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The Book of Joan A Novel Lidia Yuknavitch 9780062383273 Books

Download As PDF : The Book of Joan A Novel Lidia Yuknavitch 9780062383273 Books

The Book of Joan A Novel Lidia Yuknavitch 9780062383273 Books

Much of my reading lately has been working against my expectations, sometimes in a good way and sometimes not. As a general rule, I love post-apocalyptic novels. My last few forays in the genre, however, have been disappointments. Unfortunately, I have to add The Book of Joan to that list.

It must be said that much of this may be laid to a matter of taste. In particular, I tend to enjoy hard science fiction. In general, I like to see the connection between this world and that of the novel. I want to see how we got from here to there. Ms. Yuknavitch’s novel (much like Jeff Vandermeer’s Bourne, which also didn’t do much for me) is more fantasy overlaid with the trappings of science fiction. It is rare for me to be able to get on board with this situation unless I really connect to the world-creation, which I didn’t in this case.

The setting of the CIEL platform hovering above a ravaged Earth siphoning off any remaining resources via skylines to the surface is excellent. The plot as a riff on the Joan of Arc story is a good one. What didn’t work for me were the characters.

I found it very difficult to connect to the impossible occupants of CIEL—neuter & white, disfiguring themselves with skin grafts and tattoos. The only “real” humans left are the wanderers on the surface but we only truly get to know Joan and her friend, Leone, and Joan with her essentially magical powers is as much a cipher as her companion who we don’t get to know well enough to understand why Joan loves her so much.

I know enough to understand that some people may find this setting and these characters very appealing. For some readers, the themes of a ravaged earth and its destroyers and saviors may be enough. I, however, am looking for something different.


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The Book of Joan A Novel Lidia Yuknavitch 9780062383273 Books Reviews

incredible delicious writing. Every word is savory. Occassionally ridiculously gruesome and far fetched, but it is a dystopian novel.
An exceptional novel and a highly original piece of feminist sic-fi; a great listening experience. Am now reading everything I can get my hands on by Yuknavitch.
I think I could have liked this book, if it had been proofread by anyone of scientific/logical bent. And it is really ripe for a rewrite. Because if she just made the "rules" make sense, it would have been much more interesting.

I'll just give a couple examples. If these bother you as much as they do me, you will know not to read the book.

(I do like the writing style; very readable and at times very evocative/poetic.)

Early on, we learn that a bunch of the very richest people on Earth have all paid up to be allowed onto a space station located above Earth, and that Earth is a wasteland. However there is no basis for previous Earthly wealth to have meaning any more. Who cares if you were wealthy before? We also learn that everyone on the space station gets killed when they reach the ripe old age of 50, to preserve resources. But what in the bloody hell? The people on the space station can't reproduce; there are no children younger than teen agers. So why are there any population pressures? And who is going to have the knowledge to maintain this space station or improve things? And, who would want to go live on a space station if they required you to cut your genitals off/sew them up? And, it turns out that Earth is still completely habitable. Lots of living things in caves, and people can travel freely across the desert/wasted landscape. It would clearly be radically more comfortable, radically cheaper in terms of energy and resources and safety to just make a shelter on Earth, than it would be to make a shelter in outer space. Even if they do have low cost space elevators. But no one on earth lives in shelters, they just move from place to place camping and starving. And eating "oilbirds" that eat fruit. But where would this fruit be found exactly? Ugh; I must stop.

I could go on and on. A post-apocalyptic future with a world in which the author has spent no time imagining the logical consequences of the circumstances she invented. Where is the science fiction fun in that?
The Book of Joan ( Edition) by Lidia Yuknavitch

I'm not sure how to review a novel that so completely covers so much ground, in such a succinct manner. We have all the ingredients of a major, tragic, epic. But told in a very fresh and honest way. The characters don't just drive the plot, they are the plot. And the point. And the counterpoint. But it is the characters that belie our humanity, both in the sacred, and in the banal. I'm not going to bother with plot and such, you will get that elsewhere. But I will bother you by saying that you need to read this book. If only to try and figure it out.
Oof this book. Like all of Yuknavitch's writing, it is flawlessly gorgeous prose that's mesmerizing to read. The story itself is a doozy - futuristic, at times a bit hard to follow, but ultimately fascinating. It's not your typical dystopian novel and it's not an easy read but it is worth hanging on until the end and suspending your preconceived notions about the real world to be submerged in the one she has created. In many ways, the villain in this novel has a strong resemblance to Donald Trump and from that perspective, it becomes terrifying.
Much of my reading lately has been working against my expectations, sometimes in a good way and sometimes not. As a general rule, I love post-apocalyptic novels. My last few forays in the genre, however, have been disappointments. Unfortunately, I have to add The Book of Joan to that list.

It must be said that much of this may be laid to a matter of taste. In particular, I tend to enjoy hard science fiction. In general, I like to see the connection between this world and that of the novel. I want to see how we got from here to there. Ms. Yuknavitch’s novel (much like Jeff Vandermeer’s Bourne, which also didn’t do much for me) is more fantasy overlaid with the trappings of science fiction. It is rare for me to be able to get on board with this situation unless I really connect to the world-creation, which I didn’t in this case.

The setting of the CIEL platform hovering above a ravaged Earth siphoning off any remaining resources via skylines to the surface is excellent. The plot as a riff on the Joan of Arc story is a good one. What didn’t work for me were the characters.

I found it very difficult to connect to the impossible occupants of CIEL—neuter & white, disfiguring themselves with skin grafts and tattoos. The only “real” humans left are the wanderers on the surface but we only truly get to know Joan and her friend, Leone, and Joan with her essentially magical powers is as much a cipher as her companion who we don’t get to know well enough to understand why Joan loves her so much.

I know enough to understand that some people may find this setting and these characters very appealing. For some readers, the themes of a ravaged earth and its destroyers and saviors may be enough. I, however, am looking for something different.