FTC Disclosure: Review copy provided digitally by NetGalley.

They’re correct in that Lippman’s newest release is reminiscent of Hitchcock’s Rear Window. I loved that film – one of my favorites.

However, this story is not in any way a re-working or an attempt to duplicate what the great director created. Not that this is bad, but I’d hate to give a potential reader the wrong impression.

Fans of Lippman will love this light and quick read. Avid mystery readers might find it a bit less meaty than what they’re used to. At least I did. This is not a detriment to the author’s work here.

The Girl in the Green Raincoat is a perfect book for someone looking for an enjoyable weekend read. I like those. I like picking a book off my shelf that I know will allow me to sit, relax, snuggle up to the cats and a cup of cocoa and let the story take over.

I’ve never read Lippman and so I know nothing about her character Tess Monaghan. This was my introduction and I quite liked her. Her quick wit and banter are refreshing and far from obnoxious or overbearing. Never did a quip fall on a wrong note.

At a little over two hundred pages, the ending comes quickly and my only complaint is that I was left with the sense there could have been a chapter or two more so I didn’t feel “rushed”. That maybe there was some kind of requirement to get it all done within those pages so when it got close, the story had to  come together in a curt fashion.

That being said, I liked The Girl In The Green Raincoat, and I’ve put Lippman on my list of authors whose books I want to read more of. Definitely.

The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing
ISBN: 0-679-72182-7
Fiction/Horror, 133 pages
Vintage International

FTC Disclosure: Purchased

This is a modern and chilling horror story crammed in to a deceptively small package. Just as Shelley did with Frankenstein, it leaves you questioning what point was the author trying to get across. This is not a bad thing.

Is this purely for entertainment? Is it a lightly veiled commentary on society?  Is it a horror story or social science fiction? Perhaps both.

In a way, Lessing touches on every one of these. The Fifth Child is definitely entertaining, but also a commentary on an aspect of society that is as relevant today as when the book was written and the time of the setting for the story.

This Nobel prize winning author, most known for her novel The Golden Notebook, has written a number of social fiction novels. The Fifth Child is a novella which epitomizes this sub-genre of science fiction.

What makes this an interesting read is the subject matter and theme. Predominately, it is about the pressures put upon those for following, or not following, traditional societal expectations.

All David and Harriet want is a large happy family. Friends and family cannot understand, and in a way condemn the couple for being irresponsible in having so many children due to their inability bear the financial burden on their own.

And to an extent, they appear to be acting selfishly to fulfill a need within themselves borne from having imperfect childhoods. They want to make the present better than the past, yet to have this, a price must be paid.

With the birth of their fifth child, Ben, David and Harriet must face their darkest fears and make unbearable decisions in order to salvage their dream. Ben is the opposite of what they expected. He is the dark side to the dream. A nightmare come to life.

The disturbing part of this story is when they finally decide to do something about Ben. But Harriet, prompted by guilt goes to retrieve her child. What she discovers is a passage that will chill any parent to the bone. However, how far is this scenario from the truth? What lengths would society go to repress and control a person, a child, who is seemingly out of control?

And where does fault lie for this “failure”, if it could – or should – be called one?

It’s bad enough for a parent to feel blame and guilt, but for it to be exacerbated by friends, family, and society is as much the horror here as it is the abnormal child they have to deal with.

The repercussions for Harriet and David’s decisions are left open for interpretation. And this is deliberate. Social fiction is about speculation, not answers. And this book will definitely have you thinking.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
Science Fiction, 304 pages

FTC Disclosure: Library Book

Cross Posted over at Culinary Carnivale..

I read this book a while ago, but have been trying to formulate my thoughts about it.

Impacting this thought process has been recent articles regarding a growing phenomena in America regarding gender roles, specifically in regards to men.

• Men Are Over. Except At The Top by Irin Carmon
• The Media Is Way Behind On The Matter Of Men by Anna North
• Why We Need to Reimagine Masculinity by Andrew Romano and Tony Dokoupil

What really caught my eye, and made me think of the society portrayed in this book is the following from the article by Romano and Dokoupil:

It’s clear that we’ve arrived at another crossroads—only today the prevailing codes of manhood have yet to adjust to the changing demands on men. We’re not advocating a genderless society, a world in which men are “just like women.” . . . If today’s men want to be hunters, or metrosexuals, or metrosexuals dressed in hunting clothes, they should feel free.

So, in light of the above, what if there were a world or society where gender does not exist?

Le Guin’s protagonist is an outsider who comes to the world of Winter to establish contact and offer inclusion into The League of All Worlds. He’s been informed of the uniqueness of the population as they are ambisexual. Yet it still takes adjusting.

“It was one of the little jolts I was always getting. Cultural shock was nothing compared to the biological shock I suffered as a human male among human beings who were, five-sixths of the time, hermaphroditic neuters.”

There is no division based on a segment of society being strong or weak, dominant or submissive, active or passive.

The most beneficial aspect of this type of society is that there has never been a war. Interesting to consider the implications. No gender equals no conflict? Well, not exactly. It’s just that the conflicts never escalate to such an extreme.

How the evolution of a genderless society occurs along with the corresponding results are what make this a challenging read. It makes you constantly compare and evaluate our reality. On Winter, respect as well as prejudice is based on how you are and behave as a “human”, not a “sex”. Physically gender exists for a short time each month, but socially it does not.

Is the fact that there are no judgments made, no roles forced to play, no power plays other than political, a strong argument for a world or society being considered a utopia?

After reading this, I think not. Belief systems of any kind inherently possess flaws. Even if the duality of gender does not exist, duality does remain at the core of any society: there is good, and there is evil.

This is a great book for those who are intrigued and interested in this kind of subject matter. But it is not a light read by any stretch of the imagination. Besides vocabulary such as: obdurate, adventitious, obviate, perfidy, and pertinacious, the plot bogs down in places and I found myself skipping over several passages.

However the story and its protagonist always brought me back. I wanted to learn more about how this society worked and how they would deal with being asked to join a larger, universal community where many of its members are considered deviants because their gender was a permanent condition.

Ultimately, this is what I walked away with after reading this book: gender is just part of an overall problem. Having it, or not having it, makes little difference in the bigger picture.

I can’t say that this is a book for everyone. Would I read this again? I’m not sure I would. As a recommendation, it would be to those who are social science fiction fans.

If you’ve read this book, let me know what you thought in the comments.