Ms. Hen reviews The Godel Operation

 

The Godel Operation

James L. Cambias

2021

Baen Publishing

Ms. Hen decided to read this book because she might go to a book club that is discussing this. She has never been to a book club before, and she's not sure why. It might be because she doesn't like the idea of someone telling her what to read, but she likes the idea of talking to people about books, which is her passion in life.

When she read the first four pages of this book, she hated it. There are so many adjectives in this book! When Ms. Hen was in writing school, she was taught not to use that many adjectives or adverbs in her writing. She gave the book another chance, and somehow got used to the descriptors.

This novel is described as a "space opera." This novel takes place eight centuries in the future, and it starts on Raba, which is in the Uranus system. It's about a boy named Zee who has a friend that's a droid, and they go on an adventure together. The novel is told through the point of view of Daslakh, the droid. 

They are working together in a mine, and Daslakh notices that Zee has been slacking off, so he asks God for help. God, in the form of a penguin, inserts memories into Zee that never existed, that he was in love with a girl named Kusti Sendoa, who is actually a character in an entertainment. They try to acquire the Godel Trigger, on the way meeting Adya, a woman from Miranda.

Ms. Hen thinks there are some very good world building descriptions in this novel. The character Adya's skin turns different colors when she is in different moods, like a mood ring. Adya's ship is in the form of a whale. Printers are everywhere that print clothes for people and food, but real things are coveted. An auction occurs where people are trying to purchase antiques.

Ms. Hen found a few Shakespeare references. The deceit that happened to Zee reminds Ms. Hen of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING in the way that it is silly, but not predictable. The moons are also named after Shakespearean characters, Puck and Miranda. Those are the actual names of the moons around Uranus. Most of the moons around Uranus have similar Shakespeare inspired names.

Ms. Hen liked this book, but she found she had to take breaks from reading it. It might have been because of the adjectives. She thought it was fun, and would recommend it to people who like heavy science fiction. It reminded her of STAR WARS and STAR TREK, which she loves, but she doesn't usually read books similar to this. There's adventure, and love, and vivid descriptions of a universe that doesn't exist yet, but might someday.

Ms. Hen reviews A Long Petal of the Sea

A Long Petal of the Sea

Isabel Allende

Ballentine Books

2020

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel, because she needed to recover from the last two books she had read, and she wanted to read something nice. She has read lots of books by Isabel Allende, and they always make her feel better about the world. She got this book from her local library.

This novel is about a couple who escapes the Spanish Civil War, and go to Chile. Victor is an army doctor, and his brother's fiancee, Roser, who is pregnant, escape Spain to go to France at the end of the war. Her fiance died fighting in the war. Victor and Roser survive refugee camps, and are separated, but find each other. Pablo Neruda, the Chilean poet, finances a ship, the SS Winnipeg, to save refugees and take them to Chile. Roser and Victor have to get married, out of necessity, to qualify getting passage on the ship.

They live together as man and wife with their child in Chile. Victor finishes his medical studies, and Roser teaches music and performs. They dream of going back to Spain, but don't know if that can happen. The country they knew does not exist anymore.

Ms. Hen knew about the Spanish Civil War, but the way it's described here is gruesome. It was said there was so much blood, that the peasants found onions that were red, and potatoes with teeth. That image will stay with Ms. Hen for a while.

This is a good recovery novel from the last two that Ms. Hen read. She doesn't know how she can classify this as a "nice" novel, but she will try to. It's a normal book, something that is pleasant to read, even with the graphic sections. She doesn't know how a novel can be normal, especially when it's so interesting and compelling. But she thinks it can be called normal.

Some chickens appeared in this novel, which Ms. Hen liked. "Roser spent the money on two live chickens," she bought the chickens because the family had very little food when they were in Spain. The chickens saved their lives! Chickens can be helpful, which makes Ms. Hen happy.

Parts of this novel dragged at the end, and it got a little like a history book, which Ms. Hen found tiresome. But she loved the story of refugees going to a different country to start over. Ms. Hen learned after she read this, that this is based on a true story. If you want a comforting novel, this is the one for you. It's about an entire life, its ups and downs, love and pain, war and peace, and finding love when and where we least expect it.

 

Ms. Hen reviews August is a Wicked Month

 

August is a Wicked Month

Edna O'Brien

Faber & Faber Ltd

1965

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel, because she had read others by this author, and she wanted to read more. She learned that this was a banned book, and she became curious. Ms. Hen finds that she likes banned books; when a book is considered dangerous enough to be banned, it's usually worth reading.

This novel is about an Irish woman who lives in England, Ellen, who is divorced. Her son and ex-husband are going camping in the country, and she has an ill-fated affair with a man she has had her eye on for a long time. She is disappointed in herself, so she books a trip to the South of France. She wants to have fun.

She finds herself in a couple of unpleasant situations in the hotel where she is staying with men who work there. She starts talking to a woman in a bar, and she goes with her with some other people to a club, and they end up at someone's house. Ellen likes an actor named Bobby, but she ends up spending the night with the owner of the house, though she doesn't want to. She gets herself into trouble, and makes mistakes.

Ms. Hen was surprised where this novel went. She was surprised with what happened with the character, which is what a good novel should do. She has not read a lot of book in which a female protagonist get venereal disease.

To Ms. Hen, this reminded her of novels by Ottessa Moshfegh, EILEEN, and MY YEAR OF REST AND RELAXATION. These books are about women who make bad choices, and could be considered bad people. Traditionally, woman are supposed to be good and have redeeming qualities, and be kind and gentle, and not be disgusting and humiliate themselves. Also this novel made Ms. Hen think of ANNA KARENINA, the quintessential fallen woman novel. The character does not do what convention expects her to do, and she pays the ultimate price.  

Ms. Hen felt sorry for this character; she doesn't seem very smart. All she wants is to have a good time, but she gets in trouble. She won't tell you what happens at the end of the novel, but Ms. Hen thinks Ellen will be okay. This novel is a great example of creating an anti-hero, the reader roots for her, because we have to, but we watch her spiral out of control.

Ms. Hen wanted to read a nice book to recover from the last book she read, and this isn't exactly nice, but it was a good rebound. She doesn't think this is her favorite Edna O'Brien book, but it was published a long time ago. The world has changed since this novel has been published. If it were published today, it would not be banned; Ms. Hen thinks it would have been more successful.

Ms. Hen reviews The Small Backs of Children

 

The Small Backs of Children

Lidia Yuknavitch

Harper Perennial 

2015

Ms. Hen happened to stumble across this book online. She read about it, and decided to give it a chance.

This novel is about a writer who becomes obsessed with a picture of a girl whose house is being blown up behind her in Eastern Europe, the country is not named. A group of friends, the writer's husband, a filmmaker, a bisexual poet and a performance artist, go to the girl's country to save her and bring her back to the States. They contrive a plan.

When Ms. Hen read about this book, it was in the context of a high school reading list. She was not prepared for how triggering this book can be, and she does not think it would be appropriate for a lot of young people. Ms. Hen is not a hen that gets triggered, but she does not like to read about a lot of sexual violence, which this book contains. It's almost pornography in some sections, which Ms. Hen did not like.

Also, the characters in this book are pretentious. The writer, the filmmaker, the performance artist, the photographer, the poet, and the artist do not have names. To Ms. Hen, they are people who don't have lives, she understands that artists can be crazy, and she considers herself a crazy artist, but she thinks she might not be that crazy after reading this book. She does not know what it is to be so unstable that her life is a mess. Ms. Hen has worked to appear to be normal.

This novel got rave reviews, and Ms. Hen does not understand why. Some critics said it was the best book of 2015. Ms. Hen thinks that some people might crave perversion and pretentiousness, and that is why they loved this. Ms. Hen does not crave those things. Ms. Hen is a hen that desires weirdness and originality, quirkiness and surprises.

Ms. Hen read an article while she was reading this book about a protester in Russia of the war who was told she was going to be put in a cell with other prisoners so they could rape her. That article blended into this book that Ms. Hen is reviewing, and when she remembered that, she didn't know if it was in this novel or not. She does not recommend this novel if you are sensitive or intelligent. If not, this is the book for you.