Rating: 
Summary: I didn't really enjoy it
Review: I read this book the first time over 5 years ago and fell in love with it. I continue to reread it on occasion as it never ceases to amaze me!
Rating: 
Summary: The best book I have ever read
Review: I read this book the first time over 5 years ago and fell in love with it. I continue to reread it on occasion as it never ceases to amaze me!
Rating:
Summary: Not a Dystopia
Review: I'm writing this review in response to people who seem to feel Ryman's world of the future is a dystopia. I feel the point of the book is that you're left unsure in this regard. We're told the story from the point of view of an outsider to the system certainly everyone in the system is very nice to her. They are always willing to help even if it sometimes means bending their own laws (Hiding Rolfa) or going far out of their way to do so (as with the previous case or helping Milena in her career). Even the main body of gov't is not a hinderance, but as benevolent as the individuals despite Mileana's mistrust. And it's not as though the people who have gone through the reading are stepford wives either. They are still unique individuals as we see through the affair between Berowne and the Princess. People are just nicer and know more (if not necessarily more intelligent). I do not believe Ryman meant this book to be anti-genetic engineering so much as just showing us how it can change and letting us make up our own minds. As for me I don't see any harm in the possiblity of our world turning into that of this book as it is definately going change in some way. Certainly we are different from the societies before us, so as change must I see no harm in this coming. It's just different not bad.On the other hand, I would never want to be read myself. I am a very happy well adjusted homosexual and that is something I advocate doesn't need to be fixed. Of course, perhaps I make to much out of orientation, certainly in heaven people won't have any sexual desire at all. And perhaps this means it is something I should not be so worried about giving up on earth despite the knowledge that I won't miss it once I've left it either with death or with being read. I mention this quandary because this and indeed all of Ryman's books (I've actually only read this Was and Lust, but I'm assuming) give rise to constant reveries on my staunchest beliefs. It is for this reason I always think of them as, if not specifically Christian, religious books. Very few authors have the ability to keep me tossing and turning all night from considering what they've written. I think that perhaps C.S. Lewis is the only other. I can't reccomend Ryman well enough and believe those who haven't read him are missing out on something extraordinary.
Rating:
Summary: Not a Dystopia
Review: I'm writing this review in response to people who seem to feel Ryman's world of the future is a dystopia. I feel the point of the book is that you're left unsure in this regard. We're told the story from the point of view of an outsider to the system certainly everyone in the system is very nice to her. They are always willing to help even if it sometimes means bending their own laws (Hiding Rolfa) or going far out of their way to do so (as with the previous case or helping Milena in her career). Even the main body of gov't is not a hinderance, but as benevolent as the individuals despite Mileana's mistrust. And it's not as though the people who have gone through the reading are stepford wives either. They are still unique individuals as we see through the affair between Berowne and the Princess. People are just nicer and know more (if not necessarily more intelligent). I do not believe Ryman meant this book to be anti-genetic engineering so much as just showing us how it can change and letting us make up our own minds. As for me I don't see any harm in the possiblity of our world turning into that of this book as it is definately going change in some way. Certainly we are different from the societies before us, so as change must I see no harm in this coming. It's just different not bad. On the other hand, I would never want to be read myself. I am a very happy well adjusted homosexual and that is something I advocate doesn't need to be fixed. Of course, perhaps I make to much out of orientation, certainly in heaven people won't have any sexual desire at all. And perhaps this means it is something I should not be so worried about giving up on earth despite the knowledge that I won't miss it once I've left it either with death or with being read. I mention this quandary because this and indeed all of Ryman's books (I've actually only read this Was and Lust, but I'm assuming) give rise to constant reveries on my staunchest beliefs. It is for this reason I always think of them as, if not specifically Christian, religious books. Very few authors have the ability to keep me tossing and turning all night from considering what they've written. I think that perhaps C.S. Lewis is the only other. I can't reccomend Ryman well enough and believe those who haven't read him are missing out on something extraordinary.
Rating:
Summary: An unbelievably rich book.
Review: I've read this book four or five times, and I get something new out of it every times. Somehow Ryman manages to make the book engrossing and compelling, yet multi-layered and as complex as any book I've read. Ryman has created a truly original fantasy society - all too rare in science fiction - and he mixes innovative details about bio-engineering with ruminations on Dante and the nature of love. Amazingly rich.
Rating:
Summary: Philosophical Science Fiction
Review: Like his brilliant "mainstream" novel "Was", "The Child Garden" is a novel that works on many levels, it leaves your mind reeling. Like Delany, LeGuin, and Crowley, Ryman is one of the masters of "serious" science fiction. This novels interweaves a lesbian coming out story with bio-engineering extrapolation in a future London. But the coming out story is just a springboard for ideas about the Self in Society, about alienation, memory, human connection. And Ryman somehow manages to weave consensus politics and the struggle of the artist into the bio-engineering theme. On top of this, the entire novel is about Art's healing powers. Through all this cerebral imagery, there are unforgettable characters, wit, and a whole lot of love. Few science fiction novels -- and novels about ideas in general -- can make one weep and think. This novel is the rare one that does both
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Speculative Fiction
Review: Probably the best book I've read in years (and I just finished an MA in Lit, so I've read a lot of them! :) . It's a cross between Aldous Huxley and Kurt Vonnegut, only without the cynicism! The category of science-fiction isn't broad enough to contain it, and I'd likely label it Speculative Fiction instead.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Speculative Fiction
Review: Probably the best book I've read in years (and I just finished an MA in Lit, so I've read a lot of them! :) . It's a cross between Aldous Huxley and Kurt Vonnegut, only without the cynicism! The category of science-fiction isn't broad enough to contain it, and I'd likely label it Speculative Fiction instead.
Rating:
Summary: A woman, a polar bear, a love story
Review: Reading this book is like hearing the King James Bible set to music, or being presented with a holographic rose as big as Brazil, or discovering that you are in fact the cure for cancer
Rating:
Summary: I didn't really enjoy it
Review: Take your chances with this book. I didn't like it really. I bought it because it was an award winner. And though the details of the story were cool, it was too pretentious for me to get into. I give 2 stars for originality and being able to convey the fantastic in rich detail. But there was nothing underneath it to hold it together. I just have to voice this opinion - you will of course make your own decisions. But the Marxism and the opera and the flash-back-forward-around was not so much impressive as tedious.
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