Nekropolis [Hardcover]

Maureen F. McHugh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 21, 2001

An extraordinary literary artist offers a powerful vision of tomorrow in a world barely touched by the passing centuries.

There is life in the Nekropolis -- but no future. Hariba spent her youth here, among the exquisite paper flower wreaths her mother meticulously constructed, playing contentedly with other children around the rows and rows of old buildings housing the crumbling bones of the dead. But when an older brother's criminal indiscretion robbed Hariba of any possibility of a husband, she agreed to have herself "jessed" -- submitting to the technoblological process designed to render her docile and subservient to whomever has purchased her service. In this way, Hariba could escape the confinement of her surroundings and hopelessness of her fate...though she could never again be truly free.

At the age of twenty-six, she enters the house of a wealthy merchant as an indentured servant. It is a new world for Hariba, filled with many wondrous objects and strange amusements that she has never before seen. But there is one thing in this place that greatly disturbs her: a "harni, an intelligent, machine-bred creature of flesh and organs, a perfect replica of a man. A menial, like herself, it calls itself "Akhmim." And it unsettles Hariba with its beauty, its naive, inappropriate tenderness -- and with prying, unanswerable questions like "Why are you sad?"

But slowly, almost imperceptibly, Hariba's revulsion metamorphoses into acceptance, and then into something much more. For Akhmim, like her, is a nonentity at the very bottom of the social order -- and the harni's gentle concern for her is real. And if she shuts out the accusing voices in her head, Hariba can even forget thatAkhmim is less than human.

Dangerous thoughts, however, must inevitably lead to dangerous actions -- and outlaw emotions can breed an unholy love defying the strictly enforced edicts of God and man. Soon feelings Hariba can neither control nor ignore have her contemplating the unthinkable -- escape. But the "jessed" abandon their masters at the risk of sickness, pain, imprisonment, and perhaps even death. And there is no safe haven for a rebel servant and a runaway A.I. -- not even within the shunned, technology-barren bowels of the city of the dead.

Hugo Award winner Maureen F. McHugh has written a provocative, powerfully dazzling novel of repression and reawakening -- and a unique, profoundly moving love storythat stands alongside the acclaimed works of Ursula K. Le Guin and Margaret Atwood.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Hariba, a poor young Near Eastern woman, sells herself into a slavery guaranteed by "jessing," a biochemical process that makes her permanently loyal to her owner. She would be content, if not happy, in her new house-servant's life--if her mistress didn't own a harni. A harni is a chimera, a genetically engineered man who may or may not be human, but who is stunningly handsome and who treats Hariba with a gentle, attentive consideration she has never before experienced. The chimera, Akhmim, is so unlike Hariba's expectations that her fear and hatred give way to love and, impossibly, to dissatisfaction with her scientifically cemented loyalty. Hariba and Akhmin flee to the Nekropolis, the Moroccan cemetery/ghetto in which she grew up. But her family and best friend are unhappy to see her and horrified by the chimera, and running away from her bonded master precipitates a serious, potentially fatal illness. Her family and friends are too poor and too afraid of arrest to hire a physician. And the unfailingly patient and considerate chimera begins to have strange effects on the women in Hariba's life.

Like Maureen F. McHugh's previous novels, Nekropolis is beautifully written, thoughtful, and powerful, with complex, sensitively delineated, always believable characters. McHugh portrays human behavior with a rare and sometimes heartbreaking honesty and with an exceptional insight into the interplay of male-female relationships and the dilemma of the stranger in a strange land. Like McHugh's debut novel, China Mountain Zhang (winner of the Hugo, Tiptree, Lambda, and Locus awards), the chapters are narrated in alternating first-person viewpoints that offer fresh and contrasting angles and understanding of the characters and their world. --Cynthia Ward

From Publishers Weekly

In this exquisite if melancholy novel, McHugh (Mission Child) evokes a repressive, intensely sexist 22nd century Morocco that is largely cut off from the rest of the world by the dictates of the Second Koran. Hariba, a young servant woman, has grown up in the Nekropolis, an ancient burial ground that also serves as home to the city of Fez's teeming poor. Unsuccessful in love, she chooses to be "jessed," undergoing a medical procedure designed to turn her into the perfect servant, one who is psychologically incapable of being disloyal to her employer. Unfortunately, however, Hariba soon runs afoul of her employer's wife, a restless shrew of a woman who devotes most of her time to bismek, a convoluted form of participatory virtual-reality soap opera. Worse still, Hariba, who's terribly lonely, falls in love with Akhmim, a harni or artificial person, who looks human, but isn't. Akhmim "impresses" on Hariba, returning her feelings as best he can. Indentured to another employer, she misses Akhmim terribly and eventually runs away with him. Alternating between four narrators Hariba, Akhmim, Hariba's mother and Hariba's best friend, Ayesha McHugh centers her novel on a well-realized set of sympathetic, but imperfect characters. Each speaks with a distinct voice, describing a complex and not entirely healthy web of friendships and familial relationships. McHugh's Morocco, with its intensely symbolic Nekropolis, is very real, but ultimately it is Hariba, Akhmim and their heartbreaking, impossible relationship that the reader will remember. Agent, Sandra Dijkstra.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harper Voyager; 1st edition (August 21, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380974576
• ISBN-13: 978-0380974573
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,479,534 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Maureen F. McHugh has spent most of her life in Ohio, but has lived in New York City and, for a year, in Shijiazhuang, China. She is the author of four novels. Her first novel, China Mountain Zhang, won the Tiptree Award and her latest novel, Nekropolis, was a Book Sense 76 pick and a New York Times Editor's Choice. McHugh is working on two novels, BabyGoth and Coming of Age in America. BabyGoth is a mother-daughter story: the Ya-Ya Sisterhood meets Alcoholics Anonymous. Coming of Age in America is a near future coming of age story -- and a romance. Chloe is a trailer park girl at a nice college. Derek is a rejuvenated 72-year-old returning student. McHugh teaches writing at the John Carroll University in Cleveland and at the Imagination and Clarion workshops. She and her husband and two dogs used to live next to a dairy farm. Sometimes, in the summer, black and white Holsteins looked over the fence at them. Now she lives in Austin, Texas.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One Word of Warning, May 9, 2002

By 

"kangarex" (Keokuk, IA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nekropolis (Hardcover)

Most if not all of what has already been written about this book is true, so I will not even attempt to reiterate all of it. I will simply add one commentary for those not familiar with Maureen McHugh's work. While Ms. McHugh is an excellent writer with distinctive and elegant prose, and while exciting things do happen to characters in her books, her books are virtually entirely character centered rather than plot centered. Frequently the "action" part of the plot will be ignored in favor of following what is more personally important to the character being followed. This is particularly evident in her endings, which can be confusing to those of us used to plot-driven novels. Her novels end (and Nekropolis is no exception) at the point where the character makes a fundamental change, rather than at any given point of plot. In China Mountain Zhang, the book ends just when the most interesting plot parts would be starting. Here, the book goes on for a while after a plot driven book would have stopped, and then ends when the main character gets a hair cut - an insignificant point of plot, but a very significant step of assimilation for our protagonist. This isn't a fault in the books particularly, just something to be aware of if you haven't read her stuff before.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A geat work of science fiction, August 23, 2001

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nekropolis (Hardcover)

In a future Morocco, slavery is legal, an institution deeply ingrained into the fiber of society. Slaves are jessed, given mind-altering drugs that make them loyal and eager to please their master. Hariba, born into poverty in the NEKROPOLIS, actually lived with her family in adjoining crypts until her brother was caught in the sin of adultery. He was flogged and sentenced to thirteen years in prison.

Hariba fearing any deep emotion sold herself into slavery and was jessed to her new master Mbarek. She becomes a housekeeper in his home where she meets the biological construct Akhmim. Despite herself, and knowing any relationship between them is illegal, she falls for him. When she is resold, she runs away from her new masters, taking Akhmim with her. Unless they can find a way to be smuggled into a country where slavery is illegal, even for Chimeras like Akhmim, the two risk capture and death at the hands of the authorities.

Maureen F. McHugh has written a literary science fiction novel that will be enjoyed by fans of Ursula LeGuin. The story line is riveting, but what makes this work so very special is the way slavery is accepted by both slave and master alike. The subcultures of the biological constructs raise interesting social and ethical issues, especially what constitutes humanity. This is a novel that makes readers think and ponder their own values system. Ms. McHugh is going to be a giant in the science fiction genre.

Harriet Klausner

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Moving story of future slavery and love, January 11, 2002

By 

Richard R. Horton (Webster Groves, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nekropolis (Hardcover)

_Nekropolis_ is an excellent novel. It's about a young woman in near future Morocco, Hariba, who becomes "jessed": her brain chemistry is altered to make her more loyal to a given person -- and she is "sold" as a house servant to a rich man to whom her loyalty is transferred. There she meets a "harni", or "chimera" (the term "harni" turns out to refer to chimeras with a specific function, and to have a derogatory aspect, but Hariba doesn't know this), named Akhmim. "Harnis" are genetically engineered humans, who have been bred to be loyal and compliant to their masters. In a sense, then, they are bred to be "jessed". After some resentment of the harni, Hariba falls in love. After that she is sold to a new, poorer, owner, and her desperation at losing Akhmim leads her to run away, which in turn makes her very ill, a side effect of resistant the compulsions of her "jessing".

The story is told from four POV's, serially, beginning with Hariba, then Akhmim, then Hariba's mother, then Hariba's best friend, then returning to Hariba. The plot follows the consequences of Hariba's running away, and of Akhmim feeling compelled to join her in this escape. Eventually they must try to leave Morocco altogether. But the plot is not the point of the book -- rather, McHugh is mainly showing us the characters of Hariba and her mother and friend, who are all from the slum area of Fez called the Nekropolis, and how their lives, and those of their families, have been constrained by poverty; and then, even more importantly, the character of Akhmim, and the ways in which he is and is not human, and how that affects his relationship with Hariba. It is at times a very sad novel, yet also quite full of hope -- the future Morocco portrayed is not a particularly wonderful place, but the future Europe portrayed seems quite nice, really. The characters are beautifully realized, and always people we believe in, and want to know better. This is definitely one of the best SF books of 2001 - probably really a 4.5 star book.