McHugh, Maureen F.

Average customer rating:

It's good, but I would've liked a stronger ending...
Not McHugh's Best Work
This books feels incomplete
Interesting Concept; Writing Not Srong
Great theme--ok plot

Nekropolis
Maureen F. McHugh
Manufacturer: Eos (HarperCollins)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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China Mountain Zhang
Half the Day Is Night
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Mothers & Other Monsters: Stories
Red Mars (Mars Trilogy)

ASIN: 0380974576

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

Hariba, a poor young Near Eastern woman, sells herself into a slavery guaranteed by "jessing," a biochemical process that makes her permanently loyal to her owner. She would be content, if not happy, in her new house-servant's life--if her mistress didn't own a harni. A harni is a chimera, a genetically engineered man who may or may not be human, but who is stunningly handsome and who treats Hariba with a gentle, attentive consideration she has never before experienced. The chimera, Akhmim, is so unlike Hariba's expectations that her fear and hatred give way to love and, impossibly, to dissatisfaction with her scientifically cemented loyalty. Hariba and Akhmin flee to the Nekropolis, the Moroccan cemetery/ghetto in which she grew up. But her family and best friend are unhappy to see her and horrified by the chimera, and running away from her bonded master precipitates a serious, potentially fatal illness. Her family and friends are too poor and too afraid of arrest to hire a physician. And the unfailingly patient and considerate chimera begins to have strange effects on the women in Hariba's life.

Like Maureen F. McHugh's previous novels, Nekropolis is beautifully written, thoughtful, and powerful, with complex, sensitively delineated, always believable characters. McHugh portrays human behavior with a rare and sometimes heartbreaking honesty and with an exceptional insight into the interplay of male-female relationships and the dilemma of the stranger in a strange land. Like McHugh's debut novel, China Mountain Zhang (winner of the Hugo, Tiptree, Lambda, and Locus awards), the chapters are narrated in alternating first-person viewpoints that offer fresh and contrasting angles and understanding of the characters and their world. --Cynthia Ward

Book Description

An extraordinary literary artist offers a powerful vision of tomorrow in a world barely touched by the passing centuries.

There is life in the Nekropolis -- but no future. Hariba spent her youth here, among the exquisite paper flower wreaths her mother meticulously constructed, playing contentedly with other children around the rows and rows of old buildings housing the crumbling bones of the dead. But when an older brother's criminal indiscretion robbed Hariba of any possibility of a husband, she agreed to have herself "jessed" -- submitting to the technoblological process designed to render her docile and subservient to whomever has purchased her service. In this way, Hariba could escape the confinement of her surroundings and hopelessness of her fate...though she could never again be truly free.

At the age of twenty-six, she enters the house of a wealthy merchant as an indentured servant. It is a new world for Hariba, filled with many wondrous objects and strange amusements that she has never before seen. But there is one thing in this place that greatly disturbs her: a harni, an intelligent, machine-bred creature of flesh and organs, a perfect replica of a man. A menial, like herself, it calls itself "Akhmim." And it unsettles Hariba with its beauty, its naïve, inappropriate tenderness -- and with prying, unanswerable questions like "Why are you sad?"

But slowly, almost imperceptibly, Hariba's revulsion metamorphoses into acceptance, and then into something much more. For Akhmim, like her, is a nonentity at the very bottom of the social order -- and the harni's gentle concern for her is real. And if she shuts out the accusing voices in her head, Hariba can even forget that Akhmim is less than human.

Dangerous thoughts, however, must inevitably lead to dangerous actions -- and outlaw emotions can breed an unholy love defying the strictly enforced edicts of God and man. Soon feelings Hariba can neither control nor ignore have her contemplating the unthinkable -- escape. But the "jessed" abandon their masters at the risk of sickness, pain, imprisonment, and perhaps even death. And there is no safe haven for a rebel servant and a runaway A.I. -- not even within the shunned, technology-barren bowels of the city of the dead.

Hugo Award winner Maureen F. McHugh has written a provocative, powerfully dazzling novel of repression and reawakening -- and a unique, profoundly moving love storythat stands alongside the acclaimed works of Ursula K. Le Guin and Margaret Atwood.

Download Description

Fleeing an empty future in the Nekropolis, twenty-one-year-old Hariba has agreed to have herself ""jessed,"" the technobiological process that will render her subservient to whomever has purchased her service. Indentured in the house of a wealthy merchant, she encounters many wondrous things. Yet nothing there is as remarkable and disturbing to her as the harni, Akhmim. A perfect replica of a man, this intelligent, machine-bred creature unsettles Hariba with its beauty, its naive, inappropriate tenderness ... and with prying, unanswerable questions, like ""Why are you sad?"" And slowly, revulsion metamorphoses into acceptance, and then into something much more. But these outlaw emotions defy the strict edicts of God and Man -- feelings that must never be explored, since no master would tolerate them. And the ""jessed"" defy their master's will at the risk of sickness, pain, imprisonment ... and death. "

Customer Reviews:

It's good, but I would've liked a stronger ending..........2006-10-01

One of the quotes for the book is plastered on the cover: "A literary novel in sci-fi clothing!" (Cleveland Plain Dealer), and that's just about accurate. To clarify my own definition of "literary": it does not mean literature. It may be work aspiring to become literature one day, but what is literature is not necessarily literary, and what is literary is not necessarily literature. Too many people think that "literary" means GREAT FICTION, but that's not true. There's lots of great literary work out there, but there's lots of crap literary work out there too.

Just want to clarify that.

This is indeed a literary focused novel, in that characters and symbols (and writing style) are more important than the setting or the plot, the latter two being hallmarks of the science fiction and fantasy genres. But it works, here: I never had a problem grasping the setting (and being set in a futuristic Morocco, particularly Nekropolis, where futuristic technology is only available to the wealthy), and the science fictional aspects of were very well described and not so technically ambled about that a non-sci-fi reader would get bored.

Like most soft science fiction, it focuses on the human reaction to technology, and pushes us to define what exactly in means to live in our society with our ideals, etc. The harni (chimera) are particularly interesting, especially when we see Akhmim's point of view for ourselves. And the concept of jessing is wonderfully eerie. Both the harni and the jessing raise a lot of questions about ethics, morality, and society. There's a lot of meat in this story.

Yet, the strongest section was the first part, told from Hariba's point of view. The second part, Akhmim's, is also very good, but it's in that part that the reader recognizes this book will not have a happy ending. We three other parts: one from Hariba's mother, one from Hariba's best friend, and then lastly, from Hariba once more. My one complaint about the structure is that we're left to figure out who's speaking to us when there's a new part. And that's rough, since each part is told from the first person, present-tense point of view. McHugh handles it well, but a little header with the character's name wouldn't have hurt either.

Ultimately, it is a bittersweet ending. I'm sorry it ended like it did, but I see that it had to end that way. Though, the ending didn't feel complete. Like most literary fiction, it ended on a symbol, and while it's powerful, I would've liked to see more of a change within Hariba herself. In this case, the decision wasn't enough. I wanted to see the fruits of it.

It's a good book, and I'd recommend it to people who like quiet, literary, soft science fiction. Character-driven, definitely, and not for those who are more plot or setting driven in their reading. I'll definitely read some of McHugh's other work, cause I'd like to see just how diverse it is. :)

Not McHugh's Best Work.......2005-12-28

In Nekropolis, Maureen F. McHugh tackles gender issues in a way that hearkens to some of Ursula K. LeGuin's best work. Nekropolis is at it's heart the story of a forbidden love. Hariba is a Moroccan woman sometime in the future who has had some type of behavior modification (jessing) performed which transforms her into the perfect servant. In the house of her owner, she meets a Harni - a man-made organism that looks and acts much like a human but is not quite human. Hariba falls in love, and the Harni apparently falls for her too. The plot of the novel follows their struggle to find a way to make a life together in a society in which their love is taboo. Unfortunately, that's also where the novel goes astray. To me, the most interesting aspect of the story is the nature of their relationship. Harni's are created to do everything they can to please humans, indulging their every whims. It brings into question how genuine the feelings the Harni claims to have for Hariba actually are. That issue is only really explored in what turns out to be a denouement which lasts far too long after the main plot has resolved. The "action/adventure" plot involving their attempt to escape Morocco takes over the novel and pushes the more interesting relationship issues to the side, only to be resurrected in a whirlwind epilogue that feels forced and too brief to contain the story that needs telling. Additionally, the epilogue lacks the emotional punch it should have, as all the tension built up in the action/adventure plot has been resolved, leading to a very strange rhythm to the novel. This book could have been so good. Ms. McHugh has the capability to write the book I'd hoped this would be - she succeeded in China Mountain Zhang and Mission Child in raising fascinating issues regarding the human condition, but unfortunately for those of us impressed with her previous work she misses the mark with Nekropolis.

This books feels incomplete.......2005-09-05

While I found the style of this book engaging, I had two major problems with it.

The first is its similarity to _The Silver Metal Lover_, by Tanith Lee. Both books feature a young female protagonist in the future who is confronted with an AI designed to please. Revulsion turns to love turns to a desperate escape, etc. I found I was reading this book to find similarities to SML, and there were plenty. _The Silver Metal Lover_ is a better book, and more satisfying, so this pales in comparison.

The other problem I had was the ending -- far too abrupt. I felt that there was a last chapter of the story which had been left out of my copy. Some tension and conflict is set up and characters lives are changed in dramatic ways, raising questions that are never answered. Now, I'm not expecting a happy ending, but I would like an ending. The last chapter cuts the story off, and I guess we are supposed to figure it out how it ends. Unfortunately, the author didn't give us enought to do that.

The book is short, so it takes very little time to read. The locations are fairly exotic but not detailed enough. I cannot recommend it.

Interesting Concept; Writing Not Srong.......2004-12-22

The cover states "A Literary novel in Sci-Fi clothing" but, really its the other way around. Characters are not particularly strong. A poor woman's version of Margaret Atwood. The concept: lab-created people and jessed people try to find happiness in a future world should be compelling, but the writing doesn't quite carry it off. This has the look and feel of a pulp novel. It's a little better than that, but it's not "literature".

Great theme--ok plot.......2004-09-11

This is a hard book to rate because it is not really a "fun" read. It's more like something that you would read for a class discussion. I'll steal someone else's word for it...it is an "unsettling" book.

From reading the reviews, I think that what might irritate people about this book is that the main character is not really that strong. I don't think she is meant to be. Her decision to "jess" herself was one based in a fear of emotion, but also from the a desire to relinquish responsibility for her emotions. She is a "voluntary" slave made so by fear and irresponsiblity--these fears are shaped by personal and cultural experiences.
***possible spoiler to follow***
Akhmim on the other hand was someone who has no choice but to be a slave. He was created for that purpose. Interestingly enough his bond was not of "love" but of slavery as well. Therefore, while she was oppressed, she was also an oppressor. His character was also interesting because he remembers being happiest as part of his "pack" if you will, but he couldn't go back. This is another theme of the book.
***end of possible spoilers***

essentially, this book is meant to make you think...it's not meant to be a light read, or really an enjoyable read. In the end, I think that it does what science fiction does best. Gives us the "what if we could..." and shows how individuals, society and cultures would probably react--and that those reactions might be present here and now.

However, having said all that, I personally get a little irritated when a theme overshadows the story and I think that is what happened in this book. Lots of great points to think about, very interesting ideas, very interesting theme. Not so interesting story. She is much more interesting to discuss than she is to read about.

Average customer rating:

Uninteresting Character and Plot
Great writer who can involve readers in any scene
A science fiction odyssey
A true survivor
Not for lovers of plot

Mission Child
Maureen F. McHugh
Manufacturer: Eos
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0380974568

Amazon.com

Mission Child is an expansion of Maureen McHugh's "The Cost to Be Wise," a fascinating novella from the original anthology Starlight 1.

Janna's world was colonized long ago by Earth and then left on its own for centuries. When "offworlders" return, their superior technology upsets the balance of a developing civilization. Mission Child follows the journeys of Janna after she and her young partner escape marauders who attack their hometown. The girl, fast becoming mature beyond her years, sets off across the planet on an odyssey of adventure, poverty, hard work, war, famine, and rebirth. Janna uses her meager skills to eke out a living in a changing world; she gains and loses a husband, a child, friends, jobs, and more.

McHugh weaves together anthropology, sociology, psychology, and gender relations in this wondrous journey. Janna assumes the guise of a boy for protection, but eventually becomes "Jan" to herself as well as others. Reminiscent of Ursula K. Le Guin's insightful works set in the Hainish universe, Mission Child will doubtless be nominated for a Tiptree Award for its exploration of Janna's gender identity. --Bonnie Bouman

Book Description

Young Janna has lived her fourteen years on the icy northern plains of a world that has forgotten its history. Now the arrival of Earthers--descendants of the humans who first settled the planet many centuries before--has violently upset the fragile balance of a developing civilization. The offworlders' advanced technologies and cruel indifference to local life have brought despair and destruction to janna's home, robbing her of family, husband, child, and self. Haunted by a dead past--mysteriously altered by the gift of three alien artifacts--Janna must now redefine herself on a devastated planet she no longer recognizes, as she embarks upon a remarkable, transcendant journey into an uncertain future; moving steadily through this strange new world toward a startling realization about her role in the great cosmic order.

Customer Reviews:

Uninteresting Character and Plot.......2006-05-17

I think very highly of Maureen F. McHugh as a short story writer: i liked almost all the stories in "Mothers and Other Monsters" and particularly admired her writing style: a bit like Ursula K. LeGuin in that respect. However, the plot of this novel - the first I've read by her - was so uninvolving I couldn't finish it. Mainly this is the fault of the main character: it took me a long time to realize that she never figures anything out. In particular, she was brought up in a primitive religion on an alien planet and will never decide there's nothing to the religion, even though she sees the benefits of modern science in frequent meetings with Earth people (or off-worlders, as they are called). She has been given three implants by her original teacher from Earth, one a distress signal to call the off-worlders, a second that allows her to hibernate if caught outside on the cold world she inhabits, and a third that will supposedly allow her to move very quickly in an emergency. I never saw the third implant used in the 60% of the book I read -- odd, that, since she was in danger of loss of life early in the plot. As for the hibernation implant, it twice saves her life, but she reacts to that by saying death vomited her out, like some food on the planet that people will vomit if they eat. The idea that someone can have their life saved by something and still think of it as a bad thing is typical. I never understood why she was doing anything. (For example, she seems to have fallen into a habit of passing as a man early in the book, and while never able to explain it, she wants to stick to it, except that she also wants to have sex as a woman. What?) For full disclosure, I should point out that I never could read past about page 100 in Rabbit Run (I tried to read it twice because I thought Updike's writing was supurb). My problem was that Rabbit didn't know what he wanted and all of the plot, as far as I got, revolved around Rabbit - a relatively young man - deciding to run away from home, driving a long distance, then without actually making any decision, returning home again. Mission Child was like that: I couldn't figure out where she was going next, but it seemed random and she seemed stupid in many ways. I just can't get interested in that kind of character involved in a plot made up of random events.

Great writer who can involve readers in any scene.......2004-08-16

A colonized world develops a unique identity and culture. Years later, one of its citizens develops a unique identity as well, adapting to her culture by taking on the identity of a man. Soon, she finds that her gender-blurring actually appeals to her in ways beyond what her situation demands of her.

I love Mission Child as much as McHugh's more popular novel China Mountain Zhang, which received the James Tiptree, Jr. Memorial Award, the Lambda Literary Award, and the Locus Award for Best First Novel.

McHugh is a great writer who can involve readers in any scene, regardless of how much or how little action that scene contains. The language seems descriptive to an extreme, but she still manages to tie those descriptions into the thoughts and feelings of the characters.

Before reading her work, I read reviews that included complaints about her supposedly not focusing on plot. Readers can find countless formulaic, plot-driven science fiction and fantasy novels, but they won't find many original and evocative writers of McHugh's caliber.

McHugh's other novels include Nekropolis and Half the Day Is Night.

A science fiction odyssey.......2002-02-24

Maureen McHugh has outdone her previous two novels (Half the Day is Night, China Mountain Zhang) by a quantum leap with Mission Child.

Mission Child tells the futuristic odyssey of Janna, a young woman who undergoes many changes in her search for a role in life. From her begining as a child of the Hamra Mission, a low-tech culture on a world long-ago colonized by Earth, Janna sets forth on a journey across the planet when her clan is murdered by invaders. It is the first time Janna must come to grips with death, but certainly not the last.

As Janna travels from city to city, we see the colonization of the planet through her eyes. She encounters several different cultures, all vaguely familiar to the reader, yet altered by their adaptation to their new world. McHugh does an incredible job of presenting these cultures through Janna's eyes in a believeable way. McHugh's grasp of the narrative is amazing.

I rank this book up there with SF classics like Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness. Definitely a must-read book.

A true survivor.......2001-07-31

I was completely fascinated by this book. I very much respect how it raises important questions without feeling the need to provide easy answers. Here are a few: What does it mean to be transgendered without the benefit of transgender theory? Would Jan have been transgendered without the implant? What does it mean to live in a colonial world without benefit of post-colonial theory? Is it possible to maintain the purity of a culture? Do the missionaries help or hinder Jan/Janna by the imposition of their technology? Did they have the right to impose their technology in order to "help" Janna? Should survival be the ultimate, over-riding goal?

Initially, Jan survives in spite of him/herself. Ultimately, Jan decides not only to survive but to live. I highly recommend this book.

Not for lovers of plot.......2000-05-13

In Mission Child, Ms. McHugh does an excellent job of creating a new and interesting view of the future of life on a distant planet. Her protagonist, Jaana, is convincingly written as a woman born in a primitive society trying to manage contact with advanced technology from earth and the people who bring it.

The problem is that the entire book is little more than a description of life on a planet without a lot of native technology. The story, such as it is, is told in the first person from the perspective of Janna, a woman who is not really prone to introspection and has a tendancy to flee anyplace that might give her more insight into her own nature.

Near the end of the book, Jaana starts to make a kind of connection to the wold around her, but she never really does. The book ends with the same kind of "when's the sequel coming?" ending as China Mountain Zhang, but unlike that oustanding book, I can't see any evidence that a sequel would have much more of interest to say.

Reading this book reminded me in some ways of reading the first book in the Thomas Covenant series. The main character was an idiot at the start, and made it through the whole book without quite ceasing to be an idiot. Unlike Lord Foul's Bane, however, Mission Child doesn't have a lot of cool secondary characters that make it worth reading.

In short, the plot is relevant only as an opportunity for character development, but the main character steadfastly refuses to change. As a result, the book is weak both on plot and on character development. The reason it gets two stars from me is that McHugh has created an excellent backdrop for a character who has some interesting attributes. I only wish there had been some coherent plot to the whole thing, or some real development of the main character.

China Mountain Zhang
Average customer rating:

A great start got lost somewhere along the way

really original and absorbing

Report from a Mir on Mars

I've read it twice, so far

First-class writing . . .

China Mountain Zhang
Maureen F. McHugh
Manufacturer: Orb Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0312860986

Amazon.com

When talking about this book you have to list the awards it's won--the Hugo, the Tiptree, the Lambda, the Locus, a Nebula nomination--after that you can skip the effusive praise from the New York Times and get to the heart of things: This is a book about a future many don't agree with. It's set in a 22nd century dominated by Communist China and the protagonist is a gay man. These aren't the usual tropes of science fiction, and they aren't written in the usual way. But, wow, it's one heck of a story.

Book Description

Winner of the James Tiptree, Jr. Memorial Award, the Lambda Literary Award, the Locus Award for Best First Novel, and a Hugo and Nebula Award nominee.With this groundbreaking novel, Maureen F. McHugh established herself as one of the decade's best science fiction writers. In its pages, we enter a postrevolution America, moving from the hyperurbanized eastern seaboard to the Arctic bleakness of Baffin Island; from the new Imperial City to an agricultural commune on Mars. The overlapping lives of cyberkite fliers, lonely colonists, illicit neural-pressball players, and organic engineers blend into a powerful, taut story of a young man's journey of discovery. This is a macroscopic world of microscopic intensity, one of the most brilliant visions of modern SF.

Customer Reviews:

A great start got lost somewhere along the way.......2006-09-15

Love science fiction - always thrilled to find something out of the ordinary, like a sci-fi story with a gay protagonist. McHugh does a great job describing a future world where China has become the one and only power, with all other cultures falling in its wake. Her take on the cultural customs that would emerge from such a scenario feels right on. The themes and obstacle experienced by Zhang are recognizable as concerns alive and well today - making the story believable and relatable.

Unfortunately one can only take in-depth descriptions of surreal forms of architectural design so far and McHugh went a little past that. Still, I look forward to reading more from this author.

really original and absorbing.......2006-04-07

this book depends more on its exquisite characterizations and fascinating vision of a future where china dominates as the global superpower than on plot, and it totally works. it presents a "slice of life" of zhang, a gay half-chinese american, as he navigates a world in which his sexuality and americanness make him not the ideal. along the way, it also gives glimpses into the worlds of a cyber-kite flyer, martain settlers, and an "ugly" chinese expatriate trying to make her way as a young adult in america. interesting technologies and cultures. beautifully written and imagined.

Report from a Mir on Mars.......2005-10-14

In a style reminiscent of Jan Myrdal's "Report from a Chinese Village", McHugh has collected tome tangentially related vignettes of life in a future world dominated by China and Chinese culture, complete with its bigotry and socialist ideology. One set of characters interacts in a somewhat terraformed Mars, but the principal characters are mostly in NYC, occasionally in PRC, once even on Baffin Island. Generally well done, but the writing and editing could be tighter.

I've read it twice, so far.......2005-09-09

"China Mountain Zhang" is not another scifi adventure book (which definitely have a place when I want mindless entertainment). It's speculative fiction at its best. The author asks "What if the world were like this...?" and answers the question in such an interesting and believable way.
Other readers posting reviews have objected to the plot, to the society and politics, to the various relationships. I found this book like a series of biographies. What this book lacks is not plot but length. (I want more.) I found the politics, a blended world of socialism, capitalism, and racism, to be very interesting. I found the relationships interesting. A couple deals with homosexuality in their relationship. A single woman deals with disfigurement, internalised self-hatred, and date rape. A couple on Mars have to get past economic issues to further their relationship. Through it all, the author speculates some imaginative technology.
I loved this book when I first read it, and loved it when I re-read it ten years later. Whereas I usually donate my used science fiction to the local library, this is a book that I have hung onto. I hope to reread it in another ten years, or so.

First-class writing . . ........2004-09-10

This book had been on my "to read" list for some time, but it moved to the top of the list after a co-worker, a rabid right-winger, read it and then fulminated against the notion that the U.S. could ever become a socialist state. The First Amendment doesn't protect anti-Americanism, he said, and the book should be banned and the author arrested. Actually, I believe he would have been quite comfortable in the authoritarian future America in which Zhong Shan Zhang lives and works. "Zhong Shan" translates to "China Mountain," but it's also the Mandarin version of the Cantonese name "Sun Yat Sen." It's like an American being named "George Washington Jones." Zhang is an ABC -- an American-born Chinese -- who gets by, barely, as a Construction Tech in New York. More important, he's only half-Chinese; his mother was Hispanic, but his genetic inheritance from his Chinese father was enhanced by gene-splicing. Since all the best jobs and top corporate positions go to Chinese (the most racist people in the world), every little bit helps. But even more important than his problematical background, Zhang is set apart by being gay -- in a world in which deviance is dealt with by exile to the Mars colony or by a bullet in the back of the head. The plot line is really pretty simple: Zhang loses his job after his boss tries to fix him up with his extremely ugly daughter (who doesn't know about his sexual orientation), he takes a job in semi-desperation as the only Construction Tech at a research station above the Arctic Circle (where he learns to value the dawn after five months of darkness), he parlays his hardship assignment into admission to Nanjing University to study engineering (where he finally begins to flower as a Daoist engineer/architect), and he returns to New York in search of long-delayed professional success and personal fulfillment. It's the richness of the author's portrayal of a possible, quite believable future that make this book so fascinating: The details of kite-racing, the fundamental differences between Chinese and Western attitudes (McHugh studied for some time in the PRC), the mix of very high-tech and very low, the internal politics of a commune on Mars, and the sheer prosaic-ness of people just trying to get by, to survive in a largely uncaring world. Zhang is a fully realized character, but so are his friends and acquaintances. And so are the other major characters in New York and on Mars, all of whose stories gradually come together late in the book. This is a beautiful piece of writing.

Average customer rating:

insightful cyberpunk...
Some part of the world never change
The day after tomorrow
Big disappointment
How many ways can you spell B-O-R-I-N-G?

Half the Day Is Night
Maureen F. McHugh
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 031285479X

Customer Reviews:

insightful cyberpunk..........2005-09-14

When French/Asian war veteran David Dai accepts a job as a security guard to a female banker in the Caribbean, he's expecting to be able to get away from the violence and trauma of fighting in Africa. However, the underwater domes of the cities of Caribe and Marincite are hardly the tropical paradise he was unconsciously expecting. Rather, they are torn by poverty and social unrest, and plagued by corrupt and incompetent authorities. The resentful former holder of his job is still at his employer's home, and to top it all off, his employer, Mayla Ling, seems to have mysteriously become a target of a terrorist group. David wants nothing more than to quit the job and go home - but underwater cities aren't always so easy to get out of, and every incident seems to get him more deeply embroiled in the local situation - and Mayla's life.
While containing a good deal of social criticism/commentary and 'humanist' insight, the story is primarily a tense, action-filled thriller. With the elements of shady business deals and takeovers, illegal drugs and colorful, dangerous underworlds, rich CEOs and shady crooks, virtual reality gaming and illicit neural stimulators, it had a very 'cyberpunk' feel - I'd highly recommend it for fans of William Gibson.

Read it in one day.... not that it's short, I just couldn't put it down!

I was really depressed when I finished this book, thinking that I'd now read all of McHugh's published work - but then I found out that she actually just had a new short-story collection released in July! Yay! (It's small press, though, so it might be a little hard to find - but it's now on my wishlist!)

Some part of the world never change.......2005-05-15

McHugh has a great knack for taking ordinary people in ordinary places, putting them in not extraordinarily stressful situations, and producing out of all that a really well-told, well-paced story with characters you care about. She did this very,very well in her first novel, _China Mountain Zhang,_ and she does it almost as well in this one, her second. She also doesn't make the mistake of stopping to explain when and where the story is set, explaining how history has created this particular future: She just does her narrative job and lets the reader figure it out, bit by bit. In this case, we're a couple of generations into the future, when an undersea colony built by the United States in the Caribbean has won its independence. But that was sixty years ago, and now Caribe is just another Third World Latin American dictatorship run by a president-for-life, with an upper class who are very rich and an underclass who are very poor. Jean-David Dai, a young French ex-soldier wounded in the South African wars, has come to try out for a security job looking after a bank officer named Mayla Ling, a naive member of the "haves" who has been targeted by a political underground. David's trying to escape his past and his nightmares, and he's not sure this job is the way to do it, but he agrees to give it a shot for six months. Then things get out of hand, naturally. Mayla's house is bombed, David disappears, the bank is sucked up by a neighboring conglomerate, and things become very uncomfortable. The setting is fascinating; think Colombia or Guatemala, but 250 meters under the seabed, with a police force that does things its own way and citizens who know better than to argue, where business is routinely done with bribes and kickbacks, where internal combustion buses operate in defiance of good sense -- this being a closed system where air has to be recycled and the lower levels of society never get enough oxygen. Mayla has never known anything different, and comparing her comfortable view of this world to David's reaction to the cold and the dark makes you really pay attention. A quiet, thoughtful, convincing novel.

The day after tomorrow.......2005-03-15

This was my 1st experience with McHugh's writing. It left me with a big smile on my face & wanting more.
The setting in the near future underwater state of Caribe is not crucial to the plot. The same story could have been placed anywhere from the 1960s to a future where interstellar travel is common. So don't expect any new ideas about future technology, sociology, etc.
I have almost no direct experience with dysfunctional 3rd world countries. That said, Caribe is right on the mark from what I have heard & read from people who do. The 2 protagonists are well depicted & their responses to events are entirely believeable. It was easy for me to imagine myself feeling & doing the same things in the same situation.

Big disappointment.......2004-08-31

The book starts well but after 170 pages I completely lost interest. The underwater scenario is very promising but the whole atomoshpere is destroyed by boring politics and all too sudden events. After a while I stopped caring for the main characters because their aimless wandering (very realistic, no doubt) was simply boring. I don't want to give any spoiler, anyone who still considers reading this book will soon know what I mean.

This is not a real SF book and it doesn't come close to the great "China Mountain Zhang" or the moving "Nekropolis". Considering the hazzle to get this book in Germany it was a big disappointment.

How many ways can you spell B-O-R-I-N-G?.......2004-05-17

Apparently Maureen McHugh knows dozens for she manages to keep the reader on the edge of their seat. Not through anticipation of events but because they have fallen asleep and can't help but try to escape. It's the future and there are underwater cities and there are problems and crises. At least there are in the boring lives of the boring characters. Sorry, this is one for insomniacs.

Average customer rating:

A balanced and pleasing collection of short stories

Mothers & Other Monsters: Stories
Maureen F. McHugh
Manufacturer: Small Beer Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1931520194

Book Description

"Gorgeously crafted stories."-Nancy Pearl, Morning Edition

"Hauntingly beautiful."-Booklist

"My favorite thing about her is the wry, uncanny tenderness of her stories."-Dan Chaon, author of Among the Missing

Adebut collection and finalist for the Story Prize. Maureen F. McHugh is an expert craftswoman who brings her clear-eyed vision (and empathy) to the relationships at the heart of our lives. Her stories are relevant, insightful, and beautifully written: She uses her deceptively simple prose to illuminate the unexpected chasms that open between generations. The reader's guide includes an essay, an interview, and talking points.

Maureen F. McHugh lives in Austin, Texas.

Customer Reviews:

A balanced and pleasing collection of short stories.......2005-08-01

Maureen McHugh has given me some really nice and thought-provoking reads in her novels over the past few years and I was pleased to see this collection of of short stories from her, most of which I had missed. I always approach short story collections with some trepidation.....when the stories are not on par with the writer's novels there is inevitable disappointment, and if the short stories are extremely good then there is still disappointment because the pleasure in reading them is so fleeting! However, every so often, there comes along a collection that does not fall into either trap and provides a haunting and lovely series of well-crafted little gems that are perfect in their own right. This is one such collection. I heartily recommend this one to anyone who has read McHugh in the past and enjoyed her works, and I invite those who haven't sampled her novels to test her writing first with these short stories. You won't be diasappointed with this one!

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction April 1995 (volume 88)

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The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction April 1995 (volume 88)
ray bradbury , maureen f. mchugh , marcos donnelly , robert reed , ray vukcevich , and linda nagata
Manufacturer: gordon van gelder
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000N8D2N6

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Half the Day Is Night
Maureen F Mchugh
Manufacturer: ST MARTINS PRESS *
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000SF7SI4

ASIMOV'S SCIENCE FICTION - Volume 17, number 4 and 5 - April 1993: An American Childhood; The Consort; Beast of the Heartland; Whispers; The Other Magpie; Infinite Riches; The Beggar in the Living Room; Guardian of Fireflies; The Hart; The Murderer

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ASIMOV'S SCIENCE FICTION - Volume 17, number 4 and 5 - April 1993: An American Childhood; The Consort; Beast of the Heartland; Whispers; The Other Magpie; Infinite Riches; The Beggar in the Living Room; Guardian of Fireflies; The Hart; The Murderer
Gardner (editor) (Pat Murphy; Isaac Asimov; Lucius Shepard; Maureen F. McHugh; David B. Kisor; R. Garcia y Robertson; Lisa Goldstein; Walter John Watkins; Patricia Anthony; Greg Costikyan; Lawrence Watt-Evans; Sage Walker; Janet Asimov) Dozois
Manufacturer: Dell Magazines
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000LXNM8S

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Half the Day is Night
Maureen F. McHugh
Manufacturer: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GRMM2Q

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China Mountain Zhang
Maureen F. (Author) McHugh
Manufacturer: Orb Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTPQDS

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