The Necessary Beggar (Palwick)
3+/5. I really, really liked this book, and at the same time there were parts about it that really bugged me, and these things are actually somewhat closely related.
It's about a family that comes here (is forced to come here) from another reality (the city of Lemabantunk), a reality that doesn't work quite the way this reality does. And so it's about making a new life and letting go and reaching out and one's children growing away from the roots of one's traditions and growing closer to the roots of one's traditions and… And this is a story I feel a special affinity for, because it's what my parents did. And this story I really, really liked. I very much like Palwick's lyrical writing style, I love the strangeness of the culture she imagines.
Embedded in this story is a critique of the US, and a warning not-really-dystopia near-future where current trends become, well, just a little more pronounced than they are now. The near-future extrapolation I also liked, although it doesn't hit my buttons the same way the immigrant story did.
The parts where these stories intersected, I… had issues with, and I think this has to do with the worldbuilding not quite being strong enough to support the critique. There's a tension between the Lemabantunk mandate to help beggars and the undeniably capitalist-based nature of Lemabantunk that I was never quite able to tease out. For example, there's a passage where Darroti muses that his father would be angry that he gave a product of their store away. So it seems there is a difference between the beggar and an ordinary person in need who happens not to be a beggar. And apparently it's good to be a beggar, but not so good to be in need but not a beggar… which… okay? I can even kind of see how it could be made to work, but as far as I could tell the inherent tension there wasn't really engaged with. (I did rather skim the Darroti/Gallicina section because I get squeamish about chapters I know are going to end in tragedy, so it's quite possible I missed something.)
I mostly liked the ending, but I also had a couple of big issues with it. I don't know, for some reason the Nice Guy, patiently waiting for Zamatryna-Harani, winning out at the end, sort of… bothered me? Don't get me wrong, I adore Jerry, he's a great character, and he isn't really a Nice Guy (TM), just nice; but just… it still bothered me. And I had total issues with Darroti and Gallicina flying off together and leaving the rest of their family behind, what, the entire rest of the book is about how family is The Most Important Thing, we don't leave family, WHAT, BOOK. JUST WHAT.
But, you know, I really liked the book despite these issues, and thought it was well worth reading, and it obviously made me think.
It's about a family that comes here (is forced to come here) from another reality (the city of Lemabantunk), a reality that doesn't work quite the way this reality does. And so it's about making a new life and letting go and reaching out and one's children growing away from the roots of one's traditions and growing closer to the roots of one's traditions and… And this is a story I feel a special affinity for, because it's what my parents did. And this story I really, really liked. I very much like Palwick's lyrical writing style, I love the strangeness of the culture she imagines.
Embedded in this story is a critique of the US, and a warning not-really-dystopia near-future where current trends become, well, just a little more pronounced than they are now. The near-future extrapolation I also liked, although it doesn't hit my buttons the same way the immigrant story did.
The parts where these stories intersected, I… had issues with, and I think this has to do with the worldbuilding not quite being strong enough to support the critique. There's a tension between the Lemabantunk mandate to help beggars and the undeniably capitalist-based nature of Lemabantunk that I was never quite able to tease out. For example, there's a passage where Darroti muses that his father would be angry that he gave a product of their store away. So it seems there is a difference between the beggar and an ordinary person in need who happens not to be a beggar. And apparently it's good to be a beggar, but not so good to be in need but not a beggar… which… okay? I can even kind of see how it could be made to work, but as far as I could tell the inherent tension there wasn't really engaged with. (I did rather skim the Darroti/Gallicina section because I get squeamish about chapters I know are going to end in tragedy, so it's quite possible I missed something.)
I mostly liked the ending, but I also had a couple of big issues with it. I don't know, for some reason the Nice Guy, patiently waiting for Zamatryna-Harani, winning out at the end, sort of… bothered me? Don't get me wrong, I adore Jerry, he's a great character, and he isn't really a Nice Guy (TM), just nice; but just… it still bothered me. And I had total issues with Darroti and Gallicina flying off together and leaving the rest of their family behind, what, the entire rest of the book is about how family is The Most Important Thing, we don't leave family, WHAT, BOOK. JUST WHAT.
But, you know, I really liked the book despite these issues, and thought it was well worth reading, and it obviously made me think.