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Commitment Hour

Commitment Hour

List Price: $6.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Pick a sex
Review: In Tober Cove, the humans change yearly from male to female, until their twentieth year when they must commit to being male or female, or to be neuter (a hermaphrodite), and thereby exiled and possibly executed. Fullin's Commitment Day is coming up, and it's not as smooth sailing as every other year's because a visiting scientist bring with him Steck, a neut who was exiled from Tober Cove twenty years ago. Fullin learns the history of his own heritage, and finds out that the Tober Cove's gods are not what everyone thought they were. I think this book is utterly fascinating (especially about the gender and sex roles commentary) and totally compelling. It's rough at the beginning, but soon I couldn't put it down. Steck's motivations for coming back to Tober Cove make perfect sense. Definitely recommended reading in my world!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Future choices
Review: It's the future and in a backward place on Earth a small town goes about its daily activities. Fullin, the musician hero, is about ready to make the committment - the decision as to which sex they will be the rest of their lives. Only strangers appear from afar and over time he finds out that reality is not what it appear nor what he could even imagine. Allegedly a citizen went off and returned 24 hours a different sex. The reality of this was something different. Without giving away the plot it involves cloning, brain wave transferance, three sexes and experiments by an advanced civilization.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Future choices
Review: It's the future and in a backward place on Earth a small town goes about its daily activities. Fullin, the musician hero, is about ready to make the committment - the decision as to which sex they will be the rest of their lives. Only strangers appear from afar and over time he finds out that reality is not what it appear nor what he could even imagine. Allegedly a citizen went off and returned 24 hours a different sex. The reality of this was something different. Without giving away the plot it involves cloning, brain wave transferance, three sexes and experiments by an advanced civilization.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A most unusual story of gender roles in society
Review: James Alan Gardner's Commitment Hour certainly isn't your run-of-the-mill science fiction novel. The author provides an interesting and sometimes uncomfortable look at the role of gender in society, but I'm not sure he is entirely successful, nor am I sure if there was some highly perceptive point he was trying to make or if he found any real answers to his own questions in this regard. The first few chapters failed to spark my interest, but in time Gardner did manage to bring a sense of life to the story and create something interesting albeit ultimately somewhat unfulfilling.

The setting is twenty-fifth century earth, a somewhat primitive and naturalistic era borne of the fact that some seventy percent of the population has left for other planets in the wake of alien visitation; the technology of man's past has largely been abandoned, its relics consigned to the stuff of legend. The aliens and the facts of the big migration are only mentioned and never really emphasized; rather, it is the unique society of Tober Cove that demands all of the author's attention. Like most new earth societies, Tober Cove is a land of farmers and fishermen; here, a priestess marks the changing of seasons in primitive rituals and the law is upheld by a representative of the legendary Patriarch. Tober Cove is unique in one regard, however; here, the children alternate their sex between male and female for the first twenty years of their lives, after which time, at the crucial Commitment Hour, each one chooses whether to live as a male, a female, or - on rare occasions - both. Neuts are rare indeed, for those who choose a hermaphroditic life are banished from the land and threatened with instant death should they return.

Fullin stands on the brink of his Commitment Hour choice, as does his life's partner Cappie. Fullin is confused enough by his feelings toward Cappie, feelings which vary significantly from year to year as his sex changes, but life gets infinitely more confusing when a scientist comes to witness and study the Commitment Hour ceremonies, bringing alongside him a Neut banished from Tober Cove twenty years earlier. Murder and other disquieting horror visits the village, and by the time Fullin and Cappie are ready to be flown to the mysterious Birds Home to make their final commitments, dramatic change indeed is blowing in the wind. It is only in the final chapters that a real science fiction element enters the story, but this mainly serves as a means for wrapping up the gender study the novel basically consists of.

The story can be confusing at times, and the mixing and confusion of sexual perspectives never truly delivers any revelations of insight. The fact that Fullin, ostensibly a male at this time, is troubled by homosexual feelings from both sides of the gender line, combined with the whole society's antipathy toward Neuts, strikes a discordant chord, and few of Gardner's sexual questions find answers in his strikingly unusual conclusion. Commitment Hour is a strange novel, a book of probing questions without ultimate answers, but such is the very state of society itself. Some readers will no doubt find this novel an uncomfortable read, but its novelty and sense of unusual purpose make of it a story worth pursuing and pondering over.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A most unusual story of gender roles in society
Review: James Alan Gardner's Commitment Hour certainly isn't your run-of-the-mill science fiction novel. The author provides an interesting and sometimes uncomfortable look at the role of gender in society, but I'm not sure he is entirely successful, nor am I sure if there was some highly perceptive point he was trying to make or if he found any real answers to his own questions in this regard. The first few chapters failed to spark my interest, but in time Gardner did manage to bring a sense of life to the story and create something interesting albeit ultimately somewhat unfulfilling.

The setting is twenty-fifth century earth, a somewhat primitive and naturalistic era borne of the fact that some seventy percent of the population has left for other planets in the wake of alien visitation; the technology of man's past has largely been abandoned, its relics consigned to the stuff of legend. The aliens and the facts of the big migration are only mentioned and never really emphasized; rather, it is the unique society of Tober Cove that demands all of the author's attention. Like most new earth societies, Tober Cove is a land of farmers and fishermen; here, a priestess marks the changing of seasons in primitive rituals and the law is upheld by a representative of the legendary Patriarch. Tober Cove is unique in one regard, however; here, the children alternate their sex between male and female for the first twenty years of their lives, after which time, at the crucial Commitment Hour, each one chooses whether to live as a male, a female, or - on rare occasions - both. Neuts are rare indeed, for those who choose a hermaphroditic life are banished from the land and threatened with instant death should they return.

Fullin stands on the brink of his Commitment Hour choice, as does his life's partner Cappie. Fullin is confused enough by his feelings toward Cappie, feelings which vary significantly from year to year as his sex changes, but life gets infinitely more confusing when a scientist comes to witness and study the Commitment Hour ceremonies, bringing alongside him a Neut banished from Tober Cove twenty years earlier. Murder and other disquieting horror visits the village, and by the time Fullin and Cappie are ready to be flown to the mysterious Birds Home to make their final commitments, dramatic change indeed is blowing in the wind. It is only in the final chapters that a real science fiction element enters the story, but this mainly serves as a means for wrapping up the gender study the novel basically consists of.

The story can be confusing at times, and the mixing and confusion of sexual perspectives never truly delivers any revelations of insight. The fact that Fullin, ostensibly a male at this time, is troubled by homosexual feelings from both sides of the gender line, combined with the whole society's antipathy toward Neuts, strikes a discordant chord, and few of Gardner's sexual questions find answers in his strikingly unusual conclusion. Commitment Hour is a strange novel, a book of probing questions without ultimate answers, but such is the very state of society itself. Some readers will no doubt find this novel an uncomfortable read, but its novelty and sense of unusual purpose make of it a story worth pursuing and pondering over.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A good idea, but....
Review: Much like Gardner's other books, I read Commitment Hour very quickly. This time, though, not because I wanted to, but because I was ill. Like many other books, Commitment Hour poses an interesting question, "what if you could choose to be male, female, or both?" Unfortunately, weak characters and a dull story really do little to turn that question into a decent novel.

Male, female, or both, our hero(ine) Fullin is remarkably uninteresting. He/she is whiny, prissy, naive, and a total clod and his girl/boyfriend Cappie is little better. The "Spark Lord" Rashid is a cartoonish charicature, and none of the other characters are interesting enough to make the reader cheer for anyone.

The entire story is spent taking the reader through the tangled web of nature spirits and the tyrannical "Patriarch" that make up the very small world of Tobler Cove. Eventually we find out that Tobler Cove is really just a high-tech sociology experiment to bridge the gender gap.

Unlike Gardner's other books, Commitment Hour is a dull read, and unless you're virtually bed-ridden like myself, it won't keep you hooked. Commitment Hour has an interesting premise but a weak story. Read Gardner's other books, but skip this one.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A good idea, but....
Review: Much like Gardner's other books, I read Commitment Hour very quickly. This time, though, not because I wanted to, but because I was ill. Like many other books, Commitment Hour poses an interesting question, "what if you could choose to be male, female, or both?" Unfortunately, weak characters and a dull story really do little to turn that question into a decent novel.

Male, female, or both, our hero(ine) Fullin is remarkably uninteresting. He/she is whiny, prissy, naive, and a total clod and his girl/boyfriend Cappie is little better. The "Spark Lord" Rashid is a cartoonish charicature, and none of the other characters are interesting enough to make the reader cheer for anyone.

The entire story is spent taking the reader through the tangled web of nature spirits and the tyrannical "Patriarch" that make up the very small world of Tobler Cove. Eventually we find out that Tobler Cove is really just a high-tech sociology experiment to bridge the gender gap.

Unlike Gardner's other books, Commitment Hour is a dull read, and unless you're virtually bed-ridden like myself, it won't keep you hooked. Commitment Hour has an interesting premise but a weak story. Read Gardner's other books, but skip this one.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Gawd give me my money back...
Review: Sorry to rain on the parade of praise but this book was a real dissapointment for me. I just never shook off the question why am I continuing to read this. Yawn sigh... First: The hero/heroine, is a violin player with a tendency to involvement in tangled emotional relationships and assorted odd situations of a Tabloid nature. Second: His girl/boy friend is poorly sketched. Their love/hate thing is on and off so much I never figured out what was supposed to be goin' on. There is some sort of sex but well I couldn't really visualize it or anything else for that matter. Third: His hermaphrodite Mom was a bit hard to swallow. The description of his Mom as a dual sexed person just made me wonder if the author had any uh well uh difficulties. My heart goes out to him. anyway... Fifth: Really the whole thing is pointless unless you like to daydream about getting to change sex every year untill you are age 20. Then choose which sex you liked best.

The actual plot is not easy to review without spoiling the suspense and if you read the book you will need the suspense to see you thru

Gee and I never even got to the ridiculous Spark Lord Defender of the World, and his All purpose Magic Suit of Green Plastic Armor. Ahh well some parts had potential I just happened to feel that overall it was a waste of time and money...

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not bad, not great
Review: The story is really simple and limited, but Gardner still makes it interesting, and there is some action. It's not bad if you like his other books, but it's a little slower and not as carefree and fun. His other 3 books are better than this one. It takes place in the same future, but has different characters and is more limited in scope.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not bad, not great
Review: The story is really simple and limited, but Gardner still makes it interesting, and there is some action. It's not bad if you like his other books, but it's a little slower and not as carefree and fun. His other 3 books are better than this one. It takes place in the same future, but has different characters and is more limited in scope.


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