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bozwart's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
bloodhoney's review
3.0
An interesting book. Lane seems to be arguing that utopian goodness cannot be created on Earth, as well as that there can never be a utopia with men involved. I'm also fascinated by her contradiction about nature--her utopian civilization claims to live within nature, but they experiment with pseudo-GMOs, eating bread made of limestone and cherries designed to be seedless and the translucent color of honey, and they also play with their genetics so they are solely an Aryan race. Living in a post-WWII/Black Lives Matter era, it is difficult to see this type of eugenics without blanching. (Just as bad is the byline that criminals are prevented from having children because that sort of thing is genetic--Australia, I am sure, would love to weigh in on this.) I'm also fascinated by the implicit violence of Lane's work--in Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward," for instance, there is no evil seen in the modern utopian world; the same can be said for the utopia of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "Herland." But even Lane's utopia is flawed--children still die, and there is no afterlife in Mizora; the narrator remarks about this, choosing to hold fast to her religious beliefs. Is Lane arguing for religion? Or against it? Can Mizora be a perfect utopia with senseless, accidental deaths?
The one thing that Lane argues remarkably well is her insistence on free education--something pertinent still today. The narrator dreams of a college on Earth with the words "Enter Who Will: No Warder Stands Watch at the Gate," and these ever-aspiring dreams of learning and intellectual growth seemed to be the key to creating a better life--even "Herland" echoes the importance of education. Pity Bellamy neglected that element.
The one thing that Lane argues remarkably well is her insistence on free education--something pertinent still today. The narrator dreams of a college on Earth with the words "Enter Who Will: No Warder Stands Watch at the Gate," and these ever-aspiring dreams of learning and intellectual growth seemed to be the key to creating a better life--even "Herland" echoes the importance of education. Pity Bellamy neglected that element.
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