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sophia_sol) wrote2023-08-12 08:32 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2023-08-12 08:32 pm
The Spare Man, by Mary Robinette Kowal
This is a murder mystery novel set in space in the future, but among other things the sheer quantity of classic cocktails all the characters drink made me wonder what was going on with its vibes, and the answer appears to be that the book is based on a 1960's movie. Which explains a lot, tbh.
It felt to me like it was trying to have 1960's mystery vibes while also updating its general social consciousness, but for me personally, the way this particular book did the mashup did not work. It gave me the feeling that it simultaneously wanted to be like, "I understand about prejudice and oppression and intersectionality!" and also "this is an unexamined power fantasy about being rich!" and the two did not mesh nicely with each other.
also..... the heroine is a tech billionaire named Tesla travelling to Mars. I couldn't help being reminded of a certain other billionaire in the news a lot these days.
Anyway, I didn't feel the worldbuilding was strong, and I didn't particularly like or care about any of the characters, and I wasn't intrigued by the murder mystery, so all together there wasn't a lot for me in this book.
Some readers may appreciate though that the main character is someone who lives with disabling chronic pain and PTSD, which are regularly kept at the forefront of her experience of life. However, she also has a service dog for her PTSD and the sheer quantity of time she spent releasing the dog to say hi to other people and get petted.... I think the dog spent more of the book off-duty than on. Not at all, from my understanding, the usual priorities of people with service dogs.
Overall, I expected better from this author given the other things I've read from her, and I'm not sure what happened here. Hopefully this is just an off book and not the beginning of a trend for her!
It felt to me like it was trying to have 1960's mystery vibes while also updating its general social consciousness, but for me personally, the way this particular book did the mashup did not work. It gave me the feeling that it simultaneously wanted to be like, "I understand about prejudice and oppression and intersectionality!" and also "this is an unexamined power fantasy about being rich!" and the two did not mesh nicely with each other.
also..... the heroine is a tech billionaire named Tesla travelling to Mars. I couldn't help being reminded of a certain other billionaire in the news a lot these days.
Anyway, I didn't feel the worldbuilding was strong, and I didn't particularly like or care about any of the characters, and I wasn't intrigued by the murder mystery, so all together there wasn't a lot for me in this book.
Some readers may appreciate though that the main character is someone who lives with disabling chronic pain and PTSD, which are regularly kept at the forefront of her experience of life. However, she also has a service dog for her PTSD and the sheer quantity of time she spent releasing the dog to say hi to other people and get petted.... I think the dog spent more of the book off-duty than on. Not at all, from my understanding, the usual priorities of people with service dogs.
Overall, I expected better from this author given the other things I've read from her, and I'm not sure what happened here. Hopefully this is just an off book and not the beginning of a trend for her!
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Also when I skipped to the end note there was a bit about how she hoped people who weren't always into drinking enjoyed the zero-proof drinks and I was like... I didn't even notice them because by the third chapter I wasn't reading the cocktail recipes! Because I don't drink! *headdesk*
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and lol, I glanced at a couple of the cocktail recipes and immediately determined that they contained nothing relevant for following the story or learning new things about the worldbuilding, and promptly started skipping them - but I did notice that one of them was zero proof. And honestly rolled my eyes a little because it felt so out of place. nobody in the book is drinking zero-proof cocktails! it's all about the alcohol!
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and immediately determined that they contained nothing relevant for following the story or learning new things about the worldbuilding
Right?? Idk if you've read any of the Stephen Brust Vlad novels (I don't really recommend them to you if you haven't, though I like them -- but I think they fall kind of squarely in that space where we don't intersect), but he does the same trick of chapter headers that have, say, parts of a meal, or in one case a laundry list. But they are usually somewhat relevant, if only to be a slightly-snarky comment on the action on the chapter. The recipes felt like she wanted them to be that, but they really weren't.
nobody in the book is drinking zero-proof cocktails!
I also didn't see that! But I thought maybe I was missing something, lol.
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I did read a couple of the Vlad novels, and they were fun enough but not sufficiently intriguing to draw me into reading more. That kind of chapter-header is fine if it's some kind of metatextual commentary on what's going on in the chapter! In fact that's fun! Building out the context!
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I totally cackled when I read this part of your review. Because THAT was exactly the reason that made me put the book down the first time I borrowed it from my library. Mind you, this was back when it was first published and there was a lot of strong and v. positive word of mouth for this novel.
After letting some months go by, I borrowed it again...and ended up DNF'ing halfway thru the second chapter. I'd say it was a combo of not connecting with the characters (something abt Tesla's personality just rubbed me wrong, I guess) and finding the plot rather boring. So I returned it to the library thinking that I'd give it one last try later this year or maybe next January. However, after reading your review, I decided that the healthiest thing was to cut my losses and take the book off my To Read list.
Mind you, this was the first book by this author I'd attempted to read. The idea of a female protag with chronic pain + space mystery was intriguing! And yet, this book was a non-starter for me not once but twice!
FWIW, I'm still not sure why the book didn't work for me, but there we are. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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I am glad my review could remove from you any sense of obligation to try to finish reading it! I wish I hadn't bothered finishing it tbh.
The author as a whole....her main other series of scifi I started out liking but the more I read of it the more certain aspects of it bugged me in ways that radiated out and back to the beginning of the series. And I haven't bothered to read her fantasy series because I've heard its understanding of history is pretty shallow. I have enjoyed some of her short stories though! but overall I wouldn't suggest it's worth your time to try any of her other works.
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the heroine is a tech billionaire named Tesla travelling to Mars -- I… really? Huh.
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