Mindscape, Andrea Hairston

[rydra_wong]

OMFG I LOVE THIS BOOK READ THIS BOOK NOW.

Um.

Okay.

You know what it was like when you read early Delany for the first time? Babel-17 and Nova, all multi-faceted dazzle and chutzpah, gorgeous outrageous sf opera?

Like that.

It's dense in a very Delany-esque manner -- the opening will leave you drowning in characters and backstory, struggling to keep track of who's who and what's what and Barrier and Vermittler and Extras and Los Santos and New Ougadougou and ethnic throwbacks and Tadeshi Mifune and gene-art and Paradigma and fire-ants and OMGWTFSENTIENTHAIR.

Refer to the cast list in the back of the book, fasten your seatbelt, and make sure that your tray-table has been put away and your seat is in the upright position. It will all make sense. Eventually. Probably.

After a first read, I'm still trying to disentangle who was double-crossing who, and (also as with Delany) I'm not entirely sure the plot logic would all stand up to close examination (OMG DOLPHINS ALIEN SPACESHIP WTF).

But the glory is in the sheer richness of invention, the skill with which Hairston wrangles the huge cast (all three-dimensional, flawed, vulnerable and surprising -- Hairston handles her characters with a generosity that I found very moving), and the luscious and complex things it has to say about ethnicity, identity, the past, and survival.

Also I want to steal the line "You can't blame multiple personality disorder for aesthetic choices" and find opportunities to use it in conversation.

Comments

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

I tried this book a while back, but got bogged down by the huge cast and still not knowing what was going on after 100 pages. I didn't get far enough for the double crossing, alien dolphin spaceships, or the complex stuff--all of which sound interesting.

[rydra_wong]

Yeah, I can absolutely see how that could happen.

I'd read a review (which I now can't find again, dammit) saying that you will be overwhelmed and need to refer to the cast list, but to stick with it. So I had some advance warning.

But I definitely found it worth persevering (and taking the book in small chunks). And I suspect I'm going to get even more out of it on a re-read.

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to give Mindscape another try, because of all the good stuff I've heard. How far did you get into the book until it started paying off? (I plan on skimming the parts I've already read. So I'd also like to get an idea of whether it's a story where I can skip to the good parts.)

[rydra_wong]

Well, I found it interesting to start off with, just really baffling ...

*ponders*

Hrm. There's a fine reveal around page 120 which gives you a sense of the sort of things Hairston has up her sleeve, and from there to page 200 or so I think you start getting a sense of how pieces of the backstory are going to come out and how the various plot threads intersect.

But for me it wasn't a thing of getting to the "good parts" so much as a cumulative build, if that makes any sense. I'm not sure when I really fell for the characters -- I just found that somewhere along the way I had.

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info; it's really helpful.

I suspect it's one of those books that either really works for you or really doesn't, though.

Yeah, it probably is, but I really want to give this book a second try. I wanted to gauge the point where I'd know it wasn't going to work for me.

P.S.

[rydra_wong]

I suspect it's one of those books that either really works for you or really doesn't, though.

So if it's not engaging you at all and just feels like banging your head against a brick wall, go for something else instead.

[bplutchak.livejournal.com]

I bought this book at the WisCon Dealer's room a couple of year's ago and never got around to it. Since you say so, I will go pull it out. Thanks for the reminder.

[rydra_wong]

It seems like it either really works for people or really doesn't, but I loved it to bits and am still thinking about it.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/]

OMFG I LOVE THIS BOOK READ THIS BOOK NOW.

Okay!

*reads the rest of the rec first, already convinced*

Dolphin alien spaceship, really?

[rydra_wong]

There are dolphins who end up travelling in an alien spaceship. But it is not, as far as I understand it, a dolphin alien spaceship (though, having said that, I realize there's no evidence that it isn't).

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

oh yay, I just ordered this one because it sounded cool on Amazon and now I am doubly looking forward to it.

There can never be too many dolphins. Am trying not to think about the sentient hair.