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Dreamsnake (Vonda N. McIntyre)
Feb. 4th, 2011 07:10 pmShe took Gabriel’s soft strong hand. “Here they make it too hard for you. I could make it too easy. Neither way is right... Go out in the world,” Snake said. “Take your life in your hands and make it what you want.”
Reread after thinking about the stuff in my last post. This book... is extremely refreshing, feminist-wise. It's a gender-equal society (and, for that matter, queer-friendly) but without particularly feeling the need to call attention to the fact, it just is. The main female character, Snake, is calmly competent without being either look-at-me-being-feisty!, Mary Sue-like, or defined by some sort of (*cough*rape) trauma. (The trauma she does undergo has to do with failing at her job. Awesomeness.) (There is a rape mentioned in the book, but it a) has much more to do with child abuse than with gender crap, and b) does not Scar the Victim for Life, or Define Her.) Snake has got both male and female role models as well as is a role model/parental-ish figure herself to both a male and female, and has no problems making friends of either gender. She has too much to do to spend any time swooning over a man; in fact, she's out having adventures and saving the world while it's the man whose whole journey is about, well, her. And the one who wants to be pure and unsullied for True Love is... the guy, while Snake is happy to have the occasional casual sexual encounter (have I mentioned that the whole world is very relaxed about sex, because of absolute bio-control over reproduction).
And when Arevin finally catches up with her, Snake and her daughter have already rescued themselves, and Arevin gets to help by... boiling water. Seriously, that is his contribution to Saving the Woman and the World. I laughed out loud at this.
Also, not related to feminism at all, but I loved the climactic realization Snake makes. We need more books where the entire thing and Saving the World hinges on science. That was awesome.
It is really a travesty that a) this book is out of print, and b) it was published in 1978, and more than thirty years later I see precious few things like it on the bookshelves. (It's really hard for me to imagine the quote above being said by any woman in most of the books I have to any of the men.)
At least, that I know of. Anyone want to recommend me something similar? (And not Rosemary Kirstein, who I'm not incredibly fond of, although I acknowledge that on the surface she seems to do a lot of similar things -- but at the expense of, I feel, having her society be a wish-fulfillment-Mary-Sue, if I can refer to an entire society as such.)
Reread after thinking about the stuff in my last post. This book... is extremely refreshing, feminist-wise. It's a gender-equal society (and, for that matter, queer-friendly) but without particularly feeling the need to call attention to the fact, it just is. The main female character, Snake, is calmly competent without being either look-at-me-being-feisty!, Mary Sue-like, or defined by some sort of (*cough*rape) trauma. (The trauma she does undergo has to do with failing at her job. Awesomeness.) (There is a rape mentioned in the book, but it a) has much more to do with child abuse than with gender crap, and b) does not Scar the Victim for Life, or Define Her.) Snake has got both male and female role models as well as is a role model/parental-ish figure herself to both a male and female, and has no problems making friends of either gender. She has too much to do to spend any time swooning over a man; in fact, she's out having adventures and saving the world while it's the man whose whole journey is about, well, her. And the one who wants to be pure and unsullied for True Love is... the guy, while Snake is happy to have the occasional casual sexual encounter (have I mentioned that the whole world is very relaxed about sex, because of absolute bio-control over reproduction).
And when Arevin finally catches up with her, Snake and her daughter have already rescued themselves, and Arevin gets to help by... boiling water. Seriously, that is his contribution to Saving the Woman and the World. I laughed out loud at this.
Also, not related to feminism at all, but I loved the climactic realization Snake makes. We need more books where the entire thing and Saving the World hinges on science. That was awesome.
It is really a travesty that a) this book is out of print, and b) it was published in 1978, and more than thirty years later I see precious few things like it on the bookshelves. (It's really hard for me to imagine the quote above being said by any woman in most of the books I have to any of the men.)
At least, that I know of. Anyone want to recommend me something similar? (And not Rosemary Kirstein, who I'm not incredibly fond of, although I acknowledge that on the surface she seems to do a lot of similar things -- but at the expense of, I feel, having her society be a wish-fulfillment-Mary-Sue, if I can refer to an entire society as such.)
