THIS STORY IS THE ORIGIN OF THE 2016 FILM "ARRIVAL"
"God, of course I know that. Do you think I'm an idiot?"
"No, of course not."
What I'll think is thatTHIS STORY IS THE ORIGIN OF THE 2016 FILM "ARRIVAL"
"God, of course I know that. Do you think I'm an idiot?"
"No, of course not."
What I'll think is that you are clearly, maddeningly not me. It will remind me, again, that you won't be a clone of me; you can be wonderful, a daily delight, but you won't be someone I could have created by myself."
This is a brilliant short story. Basically the plot is (view spoiler)[learning an alien language allows the MC to see the future, because the aliens have this ability and when she learns to think, dream, read, and speak Alien she gains this ability. (hide spoiler)]
The good part is that Chiang is slow in revealing this.
The story is very smart. The sprinkling of physics and linguistics in here is both delightful and clever, but Chiang neatly avoids becoming too professorial.
Instead, he competently shows his grasp of human nature through the MC's relationship with her growing daughter.
It'll be when you first learn to walk that I get daily demonstrations of the asymmetry in our relationship. You'll be incessantly running off somewhere, and each time you walk into a door frame or scrape your knee, the pain feels like it's my own. It'll be like growing an errant limb, and extension of myself whose sensory nerves report pain just fine, but whose motor nerves don't convey my commands at all. It's so unfair: I'm going to give birth to an animated voodoo doll of myself. I didn't see this in the contract when I signed up. Was this part of the deal?
The story -both the human aspect and the alien aspect, the personal aspect and the science aspect - are fascinating and ripe with potential. It's hard not to want to see this as a full length novel.
As someone who speaks two languages, it's hard not to get giddy with excitement at Chiang's representation of how learning other languages can expand your worldview in ways beyond your wildest imaginings.
Tl;dr - Smart, sweet, short and full of fascinating concepts begging to be explored.
UPDATE: I saw the film and I don't think it is as good as this short story. Usually that's not the case, usually I enjoy films LESS than the books they are based on but MORE than the short stories they are based on. But I think the film was a bit dull....more
This was actually a really interesting book, I ended up liking it a lot.
Fox stayed out late partying and he wakes up hungover to a knock on his door.
WThis was actually a really interesting book, I ended up liking it a lot.
Fox stayed out late partying and he wakes up hungover to a knock on his door.
What. The book does not say that.
Okay, okay, the book doesn't say that, it just says that Fox "had been out all night" and he's bleary and stumbling. We see that his house is a sty. Socks, empty chip bags, fish bones, chicken bones, egg shells, boxes and buttons litter the floor and furniture.
ANYWAY, the knock is the mail-squirrel delivering a letter.
Fox trudges back to bed to read it. He snuggles under the covers.
Dear Nephew,
I will pay you a visit on the next full moon.
Sincerely, Uncle Ferdinand
"Oh, shit!" exclaims Fox as he looks at his calendar. "The next full moon is tonight!"
What. The book does NOT say "shit," Carmen.
Okay, okay, he says "oh, no."
ANYWAY, his den is a mess and Fox is ashamed to let Uncle Ferdinand see it like this. So he cleans the whole house but he has nowhere to put the trash.
That lead me to think. How DO these anthropomorphic animals get rid of garbage in these children's books? Is there a dump? Do they have trash bins? What is their system for getting rid of waste?
Well, apparently there is no system because Fox just dumps all that trash into a hole in the ground.
"This will do just fine," he said, sweeping the trash down the hole.
Then Fox went back to his den to wait for Uncle Ferdinand.
And I was like, where is the author going with this? Is this like shoving your mess into a closet when you know company is coming? What is going to happen? Who cares that he put his trash in a hole?
In the meantime, Badger woke to a terrible CRASH! It sounded as if the roof had fallen in. She jumped out of bed, and there in the middle of the living room was a pile of trash!
OH, I SEE. Yes, it's BAD that Fox put the trash in the hole because THAT HOLE WAS SOMEONE'S HOME. Wow. That really hit me hard. Poor Badger, she just woke up and found all this trash in her very pink living room, which is apparently wired with electricity, FYI. It's really getting me that Fox thought he was getting rid of his trash in an easy yet harmless way, but he's inadvertently ruining another's home. Wow. This is getting good.
So Badger takes all the trash and puts it in ANOTHER hole in a field.
The Rabbit family was just about to have some salad for lunch when the trash fell SPLAT! right into the middle of the kitchen table.
They were horrified.
"Yuck! What a mess!" said the children.
"My poor lettuce!" said Mommy Rabbit.
"Grab a brush, everyone!" said Daddy Rabbit.
What's falling from the ceiling: apple core, eggshell, bones, tea bags, chip bags, boxes, leaves, buttons.
So the Rabbits and their four children pick up all the garbage and shove it into a thick clump of grass.
Soon after, Partridge finished pecking in the woods for her lunch and returned to the new nest she had built.
She was terribly upset to find that someone had dumped all their trash on top of it.
"What a mess!" she screeched. "How will I ever clean this up?"
There's the usual trash, plus tomatoes and cucumber slices.
So she picks up all the trash and puts it in ANOTHER hole. Oh, gosh.
Mole is very upset when trash rains down on his hallway. He shoves it out the door where it falls at Uncle Ferdinand's feet. Ferdinand picks up all the trash and puts it outside of Fox's den.
"Look at this trash I found on the road!" said Uncle Ferdinand crossly when Fox answered the door.
Fox is very surprised to see his trash has come home to him. He's just about to suggest throwing it down a hole when the Mouse Family shows up and asks about these "treasures." YES! I was wondering why the animals were rejecting the trash!!! There's some good trash. Don't animals LIKE cucumbers, tomatoes, bones, tea bags, and leaves? I mean, chip bags are obviously bad, but a lot of this is stuff I think animals would really groove on. Give it to some squirrels! Give it to some raccoons, for crying out loud! But Bonning went with mice. Whatever, I'm just glad he finally acknowledged this fact.
After the mice cart all the "treasures" away, the book ends rather weirdly.
"I wish all my nephews were as neat and clean as you," said Uncle Ferdinand, proudly looking around the den. "I do my best!" said Fox with a sly grin. EL FIN
What. I mean, what? He threw trash into someone's house! I mean, sure he did it unwittingly, but isn't it common knowledge among animals that other animals live in holes?!!!? I should think so! Especially since it's clear they all share a common language and electricity.
But I was strangely satisfied and happy with this ending, I can't stand preachy books and this book manages to teach both about littering AND about 'one woman's trash is another woman's treasure' pretty effectively without getting preachy.
Tl;dr - A great read. I liked it a lot.
P.S. Also this would be a great book to talk about composting with children and what materials can be composted....more
BEAST: "Sometimes, Bobby, I wonder if puberty will ever END for you." ANGEL: "Or start." BOBBY:"Hey, if it means getting the kind of BODY HAIR either onBEAST: "Sometimes, Bobby, I wonder if puberty will ever END for you." ANGEL: "Or start." BOBBY:"Hey, if it means getting the kind of BODY HAIR either one of you's got, I'll PASS! I'm smooth to groove - - except for my all-new too cool LOVE PATCH, of course!"
UGH. I really don't want to know how "smooth to groove" you are, Bobby. And the sooner you stop stroking that little triangle of hair on your chin, the better. Ugh.
ANYWAY. Welcome to 1998. We have jokes about Alanis Morissette, jokes about Party of Five, and jokes about Twin Peaks.
Actually, we have a lot of jokes. This is a pretty goofy edition of X-Men. Beast jumps on the bed, everyone makes fun of Bobby, the X-men are wearing layers and layers of horrible clothing as a "disguise" as they go to visit Scott and Jean in Alaska, they hit a moose with a car - which I think is pretty traumatic - but make jokes about it. They flirt with the locals.
In more serious attempts at a plot... and I'm saying this loosely... Scott is paranoid Jean is going to turn evil again, but instead of talking to her about it, he calls in all the other X-Men to 'monitor her' aka 'visit.' Charles is missing, has been for months. Rogue gave her DNA to some shady scientist guy who claims he can reverse mutations. Angel is a flippin' moron who gets on the roof in full angel mode to see what's clogging up the flue and the locals gape at him... he's so dumb.
There's also some subplot about angry Inuit spirits rising up and using crows and moose to impose their will and take back their land or something.
Tl;dr - It's always weird to plunge straight into the middle of a series like this. It's hard to tell what's going on, but I can say definitively that it's pretty goofy and light.
The nice thing is that the front page opens into a flap that not only gives you a rundown on the main characters and their stories, but also explains what has been happening in previous issues. It's HIGHLY helpful and I love it. They should always do this....more
"Always liked that about you guys," he said. "Four days of grief and mourning for the spirit, and then get on with life. How did we white folks get in"Always liked that about you guys," he said. "Four days of grief and mourning for the spirit, and then get on with life. How did we white folks get into this corpse worship business? It's just dead meat, and dangerous to boot."
Surprisingly, this book is about The Plague. Some scientists on on the Rez testing prairie dog fleas for strains of The Plague.
One of the researchers, a 30-year-old woman, goes missing. Leaphorn is hired as a private detective by the woman's elderly relative to find her. She's missing and feared dead.
Chee is called in to assist an officer, Kinsman. I'm not sure what slur to call him, he's the kind of man who sexually harasses women, and gets in barfights with men. Not sure what you'd call that. A bully? Let's go with bully. Anyway, he's generally despised, even by Chee, and he's been sexually harassing Bernie, Chee's... um. The woman who has a crush on Chee.
When Chee finds Kinsman, he's lying dead and bloody on the ground, an equally bloody Hopi standing over him. Kinsman has been brained with a rock. Chee, of course, immediately arrests the Hopi for murder - ignoring his protests that he didn't kill Kinsman, he just stumbled upon the body.
Guess who's assigned to defend the Hopi? That's right. That F$&%ing @#$%* Janet Pete, whom Chee used to be in love with until she betrayed him in various ways and also made it clear she was unhappy about him and his life.
Chee needs this woman to come back in his life the way he needs a bullet in his thigh. ARGH. I hate her.
Okay. I have to calm down.
In true Hillerman fashion, the two seemingly unrelated cases end up coming together. ...
Jim Chee has a huge problem of letting go of failed relationships. He never makes a clean break with these women and always is vulnerable to them coming back into his life. He loves with his whole heart and is eternally, dopily optimistic.
Janet Pete was leaving Washington and coming back to Indian country. Her letter was friendly but cool, with no hint of romantic passion. Still, Janet was coming back, and after he finished with Kinsman he planned to call her. It would be a tentative exploratory call. Were they still engaged? Did she want to resume their prickly relationship? Bridge the gap? Actually get married? For that matter, did he?
Listen, honey, if you have to ask a woman if you two are still engaged, it means you're NOT. You haven't even seen her in a year. WTF?
And he's still endlessly fantasizing that they'll work it out.
When he'd exhausted all the dark corners that scenario offered, he turned to an alternative. Janet had come back to him. She'd be willing to live on the Big Rez, wife of a cop, living in what her friends would rate as slum housing, where high culture was a second-run movie. In that line of thought, love overcame all. But it wouldn't. She'd yearn for the life she'd given up. He would see it. They'd be miserable.
Yeah. It's never going to happen, bub. Why don't you finally make a clean break with this traitorous less-than-a-woman?
In the meantime, it's rather strange that Leaphorn has transformed himself into some kind of high-end, unlicensed private investigator. o.O
And he and Chee are still not what I would call friends, exactly.
Chee sighed. Fate seemed to be tying him to his former boss again, endlessly renewing the sense of inferiority Chee felt in the presence of the Legendary Lieutenant.
Then we have Leaphorn's pseudo-relationship with Louisa. She was not mentioned (even casually) in the last book. It was like she'd dropped off the face of the earth. The reader was left wondering what in the hell happened. Now, she's popped up again, halfway through this book, and things are about as clear as mud.
She and Leaphorn are still NOT sleeping together, which startled me. Due to the ending of the 11th book, I'd thought they had become a (sexually active) couple, but then of course she was completely absent from the 12th book. In this book, it's revealed that they are a.) not having sex and b.) she was married once before, a fact Leaphorn learns with great surprise. And I'm thinking to myself: Leaphorn sucks just as much as Chee does at relationships. Don't these people ever TALK to their lovers? Like "Hey, are we going to be exclusive?" or "Are we just friends? Or are we dating?" Or "Have you ever been married? Do you have any children? I've known you for three years now, just thought maybe I should know." Etc. etc. It's RIDICULOUS.
It's seemed that Leaphorn has more or less determined (in his own mind) that he and Louisa have somehow decided - without speaking - that they are just going to be friends.
Why was he feeling illogically happy? Because the tension was gone with Louisa. No more feeling that he was betraying Emma or himself. Or that Louisa was expecting more from him than he could possibly deliver. She'd made it clear. They were friends.
CARMEN'S NOTE: She did not - in any way - make this clear.
Not to mention that he's still constantly and actively mourning Emma, his deceased wife.
The crisp, fresh sheets reminded him of Emma. Everything did. The morning breeze ruffled the curtains beside his head. Emma, too, always left their windows open to the outside air until Window Rock's bitter winter made it impractical. The curtains, too. He had teased her about that. "I didn't see curtains in your mother's hogan, Emma," he'd said. And she rewarded him with her tolerant smile and reminded him he'd moved her out of the hogan, and Navajos must remain in harmony with houses that needed curtains. That was one of the things he loved about her. One of the many. As numerous as the stars of a high country midnight.
Perhaps Louisa doesn't want to become involved in a romantic relationship with a man who is still so deeply in love with his dead wife? We'll never know because Leaphorn and Louisa NEVER CHOOSE TO FLIPPIN' COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER. Sheesh.
Jim Chee's not doing so well with Janet Pete's return into his life. Therefore he does something that takes huge balls. I'm not going to tell you what it is, but I was very impressed.
And when the chips are down, (view spoiler)[Janet betrays him once again. Professionally. (hide spoiler)] Jim Chee is not really surprised. His move, in addition to being ballsy, was a sort of test to see if he could still love and trust her. But the scales are finally falling from his eyes (I hope and pray this time for good) and he's really seeing (even though he should have figured it out way earlier) what kind of person Janet is.
She said: "Damn you, Jim," and walked away.
Chee finished his coffee, listened to her car starting up and rolling across the parking-lot gravel. He felt numb. She had loved him once, in her way. He knew he'd loved her. Probably he still did. He'd know more about that tomorrow when the pain began.
I wish I could say this is the end of it, and he'll never foolishly start to want to date her again, but I know Jim Chee. He drags his dead relationships behind him for at least a year or two after they are over. He's a glutton for punishment. I have no idea what to do with him.
Tl;dr - A rather strange mystery that involves The Plague. Am I the only one who finds this weird?
Leaphorn and Chee continue to struggle to find romantic happiness with their respective women. Without much success. And they are still not really friends....more
Mma Ramotswe smiled at her old friend. You can go through life and make new friends every year - every month practically - but there was never any subMma Ramotswe smiled at her old friend. You can go through life and make new friends every year - every month practically - but there was never any substitute for those friendships of childhood that survive into adult years. Those are the ones in which we are bound to one another with hoops of steel. pg. 221
I didn't like this. It's very cutesy. I am sorry, "Cutesy" books are not for me. Books can be cute, I can enjoy cute books, but not cutesy ones, I'm afraid. Another example of a cutesy book: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry.
Allegedly this is a mystery novel, but I'm afraid if you are expecting a traditional mystery novel you will be disappointed. For one thing, McCall Smith is prone to going off on tangents. For instance, the part of the book that explains Precious's daddy's life and his experiences. It has nothing to do with the plot. Or the part where a cobra gets into her truck. Again, it has nothing to do with anything.
Secondly, there is not a main mystery. Instead, here McCall Smith has strung along a series of little mystery vignettes. People come to Precious with their problems. Precious always solves them in a very cute way. She confronts the villains and scolds them. Then the villains are ashamed, and apologize. Then she usually lets them go without punishment.
Does that sound unsatisfying to you? Than you won't like it.
McCall Smith also brings in serious issues - issues that are quite serious for a cutesy book. In that way, I will also compare him to Zevin. Zevin wants to write about cancer and suicide, but craft a cutesy novel. McCall Smith talks about rape, wife-beating, a man beating the pregnancy out of woman, child slavery and etc. But he still wants to maintain this cutesy atmosphere for his whole book. It's quite weird. I also thought Zevin was weird. It's a weird thing to do. And people are always talking about how 'comforting' and 'charming' these books are. Sure, Mma Ramotswe sits around drinking bush tea. People delight in her fatness, she delights in her own fatness. Men are always proposing marriage to her. She catches criminals, but she's like a mommy. She scolds them and tells them they are bad! Then they are shamefaced and apologize. She makes them promise never to do it again and lets them go! I guess if you like stuff like Janet Evanovich, these books might appeal to you. They are similar in levels of goofiness at times.
She stopped. It was time to take the pumpkin out of the pot and eat it. In the final analysis, that was what solved these big problems of life. You could think and think and get nowhere, but you still had to eat your pumpkin. That brought you down to earth. That gave you a reason for going on. Pumpkin. pg. 85
You also have weird cognitive dissonance on some things. This woman shoots a crocodile in the head and deftly guts it. Yet (view spoiler)[McCall Smith has her ENJOY and keep going back to her rapist/wife-beating husband... even after he beats her into a miscarriage. She only escapes this fucker because he abandons her. (hide spoiler)] Is it realistic? Perhaps. We could have arguments in the comments about statistics and the psychology of domestic abuse. But is it frustrating as a reader and even more anger-inducing since the whole book is so fucking cutesy and precious? Absolutely. He also tries to convince me Precious enjoys being raped on some level. This infuriated me. Why are men always writing this shit? It reminds me a lot of Paprika, another book written by a man who insists on writing a female MC and telling the reader she likes rape on some level. Or Ian Fleming, I guess.
My head was kind of spinning as I read this. I couldn't believe what I was reading at points. There's a huge, huge persistence of this idea of "simple Black folk" living "simple African lives" with "simple, happy African values that white people can't appreciate" that really got under my skin. I'm very confused as to why some authors are given a complete pass and some are persecuted by mobs of angry leftists. (Full disclosure, I'm a liberal.) I'm not saying anything about McCall Smith or his personal beliefs or his ideas, I don't do that since I'm not a SJW but it's very strange to me that this book series is so incredibly popular and it seems there's a communal agreement to just go with it. What the Twitter mobs choose to go after and who they grant mercy to baffles me. I was rather taken aback by this pervasive idea in the book which is constant and unrelenting.
Another thing, which also seemed strange to me, was the persistent anti-men sentiment in the book. Men are disparaged every other page. They are useless trash and not to be trusted. Pretty much all problems stem from them, the book tells us. Meanwhile, women are a source of good and just have to tolerate men and their lazy, criminal tendencies. It was baffling.
IS MCCALL SMITH A GOOD WRITER?
I mean, yes. He is a good writer if you like cutesy. He has one or two scenes in here I even enjoyed. An example for people who have read the book is the scene where Precious meets Mr. Patel for the first time. He has some interesting thoughts. I didn't think he was a slouch at writing.
However, I can't stand cutesy-cutesy books. That's strike one. It bothers me that he has a constant, persistent portrayal of "simple Black folk, simple African Black folk and their simple lives" schtick. That's strike two. And even though I'm not a man, the constant and automatic assumption that men are scum, all men are scum, women are just put-upon and oppressed by dumb men schtick was also annoying and bothersome. I didn't see why it was necessary. That's strike three.
It is a language which is good for telling people what to do. There are many words for push, take, shove, carry, load, and no words for love, or happiness, or the sounds which birds make in the morning. pg. 23 - This is EXACTLY the kind of shitty line that has me foaming at the mouth. UGH. GAG. Cutesy garbage. UGH. The whole book is full of this.
TL;DR Not for me. However, the books are hugely popular and McCall Smith has made a ton of money off them. A lot of people find them charming and cute. However, this book makes me retch a little. It's not my thing. But Janet Evanovich is hugely popular, too, and she is rich and I can't stand her books. So maybe I just am missing whatever button that other people have that makes them feel joy when reading this.
Not trying to yuck your yum, but I have to express my opinions here and this is how I felt after I shut the book. *shrug* Read the whole series if you want, but it's not my thing and I won't be continuing with it. I don't see the appeal.
How sorry she felt for white people, who couldn't do any of this, and who were always dashing around and worrying themselves over things that were going to happen anyway. What use was it having all that money if you could never sit still or just watch your cattle eating grass? None, in her view; none at all, and yet they did not know it. Every so often you met a white person who understood, who realised how things really were; but these people were few and far between and the other white people often treated them with suspicion. pg. 162
NAMES IN THIS BOOK (view spoiler)[ Precious f Happy f Obed m Josiah m Note m Peter m Shadreck m Thobiso m Ernest m Paliwalar m Wallace m Sandri f Pali f Nandira f Clovis m Bison – dog Sipho f Jack m Billy m Rose f Alice f Kremlin m Charlie m Hector m Solomon m Jameson m Grace f (hide spoiler)]...more
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