Review: Science: Hopes & Fears (Volume 1) by Juza Unno

Science: Hopes & Fears [Volume 1: Selected Stories] by Juza Unno (translated by J.D. Wisgo)

Published: Self-published, 2018

The Book:

“Juza Unno, a fiction author active in the 1930s and 40s, is considered a founding figure of Japanese science fiction. A student of engineering himself, he had a great fondness for science and its possibilities while being aware of its dangers. In his lifetime he produced many works that leveraged his technical knowledge and creativity, touching on a variety of interesting topics such as space travel that were not yet popular in his time.

This first volume in a series about Juza Unno is a select collection of his short stories translated with annotations–the first publishing of his works in English.” ~Amazon.com

I’m going to review volumes 1 and 2 of this collection, because I think it’s really fascinating to get a glimpse into the early science fiction of Japan.  I also need to add the disclaimer that my brother was involved in the translation effort for these books, which is how it came to my attention. Since this is really a collection of foundational texts of the genre, which are naturally a little out of their time, I will discuss the stories but not provide a rating.  I thank J.D. Wisgo and others involved in the project for allowing those of us in the English-speaking world the opportunity to see this part of Japanese literary history! You can find the book on Amazon at the link posted here.

This collection includes five short stories, chosen by the translator to give a taste of the kinds of stories Juza Unno wrote.  The stories are strongly idea-based, as seems to be common for early 20th century science fiction, and the characters mostly exist to illustrate the ideas.  For instance, one of my favorite ones was “Four-Dimensional Man”, which involves a man describing how he is a three-dimensional cross-section of a four-dimensional being.  I also rather enjoyed the twisty little story called “Mysterious Spacial Rift”, in which the main character runs into problems due to his difficulty in distinguishing reality from vivid dreaming, with tragic results.  

There are also stories that feature some familiar tropes of classic science fiction, such as the idea of colonizing other planets (“The Theory of Planetary Colonization”) and using cryogenic sleep to travel to the future (“The World in One Thousand Years”). These were not the most memorable of the stories, but it was interesting to see a Japanese take on topics that I think were also in vogue in the US at the time.

“The Living Intestine” is the strangest of the bunch.  It featured a scientist caring for a seemingly sentient intestine.  I’m pretty sure the common understanding of human bodies was sufficient in the 1930s to know that this would not be possible, so I could only consider this one as being intentionally weird and surreal.  Also, it might squick out readers who are not interested in the idea of keeping an intestine as a pet. It’s a really bizarre story, though, and I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like it.

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Review: Friday by Robert A. Heinlein

Friday by Robert A. Heinlein

Published: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1982

Awards Nominated: Nebula, Hugo, Locus SF, and Prometheus Awards

The Book:

“Friday is her name... She is as thoroughly resourceful as she is strikingly beautiful. She is one of the best interplanetary agents in the business. And she is an Artificial Person... the ultimate glory of genetic engineering.

Friday is a secret courier. She is employed by a man known to her only as "Boss." Operating from and over a near-future Earth, in which North America has become Balkanized into dozens of independent states, where culture has become bizarrely vulgarized and chaos is the happy norm, she finds herself on shuttlecock assignment at Boss's seemingly whimsical behest.

From New Zealand to Canada, from one to another of the new states of America's disunion, she keeps her balance nimbly with quick, expeditious solutions to one calamity and scrape after another. Desperate for human identity and relationships, she is never sure whether she is one step ahead of, or one step behind, the ultimate fate of the human race.” ~WWEnd.com

Heinlein is always kind of hit and miss for me, and I have to say this book was kind of both.  My husband and I listened to this one together as an audiobook. There are some spoilers in the review below.

My Rating: 2 /5

Friday has a lot of the social quirks I expect from a Heinlein novel, and it ended up being a weird combination of things I enjoyed and things that annoyed the crap out of me. It was fun following Friday as she skips from one exciting spy situation to the next, and it seemed for a while that her story was going to be about uncovering some events that are causing upheaval in the fractured future US.  I was really getting into this plot arc, but it was dropped without resolution later in the book. On a character level, I initially liked reading about Friday’s efforts to find a place for herself in the world. I especially enjoyed the subplot about her New Zealand family, which addressed both her desire to belong and the unpleasantness of finding out loved ones hold bigoted beliefs.

The parts I didn’t enjoy include a gang rape scene (which Friday was weirdly blasé about) and some occasional bizarre gender stereotypes that were presented as if they were commonplace. It wasn’t so much misogynistic stereotypes, as it was stuff that just seemed nonsensical.  For example, “there is no stronger aphrodisiac than a woman’s tears.” Was that actually a thing in the 80s? I’m not even offended, just confused. The plot also didn’t flow like a traditional narrative, and not in a way that felt well planned. I guess was expecting the smaller parts to build into a coherent story, but instead it was just a collection of slice-of-life short stories about Friday.  This means that a lot of subplots are randomly dropped, and some short stories are much more interesting than others. On a last note, I am also not a fan of Heinlein’s “all women desperately want to have kids and fulfill traditional gender roles” kick, which is on display by the end of the book.

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Review: Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Published: Little, Brown & Company, 2010

Series: Book 1 of the Ship Breaker Trilogy

Awards Won: Locus YA Award

Awards Nominated: Andre Norton Award

The Book:

“In America's Gulf Coast region, where grounded oil tankers are being broken down for parts, Nailer, a teenage boy, works the light crew, scavenging for copper wiring just to make quota--and hopefully live to see another day. But when, by luck or chance, he discovers an exquisite clipper ship beached during a recent hurricane, Nailer faces the most important decision of his life: Strip the ship for all it's worth or rescue its lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl who could lead him to a better life. . . .” ~WWend

This is the second book I’ve read by Bacigalupi, the first being The Wind-Up Girl (before I started this blog). This is his foray into young adult fiction, and I read it while on vacation in Scotland.

My Review: 4/5

Having read one of Bacigalupi’s adult novels, I feel like he adapted his style well for a slightly younger audience.  The bleak future world of environmental collapse seems to be carefully crafted, but the world-building information is backgrounded in favor of the immediacy of Nailer’s life.  Nailer has plenty of obstacles holding him back, including an abusive father and a society that seems designed to ensure his life will be short and brutal. His tenacity in the search for a better life is easy to understand and sympathize with, and the extreme cruelty of his life situation makes it easier to forgive him any missteps. Nailer is also not a lone hero. His relationships with others on the ship-breaking beach are important, and the girl he rescues from a crashed ship (Nita) plays a much larger role in his life than a simple “rescued maiden”.  

I appreciated that the book is not afraid to fully consider difficult ideas.  It is frank about the calculations desperate people may need to make for their survival, and how easy it is for the privileged to choose not to notice systematic exploitation. There’s also considerable friction between Nita and the working class people (like Nailer) who she relies on for help, despite that she is a capable person and doesn’t intend to treat anyone poorly. The story is intense, with lots of action and conflict, and I was always eager to see what would happen next.  I also found it a little stressful, simply because I liked Nailer and wanted him to succeed against all the odds stacked against him. Though it is targeting a YA demographic, I think many other adults would also enjoy it as much as I did.