I still don't get it

[redbird]

I picked up a copy of M. John Harrison's novel Light because it was a Tiptree winner (the year before I was on the jury). I not only didn't like the book, I couldn't see why it won the Tiptree.

Prompted by rysmiel's review of the book, I finally got around to seeing what that year's jury said about it. I still don't get it. Partly I don't see what they saw in the book, and partly I don't agree that what they saw explores or expands gender.

Comments

[eagle]

You're not alone in this -- I really didn't understand that either. And similarly, I didn't find the jury comments particularly enlightening.

I didn't really dislike it (full review is
here), but the characters didn't do much for me and in the end the only thing that let me like it was the quality of the writing.

But exploration of gender? I just don't see it. I see the alienation from body and the serial killer thing, but neither of those struck me as, well, deep enough.

I haven't re-read it, though, and various people whose reviews I follow whose taste runs towards the literary and experimental raved about it, so maybe I'm just missing something.