clevermanka (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
clevermanka) wrote2007-10-30 09:47 am
clevermanka) wrote2007-10-30 09:47 am
Stand on Zanzibar
I'm about halfway through Stand On Zanzibar. I've never read it before. I find the work fascinating as a piece of writing, and I'm amazed at how heavily it influenced various aspects of our culture--without the novel itself being terribly well known. It took a bit to get into the style, but about a quarter of the way in, I completely fell over the edge. I love it.
Brunner's descriptions of the vast and vastly overpopulated planet Earth are convincing without being forced or contrived. You really get that there are way too many people on the planet--even though his idea of staggering overpopulation is not far from where we stand now, and our population issues aren't nearly what he feared. Yet.
My only complaint about it (so far) is that non-straights are treated as deviants and superficially scorned--as opposed to the issue of racial discrimination, which is a key (and sympathetic) element of the story. Brunner's sexual prejudices are made even more noticeable by his efforts to show his desire for racial equality. It's a pity his egalitarianism didn't extend beyond skin color--or if they did, he certainly did a good job of hiding the fact in this book. In his defense, sexual orientation issues weren't a big deal as race equality in 1968. But the overt slights and slams against other-sexuality get really tiresome.
I wish there was an actual Chad C. Mulligan to write the book You're An Ignorant Idiot because I would love to own it.
Brunner's descriptions of the vast and vastly overpopulated planet Earth are convincing without being forced or contrived. You really get that there are way too many people on the planet--even though his idea of staggering overpopulation is not far from where we stand now, and our population issues aren't nearly what he feared. Yet.
My only complaint about it (so far) is that non-straights are treated as deviants and superficially scorned--as opposed to the issue of racial discrimination, which is a key (and sympathetic) element of the story. Brunner's sexual prejudices are made even more noticeable by his efforts to show his desire for racial equality. It's a pity his egalitarianism didn't extend beyond skin color--or if they did, he certainly did a good job of hiding the fact in this book. In his defense, sexual orientation issues weren't a big deal as race equality in 1968. But the overt slights and slams against other-sexuality get really tiresome.
I wish there was an actual Chad C. Mulligan to write the book You're An Ignorant Idiot because I would love to own it.