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wtb_michael's review
4.0
A fascinating novel combining a dystopic view of Melbourne's future, with an odd fantasy-imbued narrative. The most impressive facet of the book is the portrayal of Melbourne in 2030 - a burnt out, overheated mess of a city, where trains run once or twice a day at best, people camp in Flagstaff gardens and large swathes of the Western suburbs have been destroyed by massive industrial fires. The book is partly about Caddy's survival in this brutal world and, to be honest, I'd have been happy if that had been the whole story. The shift into fantasy is handled smoothly though and the interactions between Caddy and characters she imagined are mind-bending and fun. There's a lot to take in here, and I'm not quite sure that the resolution really works, but it's a fun and intriguing ride and one I'd definitely recommend.
nkmeyers's review
3.0
this book unfortunately collided with a few things that rub me a little the wrong way but also will make any reader (me included) think and that's a good thing :
1) I read "Move Over Michelangelo" by Sarah Boxer abt the "new age" of the woman artist where the author describes relief to find paintings on exhibit by women artists who didn't remind her of male painters . hmm, ok and reflects that women work more with fragments, impermanence, she reaches back to the 70's quoting Lippard about how women made work that was more transitive, unfinished tinged with uncertainty and anxiety .
2) I saw Adelaide Johnson's sculpture of Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton at the US Capitol Bldg - a carrara mable block out of which rises busts of the 19th-century suffragettes who lobbied & organized and protested to help American women get the vote - it was described by a docent as purposely unfinished to show potential for another figure looming behind the three finished busts because the "womens' problem" still needs more champions. I also found out that In 1921, Congress ordered its inscription removed which once said: " Woman, first denied a soul, then called mindless, now arisen, declared herself an entity to be reckoned.''
Apparently in more recent times before its appearance upstairs among the heroically posed full figure statues of males on pedestals some Congressional representatives said the statue was too ugly and without enough historical significance to warrant the cost of moving it [up] to the Rotunda.
3) I know Oakland of 1997 doesn't suck . I know SF of 1997 is not defined by tacos .
So where does that leave the office of unmade lists and it's protagonist ? Caddy frustrates me, her story feels a bit like form over substance, disjoint, even gimmicky without reaching higher, her imaginums have too many loose ends - some of the ones readers care about most are left unfinished .
So yeah, all that frustrating stuff, it's going on here but I am in no doubt that it is art, or that gender influences it, or abt why it leaves the reader feeling they didn't get enough.
1) I read "Move Over Michelangelo" by Sarah Boxer abt the "new age" of the woman artist where the author describes relief to find paintings on exhibit by women artists who didn't remind her of male painters . hmm, ok and reflects that women work more with fragments, impermanence, she reaches back to the 70's quoting Lippard about how women made work that was more transitive, unfinished tinged with uncertainty and anxiety .
2) I saw Adelaide Johnson's sculpture of Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton at the US Capitol Bldg - a carrara mable block out of which rises busts of the 19th-century suffragettes who lobbied & organized and protested to help American women get the vote - it was described by a docent as purposely unfinished to show potential for another figure looming behind the three finished busts because the "womens' problem" still needs more champions. I also found out that In 1921, Congress ordered its inscription removed which once said: " Woman, first denied a soul, then called mindless, now arisen, declared herself an entity to be reckoned.''
Apparently in more recent times before its appearance upstairs among the heroically posed full figure statues of males on pedestals some Congressional representatives said the statue was too ugly and without enough historical significance to warrant the cost of moving it [up] to the Rotunda.
3) I know Oakland of 1997 doesn't suck . I know SF of 1997 is not defined by tacos .
So where does that leave the office of unmade lists and it's protagonist ? Caddy frustrates me, her story feels a bit like form over substance, disjoint, even gimmicky without reaching higher, her imaginums have too many loose ends - some of the ones readers care about most are left unfinished .
So yeah, all that frustrating stuff, it's going on here but I am in no doubt that it is art, or that gender influences it, or abt why it leaves the reader feeling they didn't get enough.
meganori's review
4.0
This book was really cool. It was interesting reading about a near future Melbourne in a climate change dystopia. There were also elements of time travel, meta-book - in - a-book stuff, and strange surrealism. I recommend to fans of spec fic.
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