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imakandiway's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
manifeststefany's review
5.0
Great story. Funnier than I expected.
Favorite quote: "Ya, they still have monogamous marriage and stuff like that where I was born. Like I said, it's pretty primitive."
Favorite quote: "Ya, they still have monogamous marriage and stuff like that where I was born. Like I said, it's pretty primitive."
dan1066's review
5.0
"The world is so ugly and painful now. I don't want to die here."
This brief novella by Samuel R. Delany works on multiple levels. For the science fiction reader, it offers interesting world building, describing a space faring society wherein only a small percentage of humanity have the ability to withstand traveling outside our galaxy to others. They are known as "golden." For literary readers, the recurring image of ecolariums (here termed an "ecologarium") and their significance and impact on the narrator symbolizes his plight as an individual as well as individuals within this society. For sociologists, there's the dynamics of procreation groups which have replaced monogamy as a family unit and, oddly enough (since this is Delany), the societal problems of raising children. All these levels are explored in some depth in 82 pages.
While not as strange or challenging as much of his other work, this short work proves Delany is one of the top science fiction writers. His ability to weave these disparate elements into a satisfying yarn is enviable. He returns to some of these elements and themes in other works, but the focus of this story reins in the excesses common to his larger works (like [b:Dhalgren|40963358|Dhalgren|Samuel R. Delany|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1532735651l/40963358._SY75_.jpg|873021] or [b:Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia|85893|Trouble on Triton An Ambiguous Heterotopia|Samuel R. Delany|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347816176l/85893._SY75_.jpg|82889]). The Star Pit is an excellent afternoon's read.
"You've all got it in your heads that this, out here, is it! The end! Sure, you gotta accept limitations, but the right ones. Sure, you have to admit there are certain directions in which you can not go. But once you do that, you find there are others where you can go as far as you want. Look, I'm not gonna hang around the Star-pit all my life! And if I make my way back toward galactic center, make enough money so I can go home, raise my family the way I want, that's going forward, forward even from here. Not back."
This brief novella by Samuel R. Delany works on multiple levels. For the science fiction reader, it offers interesting world building, describing a space faring society wherein only a small percentage of humanity have the ability to withstand traveling outside our galaxy to others. They are known as "golden." For literary readers, the recurring image of ecolariums (here termed an "ecologarium") and their significance and impact on the narrator symbolizes his plight as an individual as well as individuals within this society. For sociologists, there's the dynamics of procreation groups which have replaced monogamy as a family unit and, oddly enough (since this is Delany), the societal problems of raising children. All these levels are explored in some depth in 82 pages.
While not as strange or challenging as much of his other work, this short work proves Delany is one of the top science fiction writers. His ability to weave these disparate elements into a satisfying yarn is enviable. He returns to some of these elements and themes in other works, but the focus of this story reins in the excesses common to his larger works (like [b:Dhalgren|40963358|Dhalgren|Samuel R. Delany|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1532735651l/40963358._SY75_.jpg|873021] or [b:Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia|85893|Trouble on Triton An Ambiguous Heterotopia|Samuel R. Delany|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347816176l/85893._SY75_.jpg|82889]). The Star Pit is an excellent afternoon's read.
"You've all got it in your heads that this, out here, is it! The end! Sure, you gotta accept limitations, but the right ones. Sure, you have to admit there are certain directions in which you can not go. But once you do that, you find there are others where you can go as far as you want. Look, I'm not gonna hang around the Star-pit all my life! And if I make my way back toward galactic center, make enough money so I can go home, raise my family the way I want, that's going forward, forward even from here. Not back."
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