ilana
An absorbing and compelling read. It was absolutely incredible to see my culture on the pages of a science fiction novel set in the future; each sly reference tickled me and the use of the Golem of Prague legend as allegory was effective. I especially liked that certain references or terms were not spelled out for the reader, at least not right away or in so many terms - the reader is simply expected to be literate in Jewish culture, religion, and history.
I enjoyed that each character was complex, that the sympathetic characters were not actually always sympathetic, but rather had their own warts. It would have been easy for an author to make Shira Shipman a Mary Sue, but no - Shira is prickly, more than a bit self-centred, and anxious. I suspect Malkah was a bit of an avatar for the author, but this is actually fun for the reader.
Since the book was published in 1991, there are a few bits of terminology that haven't aged well - the use of the word “autistic” is an example. It comes up a few times and betrays the author's belief (at that time) that autistic people are incapable of emotion or expression, and have minimal quality of life. This isn't a theme of the book, so it doesn't mean I won't recommend this title, but it jumped out at me as a reader in 2021.
An absorbing and compelling read. It was absolutely incredible to see my culture on the pages of a science fiction novel set in the future; each sly reference tickled me and the use of the Golem of Prague legend as allegory was effective. I especially liked that certain references or terms were not spelled out for the reader, at least not right away or in so many terms - the reader is simply expected to be literate in Jewish culture, religion, and history.
I enjoyed that each character was complex, that the sympathetic characters were not actually always sympathetic, but rather had their own warts. It would have been easy for an author to make Shira Shipman a Mary Sue, but no - Shira is prickly, more than a bit self-centred, and anxious. I suspect Malkah was a bit of an avatar for the author, but this is actually fun for the reader.
Since the book was published in 1991, there are a few bits of terminology that haven't aged well - the use of the word “autistic” is an example. It comes up a few times and betrays the author's belief (at that time) that autistic people are incapable of emotion or expression, and have minimal quality of life. This isn't a theme of the book, so it doesn't mean I won't recommend this title, but it jumped out at me as a reader in 2021.
It was fine. The concept was interesting, but the main character's engagement with her Jewish identity seemed rather superficial, which didn't make a lot of of sense to me for something that was supposed to be a big part of animating her motivation. It's also sort of hard to get behind a character who not only doesn't seem to know what she wants out of life but who doesn't seem to care. We're informed that Luzia is a rebel, an iconoclast, but she is really very passive. I kept waiting for her to make a decision for herself, but things just sort of... happened to her. I was ultimately more interested in what became of her erstwhile employer than what became of the main character herself. As far as the crypto-Jewish elements, it very much read as the author using this framework to explore her own identity and felt shallow.
It was fine. The concept was interesting, but the main character's engagement with her Jewish identity seemed rather superficial, which didn't make a lot of of sense to me for something that was supposed to be a big part of animating her motivation. It's also sort of hard to get behind a character who not only doesn't seem to know what she wants out of life but who doesn't seem to care. We're informed that Luzia is a rebel, an iconoclast, but she is really very passive. I kept waiting for her to make a decision for herself, but things just sort of... happened to her. I was ultimately more interested in what became of her erstwhile employer than what became of the main character herself. As far as the crypto-Jewish elements, it very much read as the author using this framework to explore her own identity and felt shallow.
It was fine. The concept was interesting, but the main character's engagement with her Jewish identity seemed rather superficial, which didn't make a lot of of sense to me for something that was supposed to be a big part of animating her motivation. It's also sort of hard to get behind a character who not only doesn't seem to know what she wants out of life but who doesn't seem to care. We're informed that Luzia is a rebel, an iconoclast, but she is really very passive. I kept waiting for her to make a decision for herself, but things just sort of... happened to her. I was ultimately more interested in what became of her erstwhile employer than what became of the main character herself. As far as the crypto-Jewish elements, it very much read as the author using this framework to explore her own identity and felt shallow.
It was fine. The concept was interesting, but the main character's engagement with her Jewish identity seemed rather superficial, which didn't make a lot of of sense to me for something that was supposed to be a big part of animating her motivation. It's also sort of hard to get behind a character who not only doesn't seem to know what she wants out of life but who doesn't seem to care. We're informed that Luzia is a rebel, an iconoclast, but she is really very passive. I kept waiting for her to make a decision for herself, but things just sort of... happened to her. I was ultimately more interested in what became of her erstwhile employer than what became of the main character herself. As far as the crypto-Jewish elements, it very much read as the author using this framework to explore her own identity and felt shallow.
