Maureen F. McHugh
Paperback | Pages: 370 pages Rating: 3.73 | 483 Users | 54 Reviews
Specify Books As Mission Child
| Original Title: | Mission Child |
| ISBN: | 0380791226 (ISBN13: 9780380791224) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | Nebula Award Nominee for Best Novel (1999), James Tiptree Jr. Award Honor List (1998) |
Relation To Books Mission Child
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
Itemize Epithetical Books Mission Child
| Title | : | Mission Child |
| Author | : | Maureen F. McHugh |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 370 pages |
| Published | : | November 9th 1999 by Eos (first published 1998) |
| Categories | : | Science Fiction. Fiction. Speculative Fiction. Science Fiction Fantasy. Gender |
Rating Epithetical Books Mission Child
Ratings: 3.73 From 483 Users | 54 ReviewsCommentary Epithetical Books Mission Child
A quick read and worthwhile. Janna survives war, the loss of a child and husband. Will she find peace and solace again? Her wanderings teach her new things about herself and the world she lives in. Naturally as a woman alone, she dresses as a man and then comes to find she likes herself that way. While the (happy?) ending was a bit subtle for me the richness of the main character and the world makes up for any lack.An interesting story of colonialism, mixed with cultural and gender identity.
This is a very challenging, thought-provoking novel. It's a science fiction book, but the sf trappings don't have any real impact on the story. It's a sociological exploration, much more slowly paced than McHugh's other novels, without a strong protagonist. It's quite different from the kind of thing I usually search for, but is well worth picking up.
Loved the writing style, which is deceptively simple: short sentences, clear narration of events in Janna/Jan's life. Jan doesn't exactly use the same language we do, but seems to be gender-queer: neither man nor woman, and both man and woman. Jan sometimes lives as a man, and sometimes lives as a woman, traveling through different cultures on their planet, trying to survive and find a place to fit in. Here is a portrait of someone on the margins of society, who sees things so clearly.Edit to
The very first novel I finished. Can't say I like it because It took me more than two years to actually try and reread it again but fortunately I managed to finish the book and the rest is history...
This is my favorite, favorite, favorite kind of science fiction. Social SF, or sociological SF, as seen through the observations of a protagonist who does not have the whole picture. A world explored through the eyes of a single character, often limited by language or situation. This book belongs on my shelf with Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness and Nicola Griffith's Ammonite. I got to talk with Maureen McHugh this past weekend. She said she wasn't a plotter. She preferred "gardener" as
Mission Child is a thoughtful sci-fi novel by the same author as China Mountain Zhang, which I thought was brilliant. Despite a similar structure and themes, I didnt find it quite as original and profound. China Mountain Zhang was McHughs first novel, impressively enough. Mission Child also follows the struggles and dilemmas of daily life in a future world, rather than focusing on some grand world-saving plot. Rather than using multiple points of view, though, Mission Child has just one:
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