Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Ringworld
For a long time I finished every book I started. This sometimes meant that I just stopped reading in general because the book I was "reading" wasn't very enjoyable to me, so I just avoided doing the "task" in general.
Thankfully, I eventually stopped that, and gave up reading books I didn't like. There are lots of _good_ books out there that I could read instead! An amazing discovery I assure you!
The most recent book I have failed to read is the classic sci-fi novel Ringworld by Larry Niven, which won both the Hugo and the Nebula.
And is so incredibly '70s and mysoginistic I couldn't bring myself to read most of it. I can see why it was popular, it bounces along at a pretty good pace, has some decent world building (it is part of Niven's Known Space Universe of books), aliens, a main character who presumubly the readers are supposed to identify with, and a terrible, terrible female human character.
Hey role is to be dumb (she is only 20! She doesn't know anything compared to the 200 year old male), and have sex with the main character. Or to pout and refuse to.
Some of the claims seem really ridiculous. She's never experienced pain? How? What type of messed up utopia do you live in where nothing bad has happened to you? Well, based on the ludicrous party that opens the book and where she first appears, I can only assume that she's the equivalent of the poor little rich girls of today. I assume there's some sort of human underclass that's never mentioned throughout the book (or at least what I read of it). A book about them would have been more interesting.
Oh, and she's "lucky" which is why she's on the trip. Or she's supposed to have been bred for luck, but isn't lucky. It's just kind of ridiculous to be honest.
Yeah, that's all I have to say really. I gave up a while after they got to the actual Ringworld of the title. Maybe halfway through the book?
Thankfully, I eventually stopped that, and gave up reading books I didn't like. There are lots of _good_ books out there that I could read instead! An amazing discovery I assure you!
The most recent book I have failed to read is the classic sci-fi novel Ringworld by Larry Niven, which won both the Hugo and the Nebula.
And is so incredibly '70s and mysoginistic I couldn't bring myself to read most of it. I can see why it was popular, it bounces along at a pretty good pace, has some decent world building (it is part of Niven's Known Space Universe of books), aliens, a main character who presumubly the readers are supposed to identify with, and a terrible, terrible female human character.
Hey role is to be dumb (she is only 20! She doesn't know anything compared to the 200 year old male), and have sex with the main character. Or to pout and refuse to.
Some of the claims seem really ridiculous. She's never experienced pain? How? What type of messed up utopia do you live in where nothing bad has happened to you? Well, based on the ludicrous party that opens the book and where she first appears, I can only assume that she's the equivalent of the poor little rich girls of today. I assume there's some sort of human underclass that's never mentioned throughout the book (or at least what I read of it). A book about them would have been more interesting.
Oh, and she's "lucky" which is why she's on the trip. Or she's supposed to have been bred for luck, but isn't lucky. It's just kind of ridiculous to be honest.
Yeah, that's all I have to say really. I gave up a while after they got to the actual Ringworld of the title. Maybe halfway through the book?
Labels: Books
# posted by tomorrowboy 2.9 @ 8:45 pm 
