Customer Reviews

Halfway Human

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Carolyn Ives Gilman's science fiction novel "Halfway Human" is a work very much in the tradition of Ursula K. LeGuin's classic "The Left Hand of Darkness." Each novel envisions an alien society in which gender and sexuality differ radically from that of the ordinary human world. Ives' vision is as bold and as fully realized as that of LeGuin, and daringly different on certain levels.

The heart of Ives' story takes place on the planed Gammadis, where a neuter third gender, known as Blands, serves as a slave population to the males and females that comprise the rest of the population. The situation is further complicated by the fact that all children of Gammadis are essentially neuter, with gender not manifesting itself until puberty. The story opens with Tedla, a Bland refugee from Gammadis, meeting a xenologist from another world. Tedla tells "its" life story to the sympathetic Val.

"Halfway Human" is a gripping drama filled with political intrigue and populated by a fascinating group of characters. Gilman fully fleshes out the complex culture of Tedla's world. The novel deals with such compelling issues as prejudice, slavery, sex, power, and the relationship of an underground subculture to a dominant culture. The story also looks at education and empowerment, hypocrisy and lust, and the longing for a love that transcends vast gulfs of difference.

There are some really horrific and painful scenes in this story, but there is also much that is life-affirming. "Halfway Human" is a brilliant contemporary fictional version of a slave narrative, a genre which has played an important role in American literature; good companion texts for this novel would be such 19th century works as "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" or Harriet Jacobs' "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl."

Halfway Human is pretty darn good. It's set in a rather well worked out variation of a common idea: sometime long in the past (story past, our future), Earth humans have colonized and terraformed many alien planets. After a period in which the planets fell out of contact, a subset of them have rediscovered each other, and have apparently formed a very loose confederation, including Capella Two, the planet (or actually a moon) on which the nominal viewpoint character, Valerie Endrada, lives. Travel is by matter transmitters, and is (logically) light speed. (The fairly rigorous insistence on light speed travel and the corresponding simultaneity problems is a good decision, and is used well in the story.) The tech behind all this is very much backgrounded (quite appropriately). At the time of the action, none of the unmanned probes which are trying to rediscover the colony planets have reported back in some time, except for the one at Gammadis (Gamma Disciplins), which is 51 ly away from Capella Two, and which harbors an odd variety of humans. The original mission to Gammadis ended 63 years previously in disgrace, with the ambassadors thrown off the planet (and arriving back on Cappella 12 years prior to the main action).

That's the setup, but what about the good part, the reason to read this novel? Well, the strange thing about Gammadis humans is that they are born neuter. At puberty, about 1/3 (very roughly, and the ambiguity about the actual numbers is a point of the novel) stay neuter, and the others turn half into males and half into females. There is no way to tell whether a given child will be male, female, or neuter. The kicker is that the neuters, also called blands, are condemned to life in "grayspace", literally underneath and "behind" the "human" world, and they live lives of slavery, performing the menial tasks of their society, leaving the "humans" free for the more intellectual and artistic pursuits. This is regarded on Gammadis as natural: neuters are supposed to be stupider, and less energetic, and literally to have no souls. The whole setup is monstrous, and at the same time quite clearly analogous in many ways to slavery in the US, and in many other cultures. In fact, though the novel seems to be promoted as a novel about gender roles, it really isn't. Certainly Gilman makes some such points, and it's not without value for its exploration of gender, but the central issue is definitely slavery and not gender. And it seems to me that many opportunities for a more probing (no pun intended, God help me) exploration of gender issues are missed: but I should emphasize that that's not a weakness, just a different focus than one might have expected.

The book works because of the believable but horrifying society revealed on Gammadis, with its uncomfortable parallels with our history and even to an extent our present. There are many disturbing scenes, and many moving scenes. The portrayal of the bland society, and the secret behind the Gammadian characteristics, is very well done, and at times has a "Ones who Walk Away From Omelas" sort of message to it: they have created a near-Utopia, at one level, and they try so hard to ignore the "screaming child in the back room": except it's not one child but 1/3 of their population. Much of the characteristics of the Gammadian society are very nicely shown, instead of told, and some important details are very subtly planted in the background. Details which seem trivial take on powerful new meaning later in the novel, after we understand the society better.

I had a few reservations with this book plotwise, but all in all it's a first-rate read, and very provocative. In many ways, this is a pure SF novel, in that its value derives mostly from the ideas it explores, rather than a particularly exciting plot (though the story moves nicely), or any outstanding "literary" values (though it's certainly well-written, and decently characterized.)

This book flows well even with frequent changes in the point of view. The characters and their responses are believable and well drawn, from the behavior of the blands in slavery to the relationship between Val and her dissertation advisor. I had to smile when her advisor told her some of the same "politically cautious" things that I remember mine telling me back in grad school and after. I liked the fact that, even without going into a huge amount of detail about their pasts, she managed to portray even some of the more minor characters as complex and multidimensional. This is an amazing accomplishment for a first novel! Despite being set in the distant future, the novel is quite believable and the societies quite plausible. She doesn't explain every little thing about the world that the characters live in though, and there are many unsolved mysteries and some loose ends (like what it was that Tedla had done that resulted in their making it a bland), but the reader can draw his/her own conclusions. I find it refreshing for a writer to leave some things to the reader's imagination, but I suppose that some might find it frustrating and wish for a sequel. The book doesn't need a sequel, but one would work. It's been a while since this book was published, and I hope that Ms. Gilman writes more novels someday. I saw something on the net that said she is currently working on a completely new book, and I hope that this is true and it gets published. In these times of the mass marketing of established authors and endless sequels and series, it's frustrating to see how rarely completely new authors with completely new ideas, even those with considerable talent, get the exposure and publicity that they deserve.

I really enjoyed this book, the characters were well developed, and I could not put it down. Being a double minority myself (African American Women), I thought the author did an excellent job of showing a different face of prejudice.

This is an excellent book and I look forward to hearing more from this author.

This was a compelingly disturbing novel. Carolyn Ives Gillman has created a work of art. A socialogical look at another culture, that brings to mind all that we are most ashamed of in our own. I was instantly attached to the androgenous Tedla and was more than willing the laugh and cry and stay up till four a.m. getting to know it better. A must read for any one who wants to strech their brain.

The title of my review for "Halfway Human" paraphrases one of the main characters in this novel, an ethnographer studying an alien civilization, who says, "You can never really know a culture until you know its' shame." What would you do if you suddenly realized that you were actually in the wrong gender? Would you experience a pervading sense of anxiety and longing, finally surrendering to your fate while attempting to fit in? This is an absolutely brilliant book, one in which the author constructs, totally from scratch, two very authentic alien civilizations, down to the most minute detail. Vividly characterized with important ethical questions presented about such topics as gender, population control and sexuality, all in the context of how much interference or non-interference with other societies should be permitted and for what reasons.This is a powerful story, not about transgenderism exactly, but offering an opportunity, through very vivid symbolism, to ponder this question.

Halfway Human is a novel that deals with gender, sexuality, sexist language, violence, class oppression, slavery, and capitalism, to name a few themes. All these issues intersect in the character Tedla, a non-gendered and non-sexed alien who is a member of a slave class on a closed alien world called Gammadis. Tedla is introduced to Val, a xenologist, after a suicide attempt. The story unfolds as Tedla describes to Val how it came to be on Capella and why it tried to take it's own life.

I am sympathetic to the issues the author explores. However, the themes are so numerous that it is difficult to fully appreciate the major injustices inherent in any one of them. At the same time, I understand that they are woven together, each supporting the other, intersecting, and to leave out this exponential element would possibly oversimplify. Hmm.

The vehicle the author uses to tell the story struck me as amateurish. Couldn't the meat and potatoes have come out in a more sophisticated way other than simple narration? I found this to be the most annoying part of the book.

One issue I wish had been explored was the lack of an erotic life, or even a desire for one, experienced by Tedla and other "blands." Considering the interest of Western philosophy and mythology on eros and the erotic, the book may have been more interesting and original if the author had taken this one, unexplored, theme, and visualized its' possibilities and repurcussions.

The best part was the rich characterization of Tedla. While I never felt completely comfortable with Tedla, in the same way the other, sexed and gendered, individuals in the book are uncomfortable, I appreciated particularly it's struggle to find a solid inner core...a journey many of us have to make in our lives. Yet a major flaw in the book is Tedla's apparent transformation from total belief in it's inferiority, to a sudden ability to advocate for itself, and to find value in itself. Did this transformation happen from the mere act of telling it's story, and being loved and appreciated by three people it has known for a few days? To me, the development of a healthy ego in one who has been traumatized like Tedla, would be a more arduous process.

This book flows well even with frequent changes in the point of view. The characters and their responses are believable and well drawn, from the behavior of the blands in slavery to the relationship between Val and her dissertation advisor. I had to smile when her advisor told her some of the same "politically cautious" things that I remember mine telling me back in grad school and after. I liked the fact that, even without going into a huge amount of detail about their pasts, she managed to portray even some of the more minor characters as complex and multidimensional. This is an amazing accomplishment for a first novel! Despite being set in the distant future, the novel is quite believable and the societies quite plausible. She doesn't explain every little thing about the world that the characters live in though, and there are many unsolved mysteries and some loose ends (like what it was that Tedla had done that resulted in their making it a bland), but the reader can draw his/her own conclusions. I find it refreshing for a writer to leave some things to the reader's imagination, but I suppose that some might find it frustrating and wish for a sequel. The book doesn't need a sequel, but one would work. It's been a while since this book was published, and I hope that Ms. Gilman writes more novels someday. I saw something on the net that said she is currently working on a completely new book, and I hope that this is true and it gets published. In these times of the mass marketing of established authors and endless sequels and series, it's frustrating to see how rarely completely new authors with completely new ideas, even those with considerable talent, get the exposure and publicity that they deserve.

I adored this novel and was very disappointed to see that Gilman has not yet written anything else. I think this story says alot about culture and how we look at ourselves and the components that make up our society. I found the novel and the situation of the "blands" to be a very strong parralell to slavery in this country and how slavery was viewed by slaves as well owners. I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly reccomned it not only as sci fi/fantasy but as fiction.

I think the concept of this book laid a good groundwork to explore society values and personal feelings. I really love books of that nature (Orson Scott Card writing some of my favorites of this type).

I highly recommend this if you like science fiction just to be able to look more thoroughly at the human race. But if you're more into sci-fi for heavy politics or war, this isn't that type.