Besides Ursula K. LeGuin, Octavia Butler, and Madeline L'engle, I don't know that I've read many female science fiction authors, which is too bad, since it's one of my favorite genres. I don't know that I would say the author's gender was really relevant to this book, though I did find it interesting that in one passage the main character (who is also a woman) muses that
"We astronauts are taught to compartmentalize the realities of flight. [And the fact that everyone you know will be dead when you return.] ...You wonder if you're a bad daughter, a bad friend, a selfish asshole placing her own intellectual wankery above the living, breathing people who poured everything they could ever give into her, and were rewarded with the sight of her walking away forever."
I don't think I've heard this sentiment much in the male-centered space exploration stuff I've read, and it struck me the extra pressures women explorers face, since we are usually expected to be caregivers for elder family, etc. -- more guilt and conflict there. So I found that interesting.
Anyway, all in all, a good book for the new year.
I still need to read more Ursula LeGuin and some Octavia Butler! Interestingly, the Mars Trilogy also considers the question of what attitude prompts The First Hundred (and also later immigrants to Mars) to leave family and friends behind! No special consideration there of gender differences, but your point that it would fall harder on women is interesting.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, need to re-read those one day!
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