Yeah, the diary musing definitely feels period-appropriate and true to Mor's character, but if the dad was going to be an ordinary non-incestuous inadequate awkward dad for the other 99.9% of the book, why couldn't Walton just have given him the full hundred percent? Because all things are marred and men are weak, I guess. As a decision by the author, I get it, but that doesn't mean I liked it. Mor has enough problems, like you said.
My resentment isn't a criticism, even - I was really wary throughout but by the end the subtle magic won me over.
The Just City is not all rape all the time, but it's an important part of the failure of the experiment that some of the citizens (gathered by time-traveling gods from a wide range of centuries) don't see anything wrong with forcing themselves on the proteges (also collected from all over time and "rescued" from slavery for the sake of the experimental city) and everyone just has to go on living together anyway, as in our unjust cities. There's one rape that's a major story element, and a brief but vivid offhand description of the rape of child slaves right at the beginning.
The latter was really just a detail, but it was the most disturbing because it happens in just a few words with no warning - just so you know this won't be one of those escapist stories. But that's my personal very subjective pet peeve; I hate it when I'm just innocently reading a sentence and then suddenly rape is happening. I don't mean that no one should ever write that way, or even that my reaction isn't overly precious and self-protective (like my reluctance to go anywhere where news programs might come into earshot) just that it's something I would avoid in most cases if given the chance.
Give The Just City a try! I have mixed feelings, I was bored a lot, and I didn't feel when I read it that it was totally successful (though I feel more favorably disposed toward it now that I'm not reading it anymore) but there were some things I really liked. Walton's definitely an interesting writer.
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Date: 2017-04-13 02:49 pm (UTC)My resentment isn't a criticism, even - I was really wary throughout but by the end the subtle magic won me over.
The Just City is not all rape all the time, but it's an important part of the failure of the experiment that some of the citizens (gathered by time-traveling gods from a wide range of centuries) don't see anything wrong with forcing themselves on the proteges (also collected from all over time and "rescued" from slavery for the sake of the experimental city) and everyone just has to go on living together anyway, as in our unjust cities. There's one rape that's a major story element, and a brief but vivid offhand description of the rape of child slaves right at the beginning.
The latter was really just a detail, but it was the most disturbing because it happens in just a few words with no warning - just so you know this won't be one of those escapist stories. But that's my personal very subjective pet peeve; I hate it when I'm just innocently reading a sentence and then suddenly rape is happening. I don't mean that no one should ever write that way, or even that my reaction isn't overly precious and self-protective (like my reluctance to go anywhere where news programs might come into earshot) just that it's something I would avoid in most cases if given the chance.
Give The Just City a try! I have mixed feelings, I was bored a lot, and I didn't feel when I read it that it was totally successful (though I feel more favorably disposed toward it now that I'm not reading it anymore) but there were some things I really liked. Walton's definitely an interesting writer.