In the city of the future, humans photosynthesize, viruses educate people, organics have replaced electronics...and almost no one lives past forty. In the city of the future, Milena is resistant to the viruses. She is barred from the Consensus. She has Bad Grammar. In the city of the future, Milena feels alone. In the city of the future, Milena meets Rolfa, the huge and hirsute Genetically Engineered Polar Woman. And might, just might, find a place for herself after all...
The Child Garden
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
A future city afflicted with a viral epidemic is the setting of Ryman's acclaimed novel; winner of the John W. Cambell and Arthur C. Clarke Awards.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"Excellent...Dark and witty and full of love, closely observed, and sprinkled with astonishing ideas. Science fiction of a very high order."--Greg Bear
"A richly absorbing tale--with a marvelous premise expertly carried out."--Kirkus Reviews
"One of the most imaginative accounts of futuristic bioengineering since Geg Bear's Blood Music."--Locus
"A heady novel bursting with speculation."--Library Journal
"An exuberant celebration of excess set in a resource-poor but defiantly eneregtic 21st century...you will not be bored."--The New York Times
"A richly absorbing tale--with a marvelous premise expertly carried out."--Kirkus Reviews
"One of the most imaginative accounts of futuristic bioengineering since Geg Bear's Blood Music."--Locus
"A heady novel bursting with speculation."--Library Journal
"An exuberant celebration of excess set in a resource-poor but defiantly eneregtic 21st century...you will not be bored."--The New York Times
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More About the Author
Geoff Ryman is a Canadian living in the United Kingdom. His first book based on events in Cambodia was published in 1985, the award-winning The Unconquered Country. The King's Last Song was inspired by a visit to an Australian archaeological dig at Angkor Wat in 2000. He has been a regular visitor since, teaching writing workshops in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap twice, and publishing three further novellas set in Cambodia. In Britain he produced documentaries for Resonance FM, London, on Cambodian Arts. He has published nine other books and won fourteen awards. He teaches creative writing at the University of Manchester.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
for lovers of sci-fi and Dante alike....,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Child Garden: A Low Comedy (Paperback)
This is a truly wonderful book, that deserves a lot more attention than it got. Ryman has an incredible range, a gift for characterization, and has mastered the art for precise observation that he can nevertheless make iconic. This book is very ambitious - and he gets away with it. He weaves together Marx, the theory of relativity, hologram productions of Dante, vampires, and genetic engineering - and it works. This is one of those books that I press into my friends' hands saying, "You have got to read this." Then I have to show up at their door to get it back because they love it so much that they don't want to give it back. If you like this book you should also read "Was," Ryman's book that tackles "The Wizard of Oz." He is a truly great modern writer.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An unbelievably rich book.,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Child Garden: A Low Comedy (Paperback)
I've read this book four or five times, and I get something new out of it every times. Somehow Ryman manages to make the book engrossing and compelling, yet multi-layered and as complex as any book I've read. Ryman has created a truly original fantasy society - all too rare in science fiction - and he mixes innovative details about bio-engineering with ruminations on Dante and the nature of love. Amazingly rich.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Philosophical Science Fiction,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Child Garden: A Low Comedy (Paperback)
Like his brilliant "mainstream" novel "Was", "The Child Garden" is a novel that works on many levels, it leaves your mind reeling. Like Delany, LeGuin, and Crowley, Ryman is one of the masters of "serious" science fiction. This novels interweaves a lesbian coming out story with bio-engineering extrapolation in a future London. But the coming out story is just a springboard for ideas about the Self in Society, about alienation, memory, human connection. And Ryman somehow manages to weave consensus politics and the struggle of the artist into the bio-engineering theme. On top of this, the entire novel is about Art's healing powers. Through all this cerebral imagery, there are unforgettable characters, wit, and a whole lot of love. Few science fiction novels -- and novels about ideas in general -- can make one weep and think. This novel is the rare one that does both
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
It was an audience of children. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
grey book, south ken Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Rose Ella, Mike Stone, Milena Shibush, Moira Almasy, Child Garden, Chao Li Song, Charles Sheer, Toll Barrett, Leake Street, Bob the Angel, Christian Soldier, Polar Bear, Marsham Street, People's Artist, Bad Grammar, Coral Reef, Dead Space, Love's Labour's Lost, Loving One, Senior Fenton, Tree of Heaven, Waterloo Bridge, Lower House, Seller of Games, Virgil Street New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
It was an audience of children. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
grey book, south ken Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Rose Ella, Mike Stone, Milena Shibush, Moira Almasy, Child Garden, Chao Li Song, Charles Sheer, Toll Barrett, Leake Street, Bob the Angel, Christian Soldier, Polar Bear, Marsham Street, People's Artist, Bad Grammar, Coral Reef, Dead Space, Love's Labour's Lost, Loving One, Senior Fenton, Tree of Heaven, Waterloo Bridge, Lower House, Seller of Games, Virgil Street New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 11
books:
See all 11 books this book cites
- The Divine Comedy (The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso) by Dante Alighieri on page 95, page 107, and page 301
- Divine Comedy (Oxford World's Classics) by Dante Alighieri on page 95, page 107, and page 301
- La Divina Commedia by Dante Alighieri on page 94
- Das Kapital, Gateway Edition (Skeptical Reader) by Karl Marx on page 71
- Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics) by John Milton on page 222
See all 11 books this book cites
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