Slow start but an interesting read that explores the role and treatment of an AI from the POV of one AF ("Artificial Friend," in the novel). The book Slow start but an interesting read that explores the role and treatment of an AI from the POV of one AF ("Artificial Friend," in the novel). The book does a good job in putting you in Klara's place - the mechanic narration, lack of knowledge, the occasional disorientation, and so on. It's hard not to sympathize with her, and to feel bad when characters treat her as inhuman, as a tool.
There were a number of interesting topics - the nature of humanity, what makes a person, the treatment of sophisticated AI and their potential roles, ect - that were touched on but didn't feel especially delved in to. I'm not completely sure what to make of all of it and the ending....more
Another solid book from Chambers! The Wayfarers series ends a little anticlimactically, following a handful of strangers stuck together at a transit sAnother solid book from Chambers! The Wayfarers series ends a little anticlimactically, following a handful of strangers stuck together at a transit stop, but the characters and easy-going plot are welcome all the same. I'm looking forward to the author's future titles....more
As with VanderMeer’s other stories, I come away from this book feeling intrigued but a little mystified. Hummingbird Salamander follows the story of “As with VanderMeer’s other stories, I come away from this book feeling intrigued but a little mystified. Hummingbird Salamander follows the story of “Jane” as she picks along the trail of a mystery left behind for her by a stranger, Silvina, and the consequences that follow.
The narrative isn’t always easy to follow; it lacks some cohesion between chapters and isn’t entirely linear. Jane’s emotional detachment, although informed by writing in retrospect, casts everything at a remove that can make a reader struggle to stay invested. Jane is also not the most sympathetic narrator, and seems most emotional invested in her dead brother and Silvina, as opposed to her husband and daughter.
As an aside, it caught my attention that the main character, Jane, is fat - an unambiguously large woman, an ex-body builder. I won’t claim that the character or the story was perfect, but considering how rare fat women are as main characters, I love how respectfully this was included. I found it to be better fat representation than other stories I’ve read whose specifically intended draw was that it had fat representation. Jane is a big and imposing woman; it has affected her life and how she navigates people, space, and relationships.
Whether you like the specific story, narrator, or form, VanderMeer always writes intriguing narratives that keep me returning to every new release.
The vagueness of Silvina’s mystery frustrated me as it did Jane. I think the idea was to make Jane follow one clue to another, force Jane to become enmeshed in Silvina’s own history and plans, disregarding the danger that it would bring. Why Jane? It seems like an extra slap in the face considering the link between Silvina’s family and the fate of Jane’s brother.
Another frustrating thing for me about the book was trying to figure out Jane’s motivations for pursuing this at the cost of her life, career, and family. She routinely risks life and limb to follow the clues Silvina left all the way to the end. I assume it’s because of the vague references to her own family, her brother specifically, and feeling the need to pursue a sense of closure at any cost.
The actual mystery lacks specificity, which maybe can be chalked up to Jane’s limited POV. People killing each other, trying to kill Jane, mopping up loose ends around Silvina’s actions, all of this lacked the further detail to ground the readers in significant understanding. Generally I felt unclear about Silvina, who she was, what she was doing or intended to do.
I wasn’t sure what to make of the syringes at the end, the ones Silvina and Ronnie took. Here’s a passage relating to it:
"References to the salamander's unique defensive toxin, and the alkaloids in the flowers preferred by the hummingbird, which could be hallucinogenic to humans. Some evidence of a quest to harness their power without the toxicity. Chemical biomimicry...if I was right, to create not a deadly pandemic or a biological bomb but a new, true seeing? Let the world in through your pores like a salamander, see all the colors of the flowers only a hummingbird could see..."
So the solution in the syringe was intended to basically change a person physically, a sort of way to be more in touch with the world, similar to how salamanders and hummingbirds feel/see? It feels conceptual, the logistics of that are more than a little lost to me, especially since taking the syringe is potentially lethal. Again, I don’t really understand Silvina’s end goals. Jane’s perspective implies a confusion to this, too.
Vandermeer is known for speaking about issues of climate change, including in his stories, and I don’t feel knowledgeable enough to make significant commentary about how this is addressed in this book. The story is told partly in a stream of consciousness following linear events, how Jane is deeply affected by Silvina, even though Silvina’s involvement of the narrator seems, as Jane says, like an afterthought, a back-up to a back-up plan. The small scope of the narrative --told from one POV-- seems counterintuitive of the messages about climate change, considering no one individual can combat it, and the main causes of climate change are from corporations and military. On the other hand is how the narrative seems to address the reader, of the descriptions of Silvina’s (arguable?) failures, and what I think is at least part of the story’s meaning: our future is up to us, collectively. The ending is hopeful but open-ended. (hide spoiler)]...more
Beautifully written, with several characters in particular that I grew fond of (namely Hazel, Fiver, and Bigwig). I was not anticipating the story's iBeautifully written, with several characters in particular that I grew fond of (namely Hazel, Fiver, and Bigwig). I was not anticipating the story's intensity considering the characters are rabbits. I was thinking it was more of a 3-star for me, due to the length, some plodding exposition between chapters, and a few too many characters to easily keep track of, but the 4-star is for the writing, plot, and the research that went into the story. ...more
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