psyence

Part way through and it is a frustrating read

Revisado: 03-27-24

I think there started out being a lot of substance here, but there is also a lot of hypocrisy. The author continually talks about how laziness is a capitalist lie and everyone deserves rest and so forth - and then proceeds to have pretty much ONLY examples of people who are working themselves to the bone before they take rest and allow themselves to be "lazy".

When all the examples are people like that, it just reinforces the myth that you don't deserve rest, you have to earn it. I would have appreciated examples of people who are disabled and unable to do that level of work and how they still deserve rest and what that looks like for them. Maybe I'm calling this too early, but it gets exhausting slogging through story after story of people who have proven their worth even by capitalist corporate standards a thousand times over. Even the few examples of very marginalized people so far - the homeless friend, the author with a prison record - still have an element of how they worked themselves to the bone getting themselves to a place of acceptability. It just seems to go against the narrative here that every example person so far has a comfortable distance - whether it's time or privilege - between them and characteristics the mainstream considers truly worthless or lazy. You can't just mention people with disability or addictions at the beginning in passing and call it a day. You have to stick to your guns and show that even people society detests deserve rest and show what that would look like if you really mean it. Otherwise, it feels empty and not as radical as it purports to be.

It's also really frustrating that so far, for all the LGBT inclusion in this, there hasn't been a single mention of the added difficulty of finding rest when you are an isolated LGBT person with no real ability to find a support system where you are - which is a huge reality for LGBT people as they age or if they're in a location or job where it's difficult to be out. The people, LGBT and otherwise, the author uses to demonstrate rest have higher education, or they have flexible careers, or they have partners and support systems. Not everyone has these. I feel like this is an oversight of the author because they appear to have these privileges. Maybe this book would work for someone with a higher education and freedom of movement, or some corporate promotions under their belt, or someone with a support system, but it's an increasingly frustrating read for those who are missing some or all of those. It's hard to know how to apply the principles in the book to your own way of thinking when everyone shown applies what they learn by taking advantage of privileges and opportunities you aren't even close to having.

And I'm willing to admit I'm not all the way through the book yet, but by now I feel like some more time should have been devoted to people who aren't as obviously "redeemable", if that makes any sense. The fact that that I'm this far and there's this little about people like this makes this a discouraging experience.

I think that it's also a little bit dangerous. It starts out mentioning issues of colonialism and late stage capitalism that have led to the concept of laziness we now have. That's something the audience of this book should take to heart. But that should be more of the focus. It seems to RAPIDLY lose sight of that. No amount of self help and journaling can dismantle the systems we live in and the implication that the issue is simply people not "allowing themselves" to be lazy would really end up landing as complete, 100% victim blaming for a lot of less privileged people reading this. I think it's fine for there to be self help books that target a population of privileged people, but it isn't clear that that's what this is, and if you go into it not knowing that, you're going to quickly feel like all the lies about laziness have been reinforced with steel bars. The message gets undermined pretty quickly if you don't have freedom of movement or financial stability or a support system.

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This is an amazing and necessary book

Revisado: 11-19-22

This is a great and relevant breakdown of different types of science denial and how to approach each type of person with the goal of reaching them through interpersonal connection and honestly, nothing has ever been more relevant. I'm super pumped to apply these things to my conversations with people.

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A solid narrative but...Not for everyone

Revisado: 11-12-22

possible vague spoilers ahead...First off, I want to say that this did have what amounts to good trans masc rep - and GAY trans masc rep at that, which the world seriously lacks. It's a completely sensible reimagining of the character of Peter Pan and, as someone who absolutely projected onto Peter Pan as a kid, I was delighted by the premise.

That being said, I think this will really do it for a lot of trans folks, but it just didn't land with me in the end, despite that I'm a trans man. I think it boils down to the different experiences we have. I was initially excited to read this, but it left me aching and wanting in a lot of ways. Raw maybe. The biggest issue was the ending almost made me dissociate it triggered my dysphoria so bad. I've always felt like my dysphoria comes from a very fundamental, internal place, and physically transitioning and my body functioning a certain way was really important to me, even without a partner, and even with the presence of people who affirmed me before I transitioned. The protagonist's dysphoria seems to come more from other people perceiving him incorrectly. That's completely valid and I think this will make a lot of trans people feel validated, but it didn't resonate with me at all. If I ended up with the experience Peter has in the end of the book, I wouldn't have been able to keep living, even with an affirming partner. It would have been too painful. If your experience of being trans is like mine, this book might be a really hard read and it might feel less like the happy ending it's going for. I was just miserable reading the ending. It's no fault of the author...It just definitely is the opposite of what I needed to see in a narrative.

I think my other issue with the book and why it didn't hit home as hard is that I really resonated a LOT with Hook actually. I think it might be because I'm quite a bit older than the target audience, I relate to the character who's been through a lot and is in a position to try and get younger people to feel the affirmation they don't know how to give themselves, while still learning where I can grow from them.

I desperately wanted him to be trans masc too. I know that's not at all where the book was going, but I was still a tiny bit disappointed. There's a dynamic here that feels faintly like a trans man feeling valid because of a cis partner not taking issue with his body. And it's great for there to be relationships where a cis partner is affirming. But I do feel like it's an issue in our community where we only see each other as valid if a cis gay man approves of us, and it would have been nice to not skirt the edge of that. A t4t relationship could have pulled a dysphoria discussion into the open, or would not have necessarily had trappings of the same dynamic.

but I would say like....If you don't mind these things, just read it. Or buy it anyway just to support it. Regardless of the things I didn't like, I think it's good rep in many ways and publishers should be shown people will buy these stories so more can be made for all of us with our varied experiences.

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yeah I'll read that

Revisado: 09-15-22

Skeptical going in because I'm usually not interested in fantasy these days but I read that it featured a gay romance and decided to give it a shot. OK so it starts out kind of slow but I recommend giving it a shot anyway. It definitely picks up a bit. The action scenes are great and the romantic scenes are excellently crafted. The author gets SO MUCH mileage out of even just kisses I tell you what. What really seals the deal for me though is that the world building is good, and it isn't a fantasy world just based on the typical Western European medieval world. That was a refreshing change from most fantasy. I wasn't crazy about the narrator's accents though. I felt they could have done without those. Anyway, as a gay reader, this actually has a LOT of things I always wish would be in books with a gay romance that never are. Namely, the world itself is gloriously non-heteronormative. I feel like a lot of times people try to shove a gay couple into a story but don't put any thought into the heteronormative structures that exist and whether these would exist in a fantasy world and how the gay characters would engage with them. The author is very intentional in constructing a world that deconstructs heteronormative institutions in a lot of ways and reconstructs things like political marriage and succession differently from heteronormative fantasies. There are also a number of supporting characters who are various shades of queer, including several non binary people and what appears to be an asexual person. It's nice for the tension to come from the plot for once and not the juxtaposition of artificial-feeling gay characters with a STAUNCHLY heteronormative world. The one thing that could be considered a sex scene is also gloriously realistic where the concept of consent is present - just as it is throughout the story. I think it was an interesting exploration of the ramifications of having this kind of political power, even if in my personal life I don't believe absolute monarchy can truly be just. But that just means the author has effectively made me give into escapism. My only real caveat is that this ended so abruptly. I'd definitely read more similar stories if they came to exist.

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Not her strongest work but still worth a read

Revisado: 03-10-22

Like the other folks, I do think it could have benefitted from a stronger performance and better character differentiation.

As for the story itself, I didn't really find the timelines super confusing, just wasn't sure about the protagonist's origin. Now, I rated this 4 stars because I do think the story meanders a bit more than it needs to and the characters aren't as focused as other ones she's written. That being said, if you can get through some of the less interesting stuff, I think all the twists loop back around nicely into something that makes sense and lets you see if your guesses about what were going on were right. So that was fun. I didn't think the chemistry was quite as good between the main characters in this one, but they grew on me after a while and things really picked up in the last couple chapters and end with a decent enough conclusion.

I would say this reads more like historical fiction than Sci fi, although it's hard to say it's fully either. And it's DEFINITELY not strictly a romance novel like some folks would have you believe. Oh sure there's the barest romantic plot thread throughout the thing, but it's no more blatant than Watchmaker. I actually feel like it could have been a little more obvious and still been fine. Trust me, I'm the kind of person who gets really bored with romance tropes easily, and it wasn't overly sappy or distracting or anything.

Anyway I mainly just like this story though because it feels like the target audience is the microscopic section of the Venn diagram where the circle of people who like Master and Commander a bit too much overlaps with the circle of people who would have liked Kingdom Hearts to be a lot gayer than it was. And if you also are inside that tiny group it'll scratch an itch for you too.

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Not the movie - IT'S BETTER

Revisado: 04-14-16

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. Nearly all my friends have seen the completely unrelated (though still entertaining, don't get me wrong) Will Smith movie. And we enjoyed it because the concept of artificially intelligent robots has always been interesting to us. Anyone who enjoyed the movie because of that concept, would find this book at least as interesting, if not more so, and you owe it to yourself to check it out.

What did you like best about this story?

Many things...Too many things. I will try to narrow it down. The first thing would be that it's complex and contains an incredible amount of world-building without becoming monotonous. It attempts to offer technical reasoning (though sometimes flawed...I don't know if I'd consider this hard SciFi...) as part of this without resorting to incomprehensible technobabble and while still remaining accessible.
The second thing I enjoyed is the surprising variety in the moods of these short stories. There is a heartwarming story, one containing heartbreak, many containing mysteries, and much more. There are several - particularly the Powell and Donovan stories - that cleverly juxtapose comedic moments with serious contemplation about life and death and existence - all without becoming preachy.
One thing I enjoyed that I was very surprised about is how ahead of its time this book is in certain ways. While most of the values and gender norms present in the story are dated by today's standards, I did find it impressive that one of the protagonists - Susan Calvin - of the story is an intelligent, technically-minded level-headed, yet refreshingly flawed and balanced human being of a woman. I understand that being published in the 50s, Susan would be a very rare type of female character. She's a type of character that a lot of modern, mainstream sci fi still has trouble putting front and center today. I'll admit there is a bit of values dissonance that cropped up for me when her desires, priorities, and possible regrets were examined (I don't want to delve into them for fear of potential spoilers), but I think just the very inclusion of a female field expert of this caliber is fairly progressive for its day and is worth analyzing and examining.

Which character – as performed by Scott Brick – was your favorite?

It's hard to say which was my favorite, although I appreciated his performance of Susan Calvin the most. Often, narrators tend to exaggerate the voices of women characters by using a higher/frantic tone or something near a falsetto, making them sound ridiculous and cartoonish. Given the kind of personality she has - clever, cool, logical - that would have been a crying shame and it would have definitely made the story less enjoyable. His performance of her adequately conveyed the type of character she is though. It was satisfactory.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Ok...I'm one of those people who enjoyed the movie and finally became curious about the source material. I had heard of Isaac Asimov but I'd never read anything by him.
Long story short, I was really surprised that the book had absolutely nothing to do with the movie. Not even close.
But it was better in my opinion. Much better. Maybe I'm biased because I have a weakness for stories with robots that have personalities, but I absolutely loved this book. It's a roller coaster of feelings if you immerse yourself in it. There's a little bit of everything, heartwarming things, heartbreak, contemplation of the nature of existence, even some comedic moments. And the thing is every feeling is so real and genuine. The characters are all unique and engaging and you'll want to keep engaging with them. And working in software, I found it funny because I see these same traits in myself and the people I work with.
Also, there is an incredible amount of worldbuilding in this book. Actually it's amazing because a lot of times, authors either focus disproportionately on world building or characters, but Asimov does an excellent job of constructing the future and its history while you explore it through the eyes of lifelike characters, developing both at the same time.

Any additional comments?

The Powell and Donovan stories were the highlight for me, I'm not going to lie. They're a somewhat mismatched pair of colleagues who find themselves in terrible situations and bicker a lot, but still care about each other in end - and I love that dynamic. And that juxtaposed with robots questioning the nature of their own existence, being logical to an unnerving fault, and more? Fabulous. If there was a TV show about these two, I would watch every last season.

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