(no subject)

[seekingferret]

Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers

Dude, nobody told me that Becky Chambers wrote a book about Space Jews!

The third in her Wayfarers series, Record is set among the Exodans, a group of exiles from Earth who have been living on generation ships for a couple of centuries and only relatively recently made contact with the greater Galactic community. They have a codified culture based on a long-transmitted tradition of communal ritual, they are struggling now with questions of assimilation to the Galactic norms, and... did I mention that they are called Exodans?

A central storyline involves a character whose family left the Exodan fleet before he was born who returns as a young adult to explore his heritage on what is basically a culturally inept Space Birthright. The hilarity and truth of his Space Birthright experience was my favorite part of the early going, but then it takes a dark twist, so... not so funny by the end.

I enjoyed the weave of the world, the shifting narrators and perspectives on what it means to be home, what it means to be an exile, what it means to experience death of those close to us. I did think that the worldbuilding drifted uncomfortably, insupportably utopic in places... Chambers spends a lot of time on the ways in which Exodan culture fails those on its margins, but she doesn't spend a lot of time challenging the idea that Exodan culture is just this monolithic thing that mostly works for those who aren't at those margins. The Exodan fleet is constructed such that when there is an unexpected murder, it is a stunning surprise to even those who spend their lives dealing with death, and I found that surprise the most unbelievable moment in the whole story.

But on the whole I really enjoyed it, and I think Wayfarers may be that rare series where I have thus far enjoyed each book more than the one preceding it.

Also, Space Jews dance in this book.

Comments

[kass]

I loved this book so much, for these reasons and more. I found its depiction of religious clergy-type functions -- both liturgist / archivist, and caring for the bodies of those who have died -- dazzlingly spot-on, and I laughed out loud at the part where the character who cares for dead goes off-ship in order to have a liaison because it's not ethical or reasonable to hook up with someone on her own ship who might burst into tears mid-liaison remembering their loved one's burial.

[seekingferret]

Yeah, that was a really great scene.

[melannen]

Hey I was talking about how the Space Birthright thing compares to things like modern Jewish Right of Return in my review post on this! (Mostly in context of 'I wish someone who knew more about this stuff would right about it so I could read it', but still. You can't say I didn't try to tell you!)

I agree with you about the utopian-ness, though. (I think it does to some extent address the problems with the culture in the background thread about how so many people leave as soon as they can and don't come back, although none of the POV characters are in that place, so it's easy to write it off.)

[seekingferret]

Ah, well, in my defense, your review post on it seems to have actually been a comment thread on one of your posts, so I missed it even though I read the actual post.

Israel's main system for integrating people making aliyah is a program called ulpan, which is primarily an intensive months-long immersion in a Hebrew-only teaching environment, and secondarily an attempt to teach Israeli culture. I don't have much experience with it, and Wikipedia notes that it may not be a great success... My cousin made aliyah a few years ago and did an ulpan program for about six months.. another six months later and she bailed on the Israeli experiment and came back to the US, not having picked up enough Hebrew to survive comfortably.


I think it does to some extent address the problems with the culture in the background thread about how so many people leave as soon as they can and don't come back

The Fleet as Omelas... You can live in a magical utopia where murder is practically unthinkable, all of your basic needs are guaranteed by voluntary adherence to the communal social contract, but in order for it to happen, a teenager needs to have parents who Just Don't Understand.

[ambyr]

The Fleet as Omelas... You can live in a magical utopia where murder is practically unthinkable, all of your basic needs are guaranteed by voluntary adherence to the communal social contract, but in order for it to happen, a teenager needs to have parents who Just Don't Understand.

This made me snort/laugh.

[melannen]

Fair enough, I had forgotten that wasn't a real review post because of the good discussion. I'll have to do better next time. :P

Interesting about ulpan! That sounds about as successful as I'd expect a program like that, yeah. :/ I though what Chambers did with the language issues in the Fleet was really interesting, but that didn't map quite as well.

...not sure how sarcastic you are being about Omelas? But yeah, that's sort of how those closed and close societies work, for the people it works for "this place is intolerable for many of its citizens" has to read as "teenager has parents who just don't understand" or - well, like Omelas, they wouldn't be the people the place works for. And all the POV characters were, for better or worse, people it worked for.

[seekingferret]

On the other hand... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG8z5GpOazc

[primeideal]

Thanks for putting this series on my radar. I just read the first book and enjoyed some of the alien worldbuilding.

[seekingferret]

I'm glad. The newly Hugo Award winning series!

Every book is very different than the previous, so far, and so far I've enjoyed each book in the series more than the previous.