Ms. Hen Reviews The Three-Body Problem

 

The Three-Body Problem

Cixin Liu

2006, 2014 

Tor Books

Translation from Chinese by Ken Liu

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel simply because she heard it was a good book. She wants to try to read more contemporary science fiction.

This novel is about a woman in China named Ye Wenjie who discovers a way to communicate with aliens. She learns from the aliens that they are coming to take over Earth, and she is relieved because she doesn't like humanity, and what it has done to the planet, and its people. A game is invented to show people what the planet the aliens that are taking over are like called The Three-Body Problem. 

This novel starts with the backdrop of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. During that time intellectuals and educated people in China were sent away or reprogrammed to be followers of communism. A lot was lost during this time in China. The characters live in fear of what the government would do if they retaliated. Some Westerners find out that Ye Wenji communicated with the alien planet, Trisolaris, and start a group that is preparing for their arrival.

Ms. Hen liked this book, but it is very heavy on the scientific descriptions. Ms. Hen is not quite adept at understanding science, she mostly likes science fiction for the ideas that the genre presents, and the possibilities. Even so, she enjoyed this book.

This novel is a realistic portrayal of what would happen if people on Earth communicated with aliens. Some people would be excited, and some afraid, and some would be in awe. A lot would not believe that people on Earth would have the ability to communicate with extra-terrestrials, and life would go on as normal.

The idea that Earth is not worth saving is presented in this novel. However the Trisolarans believe that Earth is a superior planet, and they want to take over for the stability of the climate. Ye Wenjie tells the aliens that they can come, essentially throwing Earth under the bus because she thinks Earth's time is done.

Is Earth worth saving? If you had the opportunity to tell aliens to come here, and take over, would you? Ms. Hen doesn't know if she would. Some positive things exist on Earth, but she's not sure if the negative outweighs them. Is life on Earth worth fighting for? We've never been faced with this question, but if we were, we would have to work to figure out the answer.

Ms. Hen reviews Hunting by Stars

 

Hunting by Stars

Cherie Dimaline

Amulet Books

2021

Ms. Hen decided to read this, because she read the first book, THE MARROW THIEVES, and she loved it. This is the type of book she adores: YA Dystopian fiction, but this is about Native Americans, so this has a unique twist.

The novel enters with Frenchie captured in a school, where the Recruiters take Natives to extract the marrow from their bones in order to steal their dreams, because dreams don't exist anymore for non-Natives. Frenchie meets his long lost brother Mitch, and Mitch tries to convince Frenchie to join their ranks kidnapping Native people, and ruining their lives. Frenchie does not want to do this, but he thinks it might be his only way out of the school, and back to his family.

Rose, Frenchie's girlfriend, and Derrick, a guy from the camp where they were staying, go after Frenchie, but become involved in a house full of vampires. Frenchie's adopted family, the people with whom he traveled in the woods, attempt to save Frenchie. 

Ms. Hen thinks this is a beautiful book. The writing is exquisite, and the tension is just enough. She thinks this book is better than the first one, because more happens, and more is at stake. Strong women characters fill these pages, and Ms. Hen admires them.

Ms. Hen understands that the author decided to write this sequel because she received so much feedback from fans of the book, that they wanted more from these characters and this world. Not a lot of YA books about Native Americans exist, and the readers of this book were so enthralled that they begged for more.

Ms. Hen understands why. This is an important novel, and it needs to be talked about. The world could be headed to where this novel exists, and that is a terrifying thing.

Ms. Hen reviews A Carnival of Snackery

 

A Carnival of Snackery

David Sedaris

Little, Brown and Company

2021

Ms. Hen found this book at a Little Free Library near where she lives, and since she had read other books by this author, she picked it up. 

She was daunted by reading 17 years of diaries, but she found the book a lot of fun, and it read rather quickly. His diaries are not all about him, mostly they're about the people he meets in the world.

One of the fascinating things that Ms. Hen found reading this, was that she was thinking of where she was in her life when the entry had been made. Current events are thrown in, and Ms. Hen remembers all of them.

Mr. Sedaris travels the entire world, and meets interesting people everywhere he goes. She wonders how he has the ability to have people tell them something interesting about themselves wherever he ends up. She thinks it might be because these people want to entertain him the way he entertains them. Ms. Hen decided that if she met him, she would go to a reading, and tell him that she writes a blog from the point of view of a hen purse. She hopes that would make him laugh.

Ms. Hen likes to laugh as well, and she finds quirky stories all around. Her favorite stories to write now are about people in the hospital where she works. Everyone who walks in the door is suffering, which Ms. Hen thinks makes for great conflict. Stories abound all over the world, and everyone has one, but capturing them is the beauty of the process of writing.

Ms. Hen reviews Exhalation

 

Exhalation

Ted Chiang

Vintage Books

2019

Ms. Hen bought this book at a new independent bookstore in her neighborhood called Molly's Books. She went to there to check the place out, and it's a cute bookstore. There was a table that was dedicated to AAPI Heritage month, and she picked up this book because she had never heard of this author, but she loves sci-fi short stories, so she took it home.

This is a collection of nine stories, some are longer than others, but all of them dwell in other realms. Ms. Hen became charmed by each of these worlds, and she was swept away in each story.

The opening story, "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," is an Arabian Nights type of story, that includes time travel through a portal. "The Lifecycle of Software Objects," tells the story of digients, which are digital pets, and their owners have to fight for their survival. "Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny," is a type of steampunk story about a robotic nanny that takes care of infants, or at least attempt to do so.

Ms. Hen thought it was interesting and different that there is an explanation for the inspiration for each story by the author at the end of the collection. She thinks that knowing a story's origin is cool, but not always necessary. She learned that the story, "The Great Silence," originated as an art exhibit about parrots that can talk that was a collaboration with some artists.

This collection reminded her of, "The Paper Menagerie," by Ken Liu, that she read a couple of years ago. That book contained short stories that possessed an entire world in each one, similar to this book.

Ms. Hen is glad she read this book. She loves to read books that are strange and unusual, because she herself is strange and unusual. These are stories that make a reader think about the world, and why it is the way it is, and how bizarre things can be if a person looks in the right direction.

Ms. Hen reviews Night

 

Night 

Elie Wiesel

Hill and Wang

1958

Translation by Marion Wiesel 2006

Ms. Hen found this book at a Little Free Library near where she lives. She thought she had read it before; she meant to read it, but as she started, she realized she never had. She knew it had been in her presence before, but someone might have recommended that she shouldn't read it, because she might become upset, but Ms. Hen can't remember.

This novel is about Elie Wiesel's experience in Auschwitz when he was young. He was sent with his family, as well as all the Jewish people in his town. His entire family did not survive. He talks in the novel about the struggles of the people in the camp: how they think about food more than anything, and how everyone seems to be out for themselves. 

He describes an incident when he hurt his foot, and ended up in the infirmary. Rumors fly that the camp is going to be invaded, so he struggles to walk to save himself. He found out later that everyone in the infirmary was liberated, but nobody knew that would happen.

Ms. Hen has read many books like this before, but she understands that this was one of the first of its kind. She thinks there is a dry humor to the book, and even though the protagonist suffers immensely, he finds a reason to laugh at times. People who can joke in the face of death will never fear anything.

Ms. Hen wonders why she had never read this before. She thinks she was dissuaded because it is so well known, but there are several that she has read like this such as SURVIVAL IN AUSCHWITZ by Primo Levi, and THE LIBRARIAN OF AUSCHWITZ by Antonio Iturbe, and others. 

The stories of survival and hope never become old. Ms. Hen knows that the world is still dysfunctional, but she wants to believe that through these books and stories, the tyrants of the world have a slimmer chance of succeeding than they would have before. If only more people read books, Ms. Hen thinks the world would be a brighter place 😊 

Ms. Hen reviews Ruin and Rising

 

Ruin and Rising

Leigh Bardugo

Square Fish

2014

Ms. Hen bought this trilogy together. She reviewed the two other books recently, and this is the last one. 

This novel continues the story of Alina Starkov and Mal, while they continue to attempt to destroy the fold. We start with Alina and her group underground with the Apparat, but they escape to try to find the Firebird, the third amplifier, which will make Alina's strength even greater. Alina, Mal, Zoya and the others end up with Nikolai at his hideout in a mountaintop that he calls the Spinning Wheel. Things don't go according to plan, as usual. The Darkling surprises them, and things take a turn for the worse.

The beginning and ending of all of these novels is a type of fairy tale about a girl and a boy that are not named, but are Alina and Mal, which Ms. Hen thinks are charming. She wonders if there will be a book of fairy tales about these novels. She especially liked the ending tale in this novel, but she will not give it away.

RUIN AND RISING reminded Ms. Hen of THE WIZARD OF OZ more than the other books, possibly because the characters were on a journey throughout the story, and they were all unique, quirky characters.

The books are very different from the TV series, but Ms. Hen can appreciate both of them. She loves a good adventure, with magic, and romance and intrigue, and she gets all of those here and more. 

Ms. Hen reviews This is How you Lose Her

 

This Is How You Lose Her

Junot Diaz

Riverhead Books

2012

Ms. Hen decided to read this because she found it at a Little Free Library near where she lives. She met the author many years ago at an event, and found him incredibly unpleasant, and difficult to converse with. (One of Ms. Hen's friends said he was coked up. Ms. Hen isn't knowledgable of such things, so she took his word for it.) Ms. Hen was turned off by interacting with him, and has not read anything by this author since then.

But this year she watched the film TAR, starring Cate Blanchett, and a scene in the film stuck with her, in which the character was teaching a class, and gave a lecture to a student about not judging the art by the artist. She was talking about Bach, but Ms. Hen has had this discussion with other creative people. It's different if someone is talking about Bach or Picasso, or any other offensive individual who has passed on, but if we talk about someone who is alive, are we right to judge the art by the artist? Ms. Hen hesitantly decided to give this author another chance.

This collection of short stories is about different characters who are from the Dominican Republic, men and women who are trying to make it in the United States. They are poor, but hard workers, and have strict ideas about how the world should be. A few stories circle around a character named Yunior at different times in his life. His brother dies from cancer in one story, and another takes place when he and his brother and mother move to New Jersey to live with their father, who had lived there for several years.

Ms. Hen thinks that the male characters in this book are misogynist and objectify women's bodies. She found it offensive how the men talk about women, but she believes this is a realistic portrayal of how these characters would act. All the men cheat on their wives and girlfriends. It's difficult for Ms. Hen to have sympathy for men who are such philanderers.

Ms. Hen did not start reading this collection of short stories with the idea that she would be disgusted with it, and she was hoping for a different feeling when she finished. Should art be judged by the artist? Ms. Hen does not want to think this is true, but she can't help feeling that she wasted her time reading this.