FORAGERS

Rating:
Summary: Unsatisfying
Review: Huh?
It is absolutely amazing what gets passed off as literature these days, and as Science Fiction no less!

Oberndorf clearly wants to present a well thought out universe in which a story takes place. In often interminable detail he lays out two cultures, one alien in the outer-space kind of way and a second alien to Westerners kind of way. I found it fascinating and a refreshing change of pace that the lead characters in this novel were often a)women and b) non-white/European. Add to the mix a "given" that the main religions of the future are Islam and Hindu (with plenty of Jewish and Christian folks still around) and you get a rich bed for Oberndorf to plant his story.

Too bad it is the story itself that brings down this book. Granted, I don't need a "space opera" everytime, but good story telling demands some sort of recognizable story arc, some reason for being. And this book demands also a reason for slogging through Oberndorf's endless anthropology lectures. In the end this story is not delivered. What we get are two parallel stories that may or may not be occurring at the same time. And neither one has an ending or makes much sense (in the end). There is no pay off of any kind and frankly after getting through the 400 pages of academia I was hoping that a good yarn would be the result.

Instead we get a vague, "high art" end which is not satisfying in any sense of the word. I am not even sure what I was supposed to learn. In the end the carefully laid out universe stops, prior to reaching any sort of conclusion-real or imagined. The only really thought out part of the book is the background on the Ju'/hoansi (actually spelled JU/'hoansi everywhere outside the book) in Namibia.

In good consciousness I can not recommend this book to anyone as all it will do is waste their time. Instead check out The Dobe Ju/'Hoansi by Richard B. Lee (referenced by Oberndorf several times). To hear some of the music try -- Namibia: Songs of the Ju'hoansi Bushmen.

Rating:
Summary: Rich, but not easy
Review: This isn't a book that you read like eating popcorn. Oberndorf depicts at least two fully realized alien cultures, and in both of them expectations about sexual roles and acts are quite different from anything in our society and quite possibly in any society you've read about. This is one of Oberndorf's motifs, and it's disturbing, but at the same time riveting. The ideas about how religions and medical practice might evolve, or how they might be quite fulfilling and useful and yet entirely different from our own are also something you have to chew over.

And Oberndorf's plot also keeps you a bit off-balance. Whatever you expected, he gives you something else. I like that, and I hope he has another one out soon. Each of his novels has been entirely different from his previous work, and from just about anything I can think of.

So -- if you like to think instead of just cruise along from page to page, Oberndorf might just be your man. I liked this one, and I think other people (thinkers, anyway) may also.

Rating:
Summary: Rich, but not easy
Review: This isn't a book that you read like eating popcorn. Oberndorf depicts at least two fully realized alien cultures, and in both of them expectations about sexual roles and acts are quite different from anything in our society and quite possibly in any society you've read about. This is one of Oberndorf's motifs, and it's disturbing, but at the same time riveting. The ideas about how religions and medical practice might evolve, or how they might be quite fulfilling and useful and yet entirely different from our own are also something you have to chew over.

And Oberndorf's plot also keeps you a bit off-balance. Whatever you expected, he gives you something else. I like that, and I hope he has another one out soon. Each of his novels has been entirely different from his previous work, and from just about anything I can think of.

So -- if you like to think instead of just cruise along from page to page, Oberndorf might just be your man. I liked this one, and I think other people (thinkers, anyway) may also.