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Summary: A science fiction coming of age novel
Review: Carol Emshwiller's The Mount is a science fiction coming of age novel. Charley is an athletic young man and is a mount living in a stable and belongs to the Hoots, who alien invaders and conquerors of Earth. Yet Free Humans still survive in the world, and they're ready to fight for it. Caught between two contenting sides, Charley the runner must learn the hard way about what it truly means to be human. The Mount is especially recommended reading for SciFi buffs, as well as school and community library science fiction collections.
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Summary: Entertaining and Thought Provoking
Review: I read this book after reading a brief review of it on Salon.Com. I don't often read science fiction, but the synopsis got me intereted and from the moment I started reading, Emshwiller's writing and characterization held me. Emshwiller doesn't go into excessive detail in painting a picture of the future world she's portraying, which is to her credit as it allows the reader to supply his/her own images of the people, places and things in the story. Perhaps that's why Emshwiller's writing has an almost cinematic feel, giving the reader a kind of panoramic view. At first, it felt like I was reading "young adult fiction" until I remembered that the protagonist is about 12 and the story is told mostly in his voice. Despite the presence of aliens and alien technology, the story and characters are essentially human. Hoots, after all, might be replaced with almost any ruling class for comparisons to human history to become immediately clear. "The Mount," entertains, informs, and provokes thought all in one package. It's a tall order for a book to fill, but Emshwiller does it well here.
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Summary: A Light Look at Slavery
Review: In the wake of a small-scale revolt, a human Mount and his Hoot Host, the Future-Ruler-Of-Us-All, learn together what it is to be free. The focus of the story rests on the transformation of young Smiley - a well-conformed Mount who thinks only of pleasing his Host - into something more human. Told from Smiley's juvenile perspective, Emshwiller shows us his evolving thought patterns, starting with his unsympathetic opinion of his own kind, and a stubborn unwillingness to even imagine a life outside of slavery. The relationship between Hoot and Mount, though queer at first, quickly becomes familiar; it is easy to see ourselves on both sides of the equation. Written for a younger audience, it was a short and easy read, but none the less significant for it. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to younger fans of sci-fi and fantasy.
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Summary: An Incredible Multi-Faceted Vision of the Future
Review: Rather than write another synopsis of the novel, I would instead comment on the number of different themes which present themselves in this incredibly imaginative tale. I see themes of Whites and Black slavery, the relationships between parents and children, the universal process of coming to adulthood, the idea of dominance and submission in relationships, and our treatment of the other creatures on this earth which we call "animals." If we were not the "dominant" species on this planet, would we be treated like the mounts in this story? I believe that we would. And I wonder about something else: If horses could speak, what would they tell us? This is a disturbing story which does what all great literature does. It changes us forever.
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Summary: An Incredible Multi-Faceted Vision of the Future
Review: Rather than write another synopsis of the novel, I would instead comment on the number of different themes which present themselves in this incredibly imaginative tale. I see themes of Whites and Black slavery, the relationships between parents and children, the universal process of coming to adulthood, the idea of dominance and submission in relationships, and our treatment of the other creatures on this earth which we call "animals." If we were not the "dominant" species on this planet, would we be treated like the mounts in this story? I believe that we would. And I wonder about something else: If horses could speak, what would they tell us? This is a disturbing story which does what all great literature does. It changes us forever.
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Summary: Saddle Up!
Review: The Mount is easily one of the best novels IÕve read this year. Charley, the novel's narrator, is a fascinating and wonderfully realized character who continues to deepen and grow more complex as his understanding of the world changes. The heart of the novel is in CharleyÕs changing relationships: with his father, with his host, Little Master, with Lily, his first love, and finally, with his own sense of self. This is a heartfelt, warm, and very funny book, and I found it leaving an unexpected impression long after I had finished it. Like Charley, we all face a world with competing allegiancesÑone in which we all struggle to understand the ways in which weÕre bound, and the ways in which weÕre free.
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Summary: Saddle Up!
Review: The Mount is easily one of the best novels IÕve read this year. Charley, the novel's narrator, is a fascinating and wonderfully realized character who continues to deepen and grow more complex as his understanding of the world changes. The heart of the novel is in CharleyÕs changing relationships: with his father, with his host, Little Master, with Lily, his first love, and finally, with his own sense of self. This is a heartfelt, warm, and very funny book, and I found it leaving an unexpected impression long after I had finished it. Like Charley, we all face a world with competing allegiancesÑone in which we all struggle to understand the ways in which weÕre bound, and the ways in which weÕre free.
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Summary: Excellent gift for a reading kid.
Review: This is a science fiction/young adult novel told from the point of view of 11 year old Charlie.The story is set in a society where Earth has been colonized by Hoots, who breed, ride and race tame humans. Charlie, a well-conformed Seattle, the strongest and best looking of the human breeds, is chosen as the mount for Little Master, The-Future-Ruler-Of-Us-All. The story -- a good coming-of-age story on its own fictional merits -- also explores the nature of slavery without pomposity, without simplistic proclamation as Charlie sheds slavery as he also sheds childhood -- both with some regret. The coming-of-age elements (coming to terms with his father, searching for a missing mother, finding a young-adolescent place for himself in terms of family and in terms of a role in society) are beautifully plotted. The fantasy element is imaginative. A recommendation. Especially if you have a smart 12 year old to read it with.
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Summary: So original and really good! (Okay, so I'm bad at titles...)
Review: Woah. Read this whole book on a six-hour flight. Very different from what I expected. It's really good. Carol Emshwiller (the author) really gets inside the heads of her characters. The tale is told mostly from the point of view of Charley, a teenage boy who lives in a world where humans serve as steeds for a ruling class of weak-legged aliens that like to ride around on our shoulders. It's more about the bond between young Charley and an infant alien, the next in line to the alien throne, as they learn together about what it means to live under this current symbiotic(?) system. Ms. Emshwiller's grasp of psychology is amazing. I especially loved it when she would step outside of Charley's head and spend a chapter from an alien's point of view, or from a different human. The way that she managed to explain the entire society in the first chapter without ever really seeming to lay it on with the exposition. She's a master. I'm definitely going to have to hunt down more of her work.
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