one disturbing book

I picked up Halfway Human at a book swap a few years back - I think it was from waterchilde. I've been meaning to get to it, I swear! Anyway, I started reading it shortly before going on vacation. At a certain point, I found the sexual violence in the book difficult to take, so I put it down and didn't take it on vacation with me. When I returned, I decided to pick it up again. Naturally, I discovered that I had stopped just at the end of the upsetting part. Well. That's how it goes sometimes.

This book reminded me of The Sparrow in some ways, but without the spiritual overtones. I liked the gender stuff (the main subject of the book is a world where only a minority of people have genders, and only that minority are considered human - the rest are neuter) but wish there had been more talk about how someone without a gender would fit into or have trouble fitting into a dual-gender society like ours.

What I didn't like as much about it was how slow it was, and the jumping back and forth between past and present that Russell made so effortless in her version. I also felt that the viewpoint characters weren't really fleshed out. What do they like to eat? What do they like to do in their spare time? Heck, what clothes do they wear when they have the choice? It also seemed long to me.

If you're interested in gender in sci fi or in books that make you feel activisty, go ahead and pick it up. Two and a half stars.

halfway through...

spring-cleaning the kitchen with movieguy13_5. Going much better, and faster, than last year. We're already very silly, and soon we break for our house-sponsored lunch and Mike's. Yeah.