FEBRUARY READ - SPOILERS - The Speed of Dark

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FEBRUARY READ - SPOILERS - The Speed of Dark

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1Morphidae
helmikuu 5, 2015, 9:37 pm

I've got The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon from the library but it will be a week or so before I get to it. Anyone joining me?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

2NorthernStar
helmikuu 6, 2015, 12:50 am

I've read it before, but it is worth a re-read in my opinion.

3ronincats
helmikuu 6, 2015, 2:07 am

I'll join you. I started it at one point and then got distracted, but I've always wanted to finish it.

4Peace2
helmikuu 15, 2015, 7:48 am

I'm almost half way through now and finding it really interesting. Lou is fascinating. Is anyone else reading it at the moment?

5zjakkelien
helmikuu 16, 2015, 4:03 pm

I've started today. I haven't gotten very far yet, but I like the tone of it. The first chapter (? or piece?) about the world of the autists was very engaging. The last bit I read was about one of the new bosses telling the guy in charge of the autistic department to take away their 'perks' using completely spurious reasoning. It made me cringe, eugh. People who cannot recognize a proper argument if it hits them in the face should not be in charge of anyone.

6Morphidae
helmikuu 22, 2015, 1:08 pm

I finished it and gave it 8/10 stars. It's one of my favorites of our group reads. I like how autism was handled and I REALLY liked how it wasn't depressing and all about how awful his life was. In fact, what disturbed me was him deciding in the end to get the treatment because he had a life that seemed to be working - a good job, a romance in the making, good friends, and hobbies. In the end he's off in space and I'm not sure he ended up with any of that. I wish the epilogue was longer.

7zjakkelien
helmikuu 22, 2015, 4:21 pm

I've also finished today. I think I will go for 4 or 4.5 stars (I have still to write my review). I really liked it, I liked the pacing of the story, how you see how Lou reacts to things and how he interprets things. Sometimes it can be quite funny, when from the description, something is quite clear to the reader, but for Lou it isn't. I loved the support structure that Lou had going, and his growth over the book. Because of that, I was not so happy with his final decision. It was clear to me that he was fine the way he was, especially since he was learning new things. The conclusion that his growth wasn't fast enough, so he went for an artificial approach doesn't quite sit well with me, particularly since he was rather against it at first, and since he completely seemed to bypass the idea that he might loose things that were good about him, not only things that were inconvenient. His love for patterns, for instance. I loved his love for patterns. He could have lost that, he could have become average and completely unsuitable for going into space. I wonder how unsuitable he was for space to begin with: I doubt there is that much human interaction, so that cannot have been the problem. The only thing might be if he had brain overload, but he seems to manage that quite well. I think he could have gone to space the way he was (from a functional perspective, I realize he would have had to have a lot of support to get the right people to allow it).
I don't mind so much that he lost his feelings for Marjory (sure, it's a little sad, but it hadn't progressed to the part where I would be really sorry for it), but I am sorry that he doesn't fence anymore and that his contacts with Tom and Lucia have faded. They were good friends to him, and that shouldn't have changed just for him getting the treatment or even going into space. I realize that in real life, people drift apart sometimes, but I felt that they were more than a temporary support system for him. They liked him for who he was, and I don't think he changed that much that that would not still be true.

Actually, I thought that the end was a bit too positive. He takes the treatment, and then he gets it all (except for the girlfriend, but he no longer wants her, so that does not matter to him). Seems a bit too pat. I would have believed it better if he had lost some ability as well as gained it.

8NorthernStar
helmikuu 23, 2015, 1:25 am

I finished this a few days ago - I read this when it was first published, and it has held up really well for me. Reading it, I wonder how hard it is for people with varying degrees of autism to cope in our world. I like that even though Lou's life is pretty good, he decides that he wants to keep challenging himself, and I think that is why he takes the risk of the treatment - not so much that he doesn't like how he is. I, too, would like the ending to tell me more, but I still like it as it is.