What I've Been Reading – April 2012 to June 2012

The following are some comments on most of the books I read over the past few months, with one major exception. I also managed to finish Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged in this period, but while I mention it in some of my comments on other books, I decided to do a separate posting on it, as I already had enough other books to write about, and if I want to take the time and space point out even some of the problems with Rand's ideas, it would add a lot to an already lengthy post.

Against a Dark Background by Iain M. Banks
Against a Dark Background is a science fiction novel by Iain M. Banks, an author whose work I have discussed previously. This book, like The Algebraist, is not set in the Culture, the society that forms the background for most of his science fiction, though some have pointed out that in the case of this novel it could still be in the same universe. Though it wasn’t one of his first published books (it came out in 1993), it was rewritten from a draft that dated back to 1975, well before his first published novel, The Wasp Factory (1984).

Against a Dark Background contains a number of features that are familiar to readers of Banks’ novels: a complex plot, a strong element of mystery, and frequent use of flashbacks that reveal more and more about the characters’ backgrounds. In this case I was able to guess some of the answers to the various mysteries fairly early, but I was still surprised by some of the plot twists. Another similarity between this novel and many other Banks novels is a noticeable flawed protagonist. Sharrow, the protagonist of this novel, is not so bad at the time the main action of the novel takes place. She is still somewhat arrogant and self-centered, but she does care about those around her and is concerned about the consequences of her actions, often feeling guilty for harm that others suffer even when her own responsibility is arguably limited. But as a child and a teen, particularly in her relations with her half-sister, she was often downright nasty (not that her sister was that wonderful either), and the prank she pulled on the family android was downright evil. Still, the reader still ends up sympathizing with her, in part because many of her antagonists are clearly worse.

The “dark background” of the title could refer to any number of things. There are the dark machinations taking place behind the scenes and the dark state of political society in Goltier, the world Sharrow lives in (this is, after all, a society where a powerful organization can legally obtain a license to hunt down and kill someone). Indeed, despite the fairly advance technology that appears in the novel, it becomes clear that Goltier is actually is in a kind of Dark Ages, as it has a history that stretches back many millennia and it was at times in the past much more advanced. The dark background could also refer to the isolation of Goltier and the system it belongs to in the universe, or even the darkness in the souls of some of the novels’ chief characters.

In any event, Against a Dark Background is another solid novel from Iain Banks. While it doesn’t have some of the more unusual features of a few of his novels (such as the use of reverse chronology for half of Use of Weapons or the atypical narrator of parts of Feersum Endjinn), that is not necessarily a negative for most readers, and it has all the elements that make most of his novels among the best out there. Anyone who has enjoyed other novels by Iain Banks will almost certainly like this one too, and new readers will find it a good introduction to his work.

Freedom from Fear by Aung San Suu Kyi
This is a collection of essays and speeches by Aung San Suu Kyi and a few more essays about her, selected and edited by her late husband Michael Aris. Several of the essays are from a time prior to her involvement in the struggle for democracy in Burma, which began in 1988. These include a biography of her father Aung San, an introduction to the history and culture of Burma, and two scholarly essays. The biography of Aung San, while painting an overall picture that is clearly very positive, is nevertheless written in a remarkably objective tone, to the extent that if the introductory paragraphs were removed, a reader would probably not even guess that it was written by his daughter. It is true as she points out at the beginning that she didn’t really remember her father, as he was assassinated when she was 2 years old, but her matter-of-fact tone is still impressive, and she doesn’t seem to gloss over mistakes her father made, and the positive view of him is supported by what little I’ve read about him elsewhere. The essay about the history and culture of Burma is also clear, concise and highly informative, and it strikes me as about as good a short introduction to the country as can be found anywhere. The scholarly works, one a comparison of intellectual life in Burma and India under British colonialism and the other a study of Burmese literature and its relationship to nationalism in the same period, are interesting and straightforward, without the excessive use of academic language with weighs down most essays of that nature.

The middle part of the book is mainly taken up by essays and speeches of Aung San Suu Kyi about democracy and related issues from the period beginning in 1988 when she returned to Burma and became a leader in the struggle against the country’s authoritarian military government, as well as a few interviews and discussions. While a few of her views might be considered overly idealistic, for the most part she argues her case with precise logic. Among the excellent points she makes are those pointing out the absurdity of claiming that democracy and human rights are somehow unsuitable to particular cultures, an assertion made by non-democratic governments in places ranging from Burma and China to Singapore. It was also refreshing to read some good arguments for selflessly struggling to improve one’s society as a sort of antidote for the absurdly self-centered viewpoints of Ayn Rand, whose book I was plowing through at around the same time.

The last part of the book includes several essays written by others about Aung San Suu Kyi’s background and experiences in the pro-democracy struggle. Two deal mostly with the time before 1988 when she was living in India and the UK (among other places) and the other two mainly with the post-1988 period. The one that struck me the most was the one written by a British woman who was her classmate and close friend at Oxford. Though of course very positive, it was also revealing (if not surprising) to read that Aung San Suu Kyi was rather straight-laced even as a young woman, to the point of being somewhat prudish about sex. Of course it is precisely this sort of rectitude that has given her the strength and charisma to fight a tyrannical government for so long, so while I may not agree with her views on such things, there is no question that her strong principles are an important part of what makes her such an admired leader.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
A Thousand Splendid Suns is the second novel by Afghan-American writer Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner. It is centered on a pair of Afghan women who come from very different backgrounds but eventually find their lives closely entwined. In both cases, their family background and upbringing seems slightly unusual for Afghanistan – Mariam is the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy businessman in Herat and grows up with her mother in almost complete isolation from the outside world, while Laila is the daughter of an usually enlightened father who encourages her to become educated – but many of the hardships and tragedies they endure are unfortunately all too typical.

Hosseini’s prose is very clear and straightforward, so the book is not at all a difficult read in that sense. Some of the terrible experiences that the protagonists have to endure are less easy going, but not everything is so black, and the book ends on a positive note. One thing some Western readers might have a little difficulty with is some of the cultural attitudes, such as when Mariam’s mother speaks positively of honor killings, saying her own father should have killed her when she got pregnant, or when Mariam herself quickly takes to wearing a burqa. But particularly in the latter case, Hosseini effectively puts the reader in the women’s position, making it easier to understand their acceptance of things that outsiders may see as symbols of oppression. That isn’t to say that Hosseini himself is advocating this kind of thing; it is clear his sympathies lie more with people like Laila’s father. But he is good at conveying other points of view, showing the reader that such things are not as simple as they seem to Westerners.

This novel gives the reader an excellent idea of what it must be like to be a woman in Afghanistan, and for the most part it’s not a pretty picture. At first, during Mariam’s childhood and again in the early part of her marriage, one gets the feeling that things could be much worse…then they do get much worse. The same is true for Laila. But as I said, while Hosseini paints a bleak picture of women’s lives during the civil war and under the Taliban, he does express hope for the future. Given some of the things I’ve read about the problems women still face there today, I only hope he doesn’t turn out to be too optimistic.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Stardust was Neil Gaiman’s first solo prose novel. Gaiman originally rose to fame as a writer of graphic novels, and Stardust was originally published as a "story book with pictures" in collaboration with illustrator Charles Vess. The book is best characterized as a fairy tale for adults. He was consciously influenced by “pre-Tolkien” English fantasy, though the book is also reminiscent of one of Tolkien’s more old fashioned fairy stories, Smith of Wootton Major, which was in the same tradition.

The prose style is clear and simple, and the story is engaging. As a story for adults, it has its dark elements – there is death and other unpleasantness. But it’s no more dark than the original Grimms' Fairy Tales, probably less so. The tale begins in the village of Wall, which is named for the wall it is located next to. The wall has only one opening, and the villagers stand guard on it all the time, permitting no one to go through – except on one day every nine years, when a market is held on the other side of the wall. The market is attended by people from all over the world, and by people from the world on the other side of the wall, which is, of course, Faerie. First the young villager Dunstan Thorn becomes entangled with a woman he meets at the market, and then eighteen years later his son Tristan becomes even more deeply involved in Faerie.

Stardust is very entertaining, and anyone who likes traditional fairy tales is sure to enjoy it. There has also been a movie adaptation, starring Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Robert De Niro, among others (I haven’t seen the film version, but reviews were generally positive). The novel is a good choice for an easy, enjoyable read.

Steel Beach by John Varley
Steel Beach is a science fiction novel by John Varley. It portrays a large human civilization underground on the Moon. This is the largest of several human settlements in the Solar System (though the others are only mentioned in passing), as humanity was kicked off the Earth by a vastly more advanced alien civilization almost two centuries before the novel begins.

Steel Beach is narrated by Hildy Johnson, a cynical veteran journalist who writes for one of the Moon’s top tabloids. Technologically, the Lunar civilization is highly advanced, and everyone’s basic needs are taken care off, largely by the omnipresent Central Computer which oversees all aspects of Lunar life. Human lifespans have been artificially extended, all but the most serious injuries – those involving direct, massive damage to the brain – can be repaired, and people can replace organs, radically alter their appearance, or even change gender at will (Hildy is male at the beginning of the novel, but fairly early on becomes female – which seems to have been his original gender). On the downside, most people seem to devote much of their time to fairly frivolous seeming activities – the largest religion is one that celebrates television and the cult of celebrity – and others, in a sense, drop out of society by moving into artificial recreations of various Earth locations from the past called Disneys (Hildy spends much of his time in Texas, a Disney based on the 19th century frontier state). More seriously, more and more citizens are attempting suicide, and sometimes succeeding.

The novel touches on a lot of different topics, including memory and perception of the past and present, gender and sexual orientation, suicide and the motivations behind it, privacy, personal fulfillment, personal freedom and non-conformity in a societal context, and human evolution and genetic engineering, all in the course of a story that, while not particularly action heavy, keeps the reader’s attention. In part because I was reading them at the same time, I began to mentally compare this novel to Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, perhaps because it covered a little of the same ground. The comparison became more apt late in the novel when Hildy becomes involved with a group called the Heinleiners, who take their inspiration from the science fiction writer Robert Heinlein. Heinlein was well known as a right-wing libertarian, so he had much in common with Rand. Like her, he had some disturbing ideas in some of his novels, and also like her he didn’t show much subtlety in arguing his points. Through Hildy, Varley shows considerable sympathy for the Heinleiners, though he also notes their faults, referring to them as “crotchety malcontents” (it’s also not clear whether the Heinleiners – or Varley – agree with all of Heinlein’s sometimes disturbing positions on certain issues; their main thing is individualism and personal freedom). While I suspect from this that I would disagree with Varley on a number of things, he presents his ideas objectively enough and tells his story well enough that any philosophical differences I might have with him didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the novel, which was in sharp contrast to my experience with Atlas Shrugged (or some of Heinlein’s novels, or that matter).

Varley’s prose is well-written and interesting, in that he, in the character of the narrator Hildy, deliberately slips into various dialects and styles at different times, depending on what he’s writing about. He is often witty and, as noted above, generally avoids ranting on political and social issues (though he discusses them and does sometimes offer definite opinions), unlike his apparent inspiration Robert Heinlein, an author he is often compared to. For that matter, I should say that many of his ideas (or what ideas are conveyed through the novel) are agreeable, such as a more open attitude toward sexuality and a positive portrayal of women. While I might agree more strongly with the left-leaning stance of writers like Ian Banks and Kim Stanley Robinson than with Varley’s libertarian sympathies, I enjoyed Steel Beach and would be willing to pick up another Varley novel if I come across one.