Question 1: General Thoughts
What are your overall impressions of this book? Did it accomplish what it set out to do (if that was clear)? Was this an enjoyable read? Any overall thoughts on your experience reading it?
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I wasn't sure what to expect, and so I'm not sure if it accomplished what it set out to do! And indeed the end in some ways surprised me - not the flood, which was heavily signalled, but the aftermath with Air adoption. At some points it felt like it sagged a bit, and I didn't go it through at a rush, but I'm very glad to have read it and felt that it was an unusual and interesting setting.
All caught up, now. I did enjoy the book - it was my first Ryman. The only other one on my radar is The Child Garden.
I'm not quite sure what the author was setting out to do with the book, so I can't say whether that was accomplished or not. On the surface, I would guess that there was a warning here, not to forget the people in the villages who take no (or little) part in driving technological change. But perhaps there's a note of optimism as well, in that change is scary but it will all work out... for most of us.
Sorry, this was another book I didn't finish. I got about a third of the way through and got bored. I was expecting a book about how western technology (and the colonialism embedded in it) affect others. What I got was a lot of petty status games in a small village. The "Air" technology turned up briefly then disappeared.
@NeilNjae That's too bad. It sounds like all the talk of local life got in the way of your ability to appreciate how tech can impact local life? Did I read that correctly? I'm not sure you can have the latter without the former.
@clash_bowley What were your thoughts on the book? You mentioned being finished.
I'm assuming by the silence that @BarnerCobblewood also didn't read it, or didn't like it but doesn't want to say so. Which surprises me because this was all about local life and stories, much like Always Coming Home. But maybe that's just on the surface.
I'm not sure what the author was attempting, so I'm not sure if they succeeded. I would not say the read was enjoyable, but it was interesting. I always have problems with Magical Realism like this, because the people and relationships seem gritty, but the science/tech is just straight up magical. What I liked about the book was the petty but very human stupidity and shortsightedness of the village, the very opposite of Neil's view. The village felt real. The Air, the subject of the book, didn't.
I'll get some thoughts up soon, but need to find some time!
I am unsure if I really enjoyed this book or not after letting it simmer for a bit. Even now, a few weeks after completing it, a lot of the specifics sort of already faded away. I felt like the author did a decent job of convincing me that the village was filled with real people, but the way out there nature of the tech, and the wacky pregnancy, was a bit too far out there for me to ultimately become entirely engaged in the story. There were some specific things I like though, that I can touch on in the other threads.
And just to prove, as it were, that fact is forever catching up with fiction, I got this email overnight here at the guest house
I don't think it is analogous to our book here, Richard. Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region of China, so not at all third world, and Ordos is not some hill village. It's a city of over 2 million people, and the site of Ghengis Khan's mausoleum. Dongsheng is the old city part of Ordos, and home to half a million on its own. Inner Mongolia is not Mongolia.
Fair enough! I think they're probably overestimating the scale of our own enterprise though
I would agree!