3.0 out of 5 stars
Brain Rose - good read but not up to Kress' standards..., January 15, 2008
I absolutely adore Nancy Kress: maybe that's why I feel somewhat put down by this novel. Don't get me wrong: it's good, just not quite good enough for somebody used to N.K. consistent excellence.
The story starts off slow and unfortunately stays slow: there are many moments of "shattering revelations": where characters turn ashen pale, look shocked, space out with shock, pass out, suffer minor self inflicted injuries in the process of absorbing absolutely shattering information... etc., etc. ... Only when the reader is invited to participate in the knowledge of whatever caused all those extreme reactions, the news turns out very obscure and not really that shocking...
I will not attempt to summarize the plot - it is involved and unique enough to be ill-served by second hand renditions. A lot of it is pretty complex and insightful social futurism. I thought that the idea of Gaesist movement was brilliant and intriguing. And, unfortunately a lot of it is just a weird mambo-jumbo of pseudo philosophy, pseudo science, pseudo who-knows-what... At the end, the conclusion does nothing to justify intricate buildup of suspense and tension and hardly anything is "explained" - in ordinary sense...
Still: very good, solid read - excellent social writing, excellent character buildup. Medical part of things: as always with Kress: systematically and quite impressively researched, and extrapolated with gusto to fit the plot - yet not quite water- tight to the end - or maybe it's just a medical professional in me looking for inconsistencies....
Overall: good read but not as good as I came to expect from N.K. Better luck next time...
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2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Book That Has Stuck With Me For 7 Years Now, January 2, 1999
While I know this book has gone out-of-print and was never widly read I would have trouble thinking of a better science fiction book to recomend. Very intellegent and fairly well written. Kress is just a damn good writer.
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