strip mall purgatory suburbs wouldn’t qualify? Does Staten Island secede and join Connecticut?
Coda - lovely vignette but doesn’t provide closure - again, I suspect that is the point.
And Jemisin acknowledges all the people who helped craft the different characters, so that allays some of the concerns from my first post. Although I didn’t read Padmini as Dalit, most lower caste Indians would not have the means or the political pull to emigrate. More than 90% of Indians who live in the US are from high castes.
Responding to Lani - I don’t read Aislyn as a analog for white feminism, for me, she would need a few girl power moments to feel like any kind of feminist. I think Jemisin might’ve been trying to do something with Conall the rapist’s outer appearance reading hipster while he was white supremacist neoNazi on the inside, but that didn’t go anywhere.
My take on the Conalls is that “Matt’s” son would’ve grown up to be another toxic male. I need to look back, was it known or just assumed that the fetus was male? Because of course it would be a firstborn son… Would Kendra have been far enough along to know?
And I agree that the conflict of the primary feeding on the boroughs is unearned. Waved away with “well, of course NY and London are different”. Unnecessary drama.
Guess I am learning things from Lani’s HSW book and podcasts.
I read the acknowledgments because it was right there after the coda so of course I did, and Jemisin says that this is the start of a trilogy. Is this why the story didn’t end satisfyingly for me? Or was it because there were so many points of view (I’ve heard other people who struggle with this in books and I’m wondering if I fall into this camp). I still feel like I’m missing something.
My favourite parts were the diversity and the depiction of white supremacy, both I don’t think we see enough of. Jemisin’s use of language is also wonderful and evocative and seemingly effortless. But to be honest I don’t think I’ll read the next book, it didn’t hook me like I was hoping it would.