Yes I know this late. Got distracted on my way home.
I kinda cheated and read though everyone’s posts before I started writing this and it seems the common consensus is still this is somewhat dull story. Flash backs that are all over the place. Dull characters that you really cant get behind. Even a future that completely perfect without a fault. But I think the problem is not with these, it lies more since this future is so perfect most major conflicts have been solved or nullified. So us as readers cant really get behind. Let me explain.
Most major conflicts are addressed in chapter 6. Each of them were fixed with this all powerful Deus ex machina. For those that don’t know a Deus ex machina is an all powerful item or person that is introduced abruptly to fix an impossible and unsolvable problem. In a matter of a few pages this incubator of some sorts, in one fell swoop, solved all of the worlds (all some of them) issues. Problems between races, no problem, lets just diversify them. Its print out black Asians like money. Want to create gen equality, lets make everyone mothers. By the way i think its important to mention that with this process the need of carrying a baby in your womb for 9 months was eliminated, yet they still decided to refer the “parents” as mothers. But I digress.
You see a pattern here? With this one machine (get it machine/machina) they seem to fix most if not all social issues. I really hope this does not become a trope for this book. The only real conflict (if you want to call it that) stems from Connie unable to accept this is future. But even then those issues can be summed with “I like my past how it is, I don’t like change.” Its mostly just inner conflict with herself. Which brings me to my issue with this story.
Connie is probably just crazy, or the plot twist is the time travel was real. Both which are too predicable. The people she meets in the future somehow resemble people from her past. At first I was willing to for give it (But that took a bit with the pointless flashbacks and all). But the straw that broke the camels back was when she saw a child that looked like her “own” daughter. At this point the only thing that explains this is she created this perfect future where everything is perfect, all problems are solved and she is able to live with her daughter. All so she can escape from this depressing world. That or people from the future all came from the future just to mess with this one girl.
Either way I really hope the second half of this book starts to get interesting because I’m LITERATELY beginning to fall asleep reading this.
“By the way i think its important to mention that with this process the need of carrying a baby in your womb for 9 months was eliminated, yet they still decided to refer the “parents” as mothers”.
I hadn’t thought about that before. Despite making up neutral pronouns to refer to people in the future (person, per, p’self), they decided to use “mother” for the three individuals chosen to raise a child, when the perfectly neutral “parent” already exists. It’s like the author is implying that mothers are more nurturing than fathers… Other than the obvious physical bonds of childbirth and nursing, a good father loves their children as much as a mother. Sure, there are a lot of shitty fathers out there, but there are also a lot of shitty mothers too, for whom the fact that a child came out of them means zilch.
Hey Piercy, your feminism is showing.
I also had a similar thought that Connie is just imagining this in her head as a way to cope with the mental, physical, and emotional pain she is going through.