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Marie's Reviews > The Female Man
The Female Man
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by
UGH.
This book had promise - and about 10% of it is good science fiction. The other 90% is unnecessary polemic, thankfully out-of-date (at least I hope so!) I don't object to her feminism so much to the way she doesn't go anywhere with it. "The Left Hand of Darkness" did a much better job of using science fiction to explore gender roles and identities.
That said, there are two, yes, two, awesome scenes, and for them alone I kept reading. The first is an interview of the Woman from the Planet of the Amazons by 60s America. The interviewer is darling in his uncomprehending as he asks if the women in Janet Eveson's world don't "miss" sex, and her blunt response that of course they have sex all the time. I also liked how she says she is married but they insist on calling her "Miss" because, of course, her lesbian marriage isn't recognized by them. I liked that. We were in-scene and getting the message.
I guess my complaint is, the story is complex, but rather than let it be told, Russ spends very little time IN STORY, rather summarizing plot for us among endless stream-of-consciousness meanders that I guess are supposed to be poetic but come off merely dull.
This book had promise - and about 10% of it is good science fiction. The other 90% is unnecessary polemic, thankfully out-of-date (at least I hope so!) I don't object to her feminism so much to the way she doesn't go anywhere with it. "The Left Hand of Darkness" did a much better job of using science fiction to explore gender roles and identities.
That said, there are two, yes, two, awesome scenes, and for them alone I kept reading. The first is an interview of the Woman from the Planet of the Amazons by 60s America. The interviewer is darling in his uncomprehending as he asks if the women in Janet Eveson's world don't "miss" sex, and her blunt response that of course they have sex all the time. I also liked how she says she is married but they insist on calling her "Miss" because, of course, her lesbian marriage isn't recognized by them. I liked that. We were in-scene and getting the message.
I guess my complaint is, the story is complex, but rather than let it be told, Russ spends very little time IN STORY, rather summarizing plot for us among endless stream-of-consciousness meanders that I guess are supposed to be poetic but come off merely dull.
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Reading Progress
December 31, 2007
– Shelved
Started Reading
March 14, 2008
–
Finished Reading
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by
Sara
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rated it 5 stars
May 09, 2012 10:47AM
Sadly, not out of date at all. This whole "war on women" thing in the U.S. sadly proves that.
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Just finished this, and I had the same issues. When I knew what was going on, it was awesome, but when it was just the narrator's thoughts, it was boring and confusing.
I didn't find it out of date, so much as it was boring. The narrative was excruciatingly dull. The story had promise, but they style lacked... and the narrative was painfully uninteresting. I love science fiction, and about 10% of this WAS interesting but the other 90% almost made me not finish this at all... but I did... and what a waste of time.
I agree with Marie and JonSnow. Most of the book was written as a polemic, instead of a story.
Well, Joanna finally got her victory. Language has been used as the ultimate weapon to make gender unintelligible. Now we've got a Supreme Court justice who can't (or won't) answer the simple question: What is a woman? Has this made life better for women? All depends on how you feel back trans females dominating womens sports, jobs, and women-only spaces.
Wait, what was the second scene you liked?
