So, hydrochloric acid aside (I'm pretty sure it WOULD dissolve/break down an egg/semen), Ryman apparently couldn't spend ten minutes googling menstrual cycles and checking up on the fact that an unfertilized egg will DISSOLVE if it's not fertilized in 24 hours? And that menstrual blood flow only happens 2 weeks after ovulation, meaning there CAN'T be a mature egg waiting to be fertilised in the blood? WHAT.
(Also, if this magic egg implants in the stomach lining - just how does is the woman going to have room for FOOD in her STOMACH when it grows)
I read the last sentence of your comment after I posted mine, and HAHAHAHA LOOKS LIKE WE BOTH HAVE THE SAME ISSUE WITH "HOW IS SHE GONNA EAT?!"
(I read the first paragraph of your comment and was "omg logical explanation" and went on to add my views of why it might have flown over my head, then made the comment re. FOOD independently. GLAD TO SEE WE HAVE THE SAME PRIORITIES. :D)
Great minds think alike? :D And that was just the FIRST question that came to mind! There are a MILLION OTHER QUESTIONS, like what you mentioned about the stomach not being able to stretch like the uterus can, and even if it could, unlike the uterus I am fairly sure it won't be able to SHRINK back afterwards, so the woman would end the pregnancy with a massively distended stomach, which is just... disturbing and terrible. Also, how would the egg implant in the stomach lining? The stomach lining isn't at all like the uterus and definitely isn't designed to nourish the egg so it can grow/develop the umbilical cord.
Suddenly my respect for Ryman as a writer is approximately rock bottom because way to fail basic biology. (I mean, by his supposed logic you could fertilise an egg by dripping semen on a used sanitary pad, which, well - if it was that easy, we wouldn't have had to invent IVF, hey XD)
The book is good, great in some ways, but this one plot point is so out of place and thoroughly stupid that I'm not sure I can recommend him anymore, either.
Ughgggggh. I didn't even think about the fact that the stomach wouldn't be able to shrink back to normal, though I was waiting in dread for some kind of scene like the Alien movies with the chestbursters (which fortunately didn't happen).
Also, how would the egg implant in the stomach lining? A doctor character said that a fertilised egg can attach to any place in the body. None of the other doctor characters then led her gently away to someplace where she could stop talking nonsense, which confused me. I was vaguely, slightly, almost willing to handwave the "viable egg in menstrual blood" thing - weird things happen in nature, maybe by some bizarre biological freak accident there could be a viable egg along with the broken down one - but the whole stomach-thing was too much to believe in a non-magical realism book.
the Baby ProblemthelovemafiaJanuary 22 2011, 04:07:53 UTC
If it's a sci-fi book, I would have thought, "This is very, very weird: but it's a sci-fi book! Maybe in this universe, hyper-fertility allows babies to develop in stomachs, resistant to acid!"
And imagine! If she is carrying the kid to term in her stomach: towards the end of her pregnancy, how is she going to eat? As far as I know, the stomach isn't as elastic an organ as the uterus.
The evil woman in a certain kind of female-male-female love triangle. I would absolutely go for this if one female was the center of this love triangle: i.e. if the evil woman and the only guy were both vying for her. :D re. MM: It's very odd, but my chances of liking MM after an incident like the TYL slap would have been much, much higher if both characters had been men. I am not a fan of women-slapping-women, whatever the reason, but it's one of those Individual Mileage Does Vary situations.
Re: the Baby ProblemdemoerinJanuary 23 2011, 10:31:14 UTC
The problem is that the book is quite realistic sci-fi, and reasonably similar to the world as we know it. I think the baby thing was meant to symbolise a reclamation of the monstrousness that could get assigned to wild/independent/intelligent women in stories. But it was like doing a book that was a serious look into how the advent of the motor car affected the horse-rearing industry, and also one of the characters has a unicorn.
No one knows why. he just does.
And the eating thing doesn't even come up! She eats and drinks freely! I DON'T EVEN KNOW.
I would absolutely go for this if one female was the center of this love triangle: i.e. if the evil woman and the only guy were both vying for her. HA. YES. that too. :D
I am not a fan of women-slapping-women, whatever the reason, but it's one of those Individual Mileage Does Vary situations. Women-slapping-women is one of those things that happens too much in the media - girls are so catty, you know, of course they get slap-happy like that. So I can't blame you, and I find it
( ... )
Re: the Baby ProblemdemoerinJanuary 24 2011, 19:38:00 UTC
I would read that too, actually. But it would be nice if the unicorn was in the story in a way that made sense, or if there was at least a warning on the back cover blurb, or something. In the book I was reading, all the characters were saying how unnatural the pregnancy was, and then immediately began ignoring all the unnaturalness and weirdness. whattttttt
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So, hydrochloric acid aside (I'm pretty sure it WOULD dissolve/break down an egg/semen), Ryman apparently couldn't spend ten minutes googling menstrual cycles and checking up on the fact that an unfertilized egg will DISSOLVE if it's not fertilized in 24 hours? And that menstrual blood flow only happens 2 weeks after ovulation, meaning there CAN'T be a mature egg waiting to be fertilised in the blood? WHAT.
(Also, if this magic egg implants in the stomach lining - just how does is the woman going to have room for FOOD in her STOMACH when it grows)
Reply
(I read the first paragraph of your comment and was "omg logical explanation" and went on to add my views of why it might have flown over my head, then made the comment re. FOOD independently. GLAD TO SEE WE HAVE THE SAME PRIORITIES. :D)
Reply
Suddenly my respect for Ryman as a writer is approximately rock bottom because way to fail basic biology. (I mean, by his supposed logic you could fertilise an egg by dripping semen on a used sanitary pad, which, well - if it was that easy, we wouldn't have had to invent IVF, hey XD)
Reply
Ughgggggh. I didn't even think about the fact that the stomach wouldn't be able to shrink back to normal, though I was waiting in dread for some kind of scene like the Alien movies with the chestbursters (which fortunately didn't happen).
Also, how would the egg implant in the stomach lining?
A doctor character said that a fertilised egg can attach to any place in the body. None of the other doctor characters then led her gently away to someplace where she could stop talking nonsense, which confused me. I was vaguely, slightly, almost willing to handwave the "viable egg in menstrual blood" thing - weird things happen in nature, maybe by some bizarre biological freak accident there could be a viable egg along with the broken down one - but the whole stomach-thing was too much to believe in a non-magical realism book.
Reply
And imagine! If she is carrying the kid to term in her stomach: towards the end of her pregnancy, how is she going to eat? As far as I know, the stomach isn't as elastic an organ as the uterus.
The evil woman in a certain kind of female-male-female love triangle.
I would absolutely go for this if one female was the center of this love triangle: i.e. if the evil woman and the only guy were both vying for her. :D
re. MM: It's very odd, but my chances of liking MM after an incident like the TYL slap would have been much, much higher if both characters had been men. I am not a fan of women-slapping-women, whatever the reason, but it's one of those Individual Mileage Does Vary situations.
Reply
No one knows why. he just does.
And the eating thing doesn't even come up! She eats and drinks freely! I DON'T EVEN KNOW.
I would absolutely go for this if one female was the center of this love triangle: i.e. if the evil woman and the only guy were both vying for her.
HA. YES. that too. :D
I am not a fan of women-slapping-women, whatever the reason, but it's one of those Individual Mileage Does Vary situations. Women-slapping-women is one of those things that happens too much in the media - girls are so catty, you know, of course they get slap-happy like that. So I can't blame you, and I find it ( ... )
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And I can't even take Ysengrin and Annie anymore, it's too unexpected and sweet.
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