Ms. Hen reviews The Dark Forest

 

The Dark Forest

Cinxin Liu

Tor Book

2008, 2015

Translated by Joel Martinsen

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel because she read the first novel in this series, THE THREE BODY PROBLEM. She liked that book so much that she had to find out what happened next.

This novel takes place after the last one, but with some different characters. The people on Earth are preparing for the Trisolarans to come. They prepare a special task force, people called Wallfacers, to help deal with the crisis. People from our current day go into hibernation in order to be involved in the Trisolaran battles when they reach Earth. The novel speeds ahead to the future where not everything is what the people from the past envisioned it to be. 

In the future, most people live underground, and do not have to have jobs. They live in houses that hang from trees, and wear clothes that light up with pictures. Energy comes from everything, all the people have to do is touch a wall, and they are connected to the internet. Even so, in this era, not everything is perfect. Humans are still humans, and they live according to their own rules.

This novel, similar to the last one, is heavy with science, which made Ms. Hen's eyes cross. But there are elements of romance, and mystery, and fantasy which made Ms. Hen happy. The character Luo Ji creates a fantasy woman and she becomes real. He also has people trying to kill him, and we don't find out why until the end.

Ms. Hen thinks there's a possibility this novel wouldn't be written this way if it were American. Americans are incessantly optimistic, and the Chinese view is not. Americans think that the world can be wonderful, and discovering new life on other planets is exciting, but the attitude from the Chinese point of view in this novel is one of bleakness and disenchantment. Ms. Hen thinks it's difficult to look at the world that way, but she's not sure which way is better.

This is a very dense novel, and it took a long time to read. Ms. Hen wants to read the third novel in the series, but she thinks she's going to wait a little bit, since this book is so intense. It's difficult reading about the possible end of humanity, but Ms. Hen likes to know what authors imagine, because there could be some small element of reality to the ideas that writers produce, and she wants to be ready for anything.

Ms. Hen reviews How High We Go In The Dark

 

How High We Go In The Dark

Sequoia Nagamatsu

Harper Collins

2022

Ms. Hen had been meaning to read this book for a while, but for a long time, it was unavailable at the library. She finally checked it out, and she thinks this is a book worth waiting for.

This is a novel in stories about a plague that comes from the Arctic from a girl scientists find who has has been buried under ice for thousands of years. The plague takes over the world, and millions of people die, and the world changes. Ms. Hen read the different stories about characters who are affected by the plague: the man whose daughter discovered the body in Siberia, someone who works at an amusement park which is a place for euthanizing infected children, and a man who creates a pig who can talk.

This book travels through the years, and into the future when the plague changes history. Characters even travel to space to find a new planet to inhabit. A lot of depressed characters dwell in these pages, and Ms. Hen feels sorry for a lot of them.

Ms. Hen is charmed by this novel, and she didn't want it to end. She has read a lot of books like this lately, like THE THREE BODY PROBLEM, THE HIDDEN GIRL AND OTHER STORIES, and EXHALATION. She seems to be gravitating to science fiction by Asian men, maybe that's a phase for her, but she's not sure. It's just that all of these books are so good that she can't get enough. They're just what she wants right now.

Even though this novel is about a pandemic, it was inspired before COVID happened. Ms. Hen think that pandemics have always been around, and have sparked ideas for writers. People suffering are always more interesting than those that are content.

Ms. Hen read in the acknowledgements in this book that the author was partly inspired by STAR TREK. Ms. Hen does not read that a lot in author notes, and she's glad this one is honest. A lot of writers want their fans to think they're highbrow, and have only read the best books, but Ms. Hen thinks that STAR TREK can be as inspirational as any classic novel.

Ms. Hen recommends that you run, not walk, to get this novel, by bookstore or library, or wherever you acquire books. She thinks this is one of the best books she's read this year. It's not a light summer book, but Ms. Hen doesn't believe in those anyway 😀

Ms. Hen reviews The Book of Delights

 

The Book of Delights

Ross Gay

Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill

2019

Ms. Hen first heard of this book from a podcast on This American Life. She does not listen to a lot of podcasts, because she prefers to read or listen to music, but she was on a road trip and needed to kill time. She was delighted by all the stories on this podcast, and it made her curious about the book. The link for the podcast is here: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/692/the-show-of-delights

This is a collection of essays about cultivating the idea of delight. The author is delighted with almost everything he sees, and since Ms. Hen has heard this podcast, and read this book, she is attempting to find delight as well. Ms. Hen thinks that she is delightful herself, but she struggles with others' lack of delight at times, which is not delightful.

The author talks about the joy of writing by hand, which Ms. Hen understands for some people can be a pleasure. Ms. Hen does not like writing by hand, because her hands get more tired that way, but people have their own sense of delight.

Ms. Hen learned of the term "negreeting," in this book. It's a way that Black people acknowledge other Black people, by inferring that they know what it's like to live in this world as themselves. Ms. Hen thinks that there are other types of this communication, between marginalized people, or people who look and talk the same.

In the essay entitled "Touched," the author talks about how people who are seen as touched are a little bit off, but they might be enjoying themselves in a way that nobody understands. Some people might think that Ms. Hen is touched, because she a hen who writes a blog, but that's okay, because she has accepted that she is different. Ms. Hen is delighted that she sees the world in a different way than other people, and she does not care what people think of her.

One of the things that delights Ms. Hen right now is the Cow Parade in Boston. There are life-size cows painted all over the city, which is a fundraiser for the Jimmy Fund. Ms. Hen has been walking all over, looking for cows, taking pictures of herself on them. She wonders how people walk by these cows and are not delighted, but she thinks that is their own problem. 

Ms. Hen loves the idea of cultivating delight, because almost anything can be delightful, if we want it to be. The world can be terrible, and completely awful, but Ms. Hen thinks that finding delight is a practice, similar to yoga, in which a person exercises their delight muscle, and life can seem a little bit brighter.

Ms. Hen reviews The Penelopiad

 

The Penelopiad

Margaret Atwood

Canongate Books

2005

Ms. Hen decided to read this because she had read THE ODYSSEY recently, and she wanted to find books that were inspired by it. She had already read CIRCE, but she had never heard of this book, which is the reimagined backstory of Odysseus' wife Penelope, and the twelve maids that were hung at the end of the epic poem.

Penelope was the daughter of a king, and a Naiad, or a water spirit. Her father tried to drown her when she was young, because it was prophesied that she would weave his death shroud. She did not drown, but survived, so he decided to give her the nickname, "Duck." Penelope's cousin was Helen, the great beauty. When Penelope got married, she traveled with Odysseus to his kingdom, a rocky island filled with goats.

She is lonely there, but she had a son, and befriends the young maids. Odysseus goes to fight in the Trojan war, but gets lost on the way home. She struggles to keep his estate together, her suitors try to woo her, but she waits patiently for her husband. The men eat all their food. Her maids inform her about what the suitors are doing. She is devastated when they die.

In between some of the chapters, the twelve maids sing a type of Greek chorus, like in the ancient plays by Sophocles and the other playwrights. Ms. Hen thinks this is charming, and it's poetry thrust into the middle of a novel. The novel is brimming with poetry.

Ms. Hen thinks this novel is dark, and it might be triggering for some people. But she thinks that students of literature should fight against being triggered, because the whole world is shocking and upsetting, and a highly educated person should be able to read a book and not become traumatized. Ms. Hen thinks that younger people today have gone weak, and don't know how to deal with the horrors of daily life. She's glad she's not any kind of teacher, because she would end up insulting the students, and she might get fired.

A hen house is mentioned, which excited Ms. Hen. Odysseus has come back home, and Telemachus and he are ganging up on Penelope, "I could see he had a rosy little picture in his mind: the two of them, siding up against me, grown men together, two roosters in charge of the henhouse." Ms. Hen likes this analogy, though she feels sorry for Penelope. It's difficult for a woman who has been in charge of her own house to relinquish her power.

Ms. Hen raced through this small book. She thinks it's great to read, if you want to be angry about women's place in society, and want to understand how an ancient tale can become new again, like all great tales, they never get old, and can be seen with fresh and and colorful eyes.

Ms. Hen reviews The Hidden Girl and Other Stories

 

The Hidden Girl and Other Stories

Ken Liu

Head of Zeus, Ltd.

2020

Ms. Hen decided to read this collection of short stories because she has read other books by the same author and loved them. She was inspired to read another collection of his when she read the book EXHALATION by Ted Chiang.

Ms. Hen thinks that each of these short stories encompasses an entire world, that on their own they are like novels. The author's other collection, THE PAPER MENAGERIE AND OTHER SHORT STORIES was like this as well.

One of Ms. Hen's favorite stories is "The Reborn," which is about a time when aliens take over Earth. These aliens don't believe in memories or history; they have lived for thousands of years, but do not remember their entire lives. They don't understand why human punish people for making mistakes, for example, if a person is a murderer, only a part of that person is a murderer, the other parts could be a father, or a husband, or a friend. This story is about a Boston police officer who is married to an alien, their relationship, and the problems they face.

Another story Ms. Hen liked is "Dispatches from the Cradle: The Hermit - Forty-eight Hours in the Sea of Massachusetts." This is about a time when the earth is covered by water because of global warming. Refugees live on the planet in boats which can convert to underwater vehicles, while the elite live in space. Tourists come to Earth to visit old landmarks that are underwater, such as Harvard Yard. This story is about a woman who was an executive, but chooses to live in a craft amongst the refugees on the oceans of Earth.

A lot of these stories are about human consciousness continuing on through the ether of cyberspace, such as in "The Gods Will Not Be Chained," and "Memories of My Mother." Ms. Hen thinks it's interesting that humanity could live on this way, and she thinks it could be starting with the new AI and social media.

Some of these stories are about family relationships, but with a sci-fi twist, such as "Seven Birthdays," and "The Message." Ms. Hen thinks that even in the future, people will have issues with their families.

Ms. Hen enjoyed reading these short stories, though a lot of them are disturbing. This book proposes the idea that the world could end through global warming or computers taking over the world. Ms. Hen also thinks the end could come by nuclear war. She doesn't like to think such dark thoughts on a Monday, but sometimes she can't help it.

Ms. Hen reviews The Odyssey

 

The Odyssey

Homer

Farrar, Straus and Girioux

This edition 1998

Translated by Robert Fitzgerald

Ms. Hen decided to venture into these waters

because a friend recommended this book to her;

she doesn't usually like to read books in verse form,

but she decided to give this a chance,

for she wants to know the best of storytelling,

and this is the first epic journey of its kind,

the original hero's journey,

the tale to end all tales.

Odysseus goes on a trip and does not come home

for a long time.

He goes on adventures, almost gets killed, 

but kills a lot of beings,

human and non-human along the way.

Ms. Hen enjoyed the part when Kirke turned his men

into pigs. Ms. Hen thinks she is a talented woman.

This book is darker than Ms. Hen thought it would be.

Odysseus' wife Penelope waits for him, but is harassed

in the meantime. A gang of men want to marry her,

but she waits for her husband, not patiently, but

with much agony. When Odysseus returns, he tricks

everyone because he does not reveal himself at first.

Bedlam ensues.

Ms. Hen can see how this tale has influenced

almost everything ever written

from Shakespeare to STAR TREK,

and a plethora in between.

The story of being lost and finding our way home

is timeless

and never gets old.

Ms. Hen likes to read heavy books in the summer,

when everyone else imbibes in frivolous ones, 

because she has to be different,

though this book was not as heavy as others she has read,

but it's intense enough to qualify

as Ms. Hen's light summer reading.

Ms. Hen recommends being like Odysseus,

and fighting for what you believe,

to get home, 

or your rights,

do what you must to prove your weight in the world,

and live your life as best you can.

 

Ms. Hen reviews Please: Fiction Inspired by The Smiths

 

Please: Fiction Inspired by The Smiths

Edited by Peter Wild

2009

Harper Perennial

Ms. Hen found this book by chance while she was reading book reviews online. She doesn't usually buy a book unless she knows it will be worth reading, but she took a chance on this because the premise sounded so enticing. She has been a fan of the Smiths for a long time, and they have even inspired some of her writing.

Most of this anthology is fantastic. Only one story is not, and that is, "Back to the Old House," which is written in a Scottish dialect, which Ms. Hen found excruciating to read. She doesn't know why a writer would want to torture their readers that much.

One of her favorite stories is, "I Won't Share You," about a family on holiday in a caravan, and something goes horribly wrong with the father's arm. Ms. Hen thinks this is charming and dark, which is a combination she loves.

Another story she adores is, "Oscillating Wildly," about a man who is dying, thinking about his life when he was young and the time he had gone to visit his uncle in France, who worked as the caretaker at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery, and possessed a piece of Oscar Wilde's grave. This reminded Ms. Hen of the time she went to Oscar Wilde's grave in that cemetery.

She found the story, "Girl Afraid," especially beautiful and poignant, since it reminded Ms. Hen of when she was a girl, but she thinks this character would have a much different life than she had.

Ms. Hen found these stories nostalgic for a time and place she has never known, if that's possible. This book contains stories of a world that does not exist anymore, and Ms. Hen is not sure if that's positive. The world used to be simpler, or it seemed to be when we were less connected. 

Looking back, Ms. Hen thinks that things were simple, but during that time, life seemed complicated. Not being in touch, and not able to find out everything, was a type of freedom people didn't realize they had. Record stores, and taping music off the radio, and waiting for a song you love to come on the radio, and loving music because you think a band is singing about you, are activities of the past that people of younger generations will never know. This anthology reminds Ms. Hen of her youth, but she would never want to be young again, and she's glad that will never happen.

Ms. Hen at Oscar Wilde's grave