Lilith's Brood

I really enjoyed this. This book put to question everything that it is to be human. Or everything that is is to accept challenges as a human. It makes me question just how open minded I think I am, how open to change I would be. To take a never ending story (alien invasion) and almost put the favor on the side of the aliens is definitely new to me. The aliens save what’s left of the humans after near annihilation, and offer their continued survival as long as it is with the aliens, mating and creating hybrids with them. As always, there would be resistance. But it took one character, Lilith, to start. She has two of these children. A theme that is introduced through these aliens is this biology over social; a part of the story involving when Lilith said she didn’t want to be impregnated but it could be read that biologically, her body wanted to be pregnant, so she was impregnated.

Can you say that something has become more diverse if it’s come to include aliens?

Snow Crash

As soon as I read the back of this book, all I could think was Ready Player One, which I'm not sure if Ready Player One falls into the same category, but it's also got an alternate technological world to live in. Once I got past that, it was nice to see the main character be a half black, have Asian male (shout out to inclusivity!) though as the book is a little dated, there is a little bit Japanese stereotyping. The dated also comes through with some of the computer techy stuff, but that comes with this genre, I suppose. On that note, I felt that some of the techy stuff was a little too techy (kudos to it all being real and researched though), super long explanations. But I guess you have to understand what’s going on. Which I didn’t really, until about halfway in. I wish there was a little bit more of the villain, as he was everything I enjoy in a villain, and I also wish there was a little bit more action on Hiro’s part rather than just research. And then the ending was kind of jumbled and felt like it just stopped, which is exactly how RPO felt too. 

Gender

The idea presented in The Left Hand of Darkness is that the characters can choose their gender. The idea presented to us today seems to have good timing. Right now we have two movements happening, one to rid the world of gender norms, and two to allow people to be whatever gender they feel themselves as. As they’re almost contradictory, it’s hard to express that I am a supporter of both. Part of the book talked about what a friend even is if that friend could be a lover in the next moment. I’m not sure I agree with this thinking as a rejection of the central idea. A lover should be a friend. And not everyone of the gender you’re attracted to is going to be a lover. They may just be a friend. I guess everything would be simpler if we didn’t care what clothes anyone wore or what genitals they had underneath those clothes. As long as one person isn’t harming themselves or anyone else, why does it matter? It says nothing of what they carry in their brain, what they’d have to say if asked a thought-provoking question.