The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
mireiaaaaaa3's review against another edition
Soc capaç d'apreciar alguns dels contes com "La muchacha que estaba conectada", "Las mujeres que los hombres no ven" i alguns altres, sé que les idees són molt potents, i més tenint en compte el context en el qual es van escriure. Però no sé si a causa de l'estil de l'autora, la traducció, el moment en el qual l'he llegit, o potser el meu poc coneixement sobre la ciència-ficció que s'escrivia en aquella època m'ha costat moltíssim. Algunes frases les havia de llegir tres o quatre vegades per entendre-les. Li donaré una altra oportunitat a l'autora més endavant amb una altra edició a veure si així canvia una mica la meva percepció.
ghosttears's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.5
mercymourn's review against another edition
a mixed bag but some of them were so fun classic sf
archytas's review
challenging
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I had forgotten how very *1970s* the 1970s were, and this 1974 collection starts with the most trippy, least linear, most cringe-slang-filled ("pad") stories- making it a bit bewildering for a 21st Century reader (it was also unsurprising to learn that Tiptree took a *lot* of hallucinogenic drugs) . It is worth persisting as by halfway through the volume, the stories here become the kind of creepy, idea-filled trips you aren't likely to forget.
Tiptree's life is so incredible it tends to overshadow contemporary discussions about their* fiction. The story everyone told me I must read, "The women men don't see", felt relatively atypical to me and, while powerful, was far from the most interesting. But - despite the fact Tiptree's fiction was seen as masculine at the time - it is hard now not to see the story as involving some self-portraiture - a woman unable to carve out space to breathe, desperate to escape to somewhere easier to be.
It is, however, hardly the only story concerned with gender. The Hugo-winning Girl Who Was Plugged In was the first story to feel sharply modern and not pleasantly - it was impossible to imagine this class of celebrities created to sell products as anything other than 'influencers'. It also, given that the plot hinges upon the trauma of a deeply disfigured young woman who survived a childhood gang rape, felt like a story only a woman could write.
Most of the stories included strong gender themes. All of Tiptree's men - the non-arachnid ones anyway - felt confused at best and embarrassingly idiotic at worst, whereas female characters are more often in control and, when not, are passionately committed a course of action. The men often assume they are far more in charge than they are (and also, yes, smarter). This feels like both an observation and potentially an escape. Interestingly, Tiptree attracted criticism (in male persona) from Samuel Delaney about gender essentialism and corresponded with Le Guin, whose writing also focused on societies with reduced gendered differences. Tiptree's fiction here seems to be used to critique and explore current gender roles, not to position alternatives. This can make for savage reading at times, even when leavened with absurdity and laugh-out-loud humour.
The most unforgettable was "Love is the Plan the Plan is Death", a trippy, creepy, joyous, terrifying take that felt inspired by arachnids. Delving into the lines between biology and choice, gender roles and power, love and death, this first-person story of survival and determination managed to be both fun and disturbing at the same time. In the same ways that other stories play with gender analysis, this also felt almost queer to me (strange because cross gender attraction) in its ferocity in looking at how desire cannot be denied but only embraced.
I found the "Last flight of Dr Ain" nearly as haunting, and again scarily modern, as an anthropologist struggles to find his own balance between local knowledge and his civilization's certainty. Finally, Amberjack, a twist-ending story set firmly in the 1970s, juggles gender themes through the lens of a relatively sympathetic but ultimately impulsively murderous male protagonist.
All up, a thought-provoking read, worth the time taken to decode the aged style.
*Sheldon used male pronouns in referring to Tiptree as a persona, female when speaking as Alice Sheldon. Somehow it feels wrong to use either.
Tiptree's life is so incredible it tends to overshadow contemporary discussions about their* fiction. The story everyone told me I must read, "The women men don't see", felt relatively atypical to me and, while powerful, was far from the most interesting. But - despite the fact Tiptree's fiction was seen as masculine at the time - it is hard now not to see the story as involving some self-portraiture - a woman unable to carve out space to breathe, desperate to escape to somewhere easier to be.
It is, however, hardly the only story concerned with gender. The Hugo-winning Girl Who Was Plugged In was the first story to feel sharply modern and not pleasantly - it was impossible to imagine this class of celebrities created to sell products as anything other than 'influencers'. It also, given that the plot hinges upon the trauma of a deeply disfigured young woman who survived a childhood gang rape, felt like a story only a woman could write.
Most of the stories included strong gender themes. All of Tiptree's men - the non-arachnid ones anyway - felt confused at best and embarrassingly idiotic at worst, whereas female characters are more often in control and, when not, are passionately committed a course of action. The men often assume they are far more in charge than they are (and also, yes, smarter). This feels like both an observation and potentially an escape. Interestingly, Tiptree attracted criticism (in male persona) from Samuel Delaney about gender essentialism and corresponded with Le Guin, whose writing also focused on societies with reduced gendered differences. Tiptree's fiction here seems to be used to critique and explore current gender roles, not to position alternatives. This can make for savage reading at times, even when leavened with absurdity and laugh-out-loud humour.
The most unforgettable was "Love is the Plan the Plan is Death", a trippy, creepy, joyous, terrifying take that felt inspired by arachnids. Delving into the lines between biology and choice, gender roles and power, love and death, this first-person story of survival and determination managed to be both fun and disturbing at the same time. In the same ways that other stories play with gender analysis, this also felt almost queer to me (strange because cross gender attraction) in its ferocity in looking at how desire cannot be denied but only embraced.
I found the "Last flight of Dr Ain" nearly as haunting, and again scarily modern, as an anthropologist struggles to find his own balance between local knowledge and his civilization's certainty. Finally, Amberjack, a twist-ending story set firmly in the 1970s, juggles gender themes through the lens of a relatively sympathetic but ultimately impulsively murderous male protagonist.
All up, a thought-provoking read, worth the time taken to decode the aged style.
*Sheldon used male pronouns in referring to Tiptree as a persona, female when speaking as Alice Sheldon. Somehow it feels wrong to use either.
reviews_with_rach's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
erikinternet's review against another edition
4.0
V cool collection of sci fi stories. I especially liked "the women men don't see" and "the girl who was plugged in".
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