FOREIGNER: Discussion Post #7

[krait]

Aaaaaaaaaand we have finally come to the end of things! This is the discussion post for chapter 14-16, our final section.

I hope everyone has had fun -- I've definitely loved the entire experience, and thank you all very much for being such amazing co-readers! :D Congratulations on making it all the way through.


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Thoughts on the last section: has it gone in directions you expected at the beginning? Has your view of Bren, the atevi, or anyone else changed dramatically? Do you have a favourite part, or a least-favourite section? Things you still want to know? Secret yearnings to ride mecheita-back over the mountains (or to never set foot near such a beast)? :D

Comments

[blnchflr]

Urgh, so obviously discussion posts twice a week was too much for me, because once you get behind, catching up proves too hard!

I'm giving up on commenting coherently on the rest of the posts, but wanted to stop and say thanks for organizing this - I did read a whole novel front to back, a much too rare occurrence these days, and it was something I wouldn't have chosen on my own, and it was something I wasn't particularly thrilled with, so I was challenged, which is good, too :o)

The biggest reason why the book didn't work for me, if you want to know (when I like something, I'm not always interested in the details of why other people didn't - I like my squee unharshed, *g*), is the tell, don't show. I felt like 90-95% of the book was tell instead of show, and not just tell, but tell and re-telling. Like, something would happen (the precious 5-10% show) or have happened in the past (more tell, *sigh*), and then Bren would think about what happened. What could have happened. What should have happened. And just in case we missed it, what did happen, again! It didn't work for me.

Also, Atevi society and mentality was somewhat clearer at the end of the novel, but for the largest part I really struggled understanding how it worked/they thought, and it was too hard a struggle with too few answers to be very satisfying for me.

But again, I'm happy I read it, so thanks!

[krait]

Hee, that's okay, I'm just glad you made it through the whole thing! See, I knew you could. :)

why the book didn't work for me, if you want to know

I do! I'm always curious about what other readers do/seek/dislike/need in a (sci-fi or fantasy) novel. :D

something would happen [...] Bren would think about what happened. What could have happened. What should have happened.

This is... partly something of a trend with Cherryh, I think. I do remember that the first novel I read by her was the first in the Chanur series, and I had trouble following it -- until everything was laid out and explained in the last twenty-five pages or so. And that that seemed to be how the next two worked, too. Useful to clueless!teenage!me, who was a bit in over my head regarding things like jump-point mass and how to follow implications/nuances in inter-alien communication; but also sort of grating/annoying, because I had to wait for The Explanation instead of following the story. Now that I'm older and love the Chanur series, I suspect it's just something Cherryh does habitually; wonder if she was an English major, who never dropped the habit of "repeat your thesis in the conclusion"? :D

The other thing is, well, I think it's partly Bren's own nature -- I remember someone commented that he seemed to do best when he just reacted instead of thinking too much, and I replied that that was rare because Bren is always thinking! In six directions at once. Including doubting himself, which is mentioned a couple times in the book -- that a decent paidhi has to continually double-check his own thinking because the languages don't overlap neatly and it's very hard to strain the instinctive human responses out of your, well, responses.

Which brings up why Cherryh would decide to write so cerebral and questioning a character... maybe because it's already her own natural impulse to dissect and explain? *grins*

I think I must have adapted to her unusual pacing somewhere between Chanur and Foreigner; at least, on my last reread of Chanur I didn't really notice the things that had bugged me before, re: her habit of summarising (and, now you bring it up, Pyanfar's habit of thinking out every possible doublecross and consequence).

Erm, don't let me put you off the possibility of reading Chanur, though? :D Nonhuman-POV first contact! Whyyyyyyy are there not more of them?!

[blnchflr]

I'm afraid I'm totally put off ever reading anything by Cherry again - her writing style really doesn't work for me.

Instead I need to remember to track down Nor Crystal Tears at some point!