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A review by bardspeak
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
adventurous
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
2.25
When I first began reading this (downloaded, from the recommendation of a wonderful Jacob Geller video) I was prepared to have my world rocked, even as the book came from an author who I wouldn't spend any significant amount of time with - as he would hate me for who I am, etc etc. I was prepared for themes of death, grief, autopsy, striving to understand each other and coming just this close and failing. What I got was... some of that. Each topic seemed to have been fulfilled halfway, with a handwaved resolution to each that felt dissatisfying. The character of Libo, one of the driving forces in the plot, was reduced to almost nothing by the end. And this is not a condemnation of the characters for moving on, the process of grieving dictates that it be so, but that he was little mentioned at all. The people that seemed to feel his death most keenly were the ones who least understood it.
I enjoyed the differences between the alien race in the book and the humans and the exploration of the divide, but it felt to me as if all the humans except for the main character Ender were painted by a single brush for him to understand, all a conglomeration of the same feelings for him to eventually come to completely understand for little reason other than it was his job to. Novinha's entire foundation of character was ripped from her, leaving her with what? A family she had built little connection with? A man she'd known for as little as days?
The piggies, as they're called, were also painted with broad strokes. Vague and not understandable to the humans watching them, all with nearly the same voice and same desires. The claims to love the individual in the preface at the beginning fall flat midway through.
In addition, while I couldn't find specific examples of a fascist or conservative view underlining this, most of what the humans said about the piggies was awful, only disputed by a few men - mainly Ender, the main - white - character among characters who were primarily black, as stated by the author. It was as if the author prescribed a higher level of understanding of ethics and morals and the other to this white man who would swoop in and save all of the others from misunderstanding that seriously could have been easily solved by themselves.
And finally, the book felt overwhelmingly mormon, as someone who was raised in a mormon family myself. Perhaps, if you're interested in the themes, go check out the Jacob Geller video on youtube titled "What's the point of taking apart a body." He summarizes the book better and more evocatively than the book did for itself.
I enjoyed the differences between the alien race in the book and the humans and the exploration of the divide, but it felt to me as if all the humans except for the main character Ender were painted by a single brush for him to understand, all a conglomeration of the same feelings for him to eventually come to completely understand for little reason other than it was his job to. Novinha's entire foundation of character was ripped from her, leaving her with what? A family she had built little connection with? A man she'd known for as little as days?
The piggies, as they're called, were also painted with broad strokes. Vague and not understandable to the humans watching them, all with nearly the same voice and same desires. The claims to love the individual in the preface at the beginning fall flat midway through.
In addition, while I couldn't find specific examples of a fascist or conservative view underlining this, most of what the humans said about the piggies was awful, only disputed by a few men - mainly Ender, the main - white - character among characters who were primarily black, as stated by the author. It was as if the author prescribed a higher level of understanding of ethics and morals and the other to this white man who would swoop in and save all of the others from misunderstanding that seriously could have been easily solved by themselves.
And finally, the book felt overwhelmingly mormon, as someone who was raised in a mormon family myself. Perhaps, if you're interested in the themes, go check out the Jacob Geller video on youtube titled "What's the point of taking apart a body." He summarizes the book better and more evocatively than the book did for itself.