Customer Reviews

Nothing Human

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Nancy Kress' latest novel, despite its garish cover, deals with a topical issue; genetic manipulation of the unborn. Kress' novel would be little better than an average Michael Crichton thriller if not for her unusual twist; the genetic manipulation being done here is not by humanity but by an alien race called the Pribir.

The Pribir were once like humanity (or so they say)and are preparing humanity for life in an environment full of environmental toxics. Their primary means of communication appears to be through a series of complex smells. The resulting children from their experiment are something more than human but still have the same emotional flaws as their peers.

Kress deals with a lot of complex issues here: the environment and our place in it; the rights of those who have been genetically manipulated; the role of any outside culture in influencing another one--even for their own good. As usual Kress handles the plot, characters and themes deftly. What the novel lacks is any sense that it is building to a powerful conclusion.

Nothing Human isn't disappointing just anti-climatic. It's rare that a Kress novel disappoints and no one can write a classic every time. Kress' latest novel has much to admire but it just isn't in the same league as Beggar's in Spain or Probability Moon.

For the most part, anyone who already reads any noticeable amount of science fiction, or even genre fiction in general, will be able to predict where this plot is going, from the first few pages. There are no surprises, other than a few inconsistencies that leave one surprised when nothing happens to straighten them out.

Kress is a good writer even with a pedestrian plot, so the book is readable, and not a waste of time. It's just not worth saving to re-read or mull over the ideas.

The starting point is test-tube babies from a mysterious clinic who, surprise, turn out to have peculiar mutations. The particular mechanism that results from these mutations is a bit improbable; leaving the unlikelihood aside so that we can accept the notion that aliens can communicate with human children by smell alone, why aliens would choose to use barely-teenage children as their messengers rather than people who would command more respect and attention when speaking to other humans is a question Kress doesn't answer, other than an overall implication in the last third of the book that these particular aliens are rather incompetent. Incidentally, toward the end of the book, when the "new generation" of children is described, I recognized the adaptations that Kress describes as being taken pretty much exactly from an article that appeared in Scientific American a few years ago, on what humans should look like to be well-adapted for our terrestrial, bipedal way of life. Kress adds a couple of unique details, but her characters are nowhere near as original as people who don't read science magazines might think.

If I were going looking for a story about aliens who happen to bring bits of mutation/change to Earth, I'd re-read Larry Niven's "The Green Marauder," for preference. However, that's not to say that people won't like "Nothing Human" and in fact, I suspect that it could well be a read that juvenile humans about the age of our protagonists might enjoy.

I thought this book did everything a good sci-fi book did -- discuss issues and ideas that are important today. Maybe I'm just simple minded, but I thought this book was a lot better then the overall "acceptable" reviews that I've read here.

I also recommend another book (trilogy, actually) that deals with very similar issues in a very similar fashion by Octavia E Butler, the Xenogenesis series, "Dawn"Adulthood Rites," and "Imago".

In fact, the Butler series is so similar in many ways to "Nothing Human" that I can't help but wonder if it wasn't the inspiration for "Nothing Human".

Wahtever, "Nothing Human" was a great read.

Nothing Human by Nancy Kress had very slight echoes of her Beggars in Spain trilogy, which is one of my all time favorites. This story also deals with the idea of changing human DNA to adapt faster to the environment than evolution would. It's an inspiring tale, with many small characterizations of human responses that are not stereotypes and therefore all the more interesting. Fear, love, revulsion and logic twist into unusual combinations throughout the tale. The story is written relatively tight, with the suspense coming from not knowing how each change will be accepted by those changed and those close to them. Meanwhile the environment grinds away from an almost Eden to near total desolation and back again. Like all Kress' work there was plenty of food for thought. The story is more thought provoking than exciting, but good reading none the less.

As she does in "An Alien Light", Kress explores humanity and what defines it via the lens of an alien microscope. Unfortunately, in this novel, the concepts become less weighty when bogged down in a sluggish plot and superficial characters. In 300 pages, Kress fails to provide the reader with enough background, depth, or empathy to understand the central characters' motives or rationalizations for the actions they take. And the conclusion leaves one unsatisfied and somewhat flat - rather than pondering her central question (what defines humanity), one is left uncaring.

To read about the same concepts in a better package, I recommend you read An Alien Light, or better yet, the Beggars series.

Ahem, just a brief comment. In the book, she refers to a bubble type environment, where someone is isolated, for fear that he might infect others. She says it is under positive pressure. Not so. It would actually be negative pressure, where the pressure inside would be less than in the entrance rooms. This is so that any particles would tend to be swept inside the room when the door is open.

Positive pressure is just the opposite, and is used mostly in semiconductor clean rooms and surgical theatres, where you don't care if stuff inside the room leaks out, but you do not want particulates from outside leaking in.