"Tritcheon Hash" is a funny romp through a future where women basically got tired of men, then left them to stew in their juices on a rapidly declining Earth. They colonize their own planet, "Coney Island," and live in an all-female society.
The title character is a hot-shot pilot, not-so-happily married to her beautiful and smart wife, yet married to her job. She's a brawler, a risk-taker, an aggressive woman--perhaps more "man-like" than other women. She is selected to travel back to Earth to check on what is really happening there. There is a movement to perhaps bring back the two genders together, but the women cannot penetrate the haze of pollution and junk which now surround the planet with electronic means, so they have to sneak in Tritcheon Hash as a spy-observer. She fails miserably at being covert, but she is able to get a basic idea of life on Earth, and after stealing a ship (hers was dismantled) she escapes and eventually makes it back to Coney Island.
The novel succeeds on many levels. It is unique, that is for sure. This is not your standard SciFi. The entire concept is weird and refreshing. The humor mostly works, and the writing style, while it takes getting used to, is fun to read.
And the story is certainly earthy. From the beginning when Tritcheon Hash, after sitting for hours in a test vehicle which won't run, has sweat running down her back and into her butt, driving her mad with the desire to scratch, to her sexual encounter with a man back on Earth, well, this main character is a real human with real, physical needs.
Where it doesn't work is that the author seems to try and interject too many other styles, ala Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams. Sue Lange has her own, enviable style, but on a few occasions, she throws in a long forming pun in the form of a story or writes an out-and-out joke, and to me, at least, this took away from the fast-paced flow of her main story.
There were a few other glitches, such as how many trips it took to get all women to Coney Island and the fact that on a starving planet, the men only ate meat and even made their cardboard out of animal parts while ignoring vegetable matter (used to feed animals). But as a humorous satire, I guess you can forgive those. But I thought the main character's period of insanity was a little forced, and I don't think that added to the story.
Overall, though, this is a great read. I love the concept of the novel, and I liked the execution. The author took a chance on writing this, something I wish other authors would do. I thoroughly recommend this novel.
