Reviews with content warning for Racism - Vers les étoiles

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Vers les étoiles by Mary Robinette Kowal

55 reviews

cscharfway's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful informative inspiring slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book was very well written and researched. I found the contributions of the women as computers and pilots fascinating, and the blatant sexism they faced, made me want to scream.

As someone who experiences anxiety, I could really relate to Elma’s struggle to acknowledge her issues. Her fear of being discovered taking medication hurt my heart and made me appreciate how steps have been taken in today’s society to break that stigma, though there is still a ways to go.

I liked the diversity of the characters, and how Elma’s way of thinking began to be shaped by her friends of colour. I also thought Nathaniel was a dream of a husband.

The only criticism I have is that the book started really tense and strong, really making it appear to be a science fiction book, but it didn’t continue on with that tone which was a bit disappointing. I would have liked more apparent diverges from the main timeline. It’s more of a historical fiction book than a science fiction, which I do still love, it just wasn’t what I was expecting when I picked it up.

If you liked Hidden Figures, you’ll like this.

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lelodo13's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a wonderful alternative universe story. I very much enjoyed the main character being smart, seriously smart, but having anxieties around social situations. Having a main character with real normal problems made the whole story feel more real. This is a wonderful alternative history, and I will be picking up the next in the series.

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elsie_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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spentcello's review against another edition

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dark hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I really liked most of this - I was invested in the story for the most part and it was gripping (particularly the beginning) and made me not want to put the book down. I liked the way in which Kowal used an alternate history to tell the stories of groups of people whose contributions have systematically been down-played in history. Sometimes, I felt that the obvious pointing out of racist and sexist biases at all points intruded on the story, and I would have rather that this was done in more showing way rather than just straight telling like 'wow, I can't believe that there aren't any black people on this list' (paraphrasing here) over and over again. But I appreciate the importance of getting these biases across to the purpose of the book.

I didn't particularly like how choppy the story felt in parts and some of it felt like it wasn't really serving any purpose by being in there. The repeated puns/jokes/double entendres were grating and sometimes stretching quite a lot to get there. I also find it highly unlikely that a maths genius and her rocket scientist husband, both of whom work in rocketry, would make a bunch of dirty jokes that stretch technical aspects of their field so much to be inaccurate. If anything (and this is taken from my own interactions with people in various specialisations - including myself), jokes in your main technical field of expertise are hyper-specific and generally only funny to others who have the same technical expertise. So I find it quite unrealistic and inconsistent with their characters when Nathaniel and Elma are making a bunch of jokes about turning the key in each others' ignitions and handling rockets. This was the same with the maths, with some particularly stretched jokes about prime numbers. I had other minor gripes with a lot of the other banter between Nathaniel and Elma as well and found I was really just trying to push through those parts to get to the more enjoyable parts of the story.

The issues I had with the book were minor though, and I felt compelled to keep reading right through to the end. Definitely a great read if you have any interest in alternate histories and space exploration.

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cascadienne's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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minervacerridwen's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.25

The Calculating Stars is a really well-written slice-of-life report of the life of a brilliant mathematician in an alternate history defined by a meteorite impact. Even the technical parts kept me engaged, and the bits where the book seemed to slow down never lasted too long. While not the main plot, the story deals with sexism and racism, and I feel like I actually learned some things at the end.
I'm glad I finally got around to reading this book thanks to T & Fie!
(Note to my future self: for emetophobia reasons I will probably not want to reread this.)

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oxfordcommas91's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Enjoyable and easy to read story about a human "computer," married to the lead engineer of a space agency who both live through a meteorite hit that devastated much of the eastern seaboard of the United States. Elma, the main character, has experience flying after serving as a WASP in WWII and wants to be taken seriously as a potential astronaut when she helps discover that earthlings are going to have to start colonizing space sooner rather than later due to the catastrophic environmental effects from the meteorite.

This book had enough interest to hold my attention, though I enjoyed the pace at the beginning of the book (directly before & after the meteorite hit) more than the latter half which sometimes feels like it's not sure where it's going or headed. The pacing isn't always spot on, either - some plot points seem to linger for a long time without strong reason and then other thing things I assumed would take much longer to happen seem to pass in the blink of an eye. The ending of the book was a bit weird to me - it feels like its hurtling towards the conclusion in a rush when I would have liked for the author to spend more time getting there, but it wasn't a huge deal.

This book attempts to broach a lot of difficult topics - feminism and sexism in the 1950's, grief and loss after a catastrophic event, mental health/depression/anxiety, anti-semitism, and homophobia. I am glad that the author includes and grapples with all these issues as it feels very authentic to the timeframe that this story is taking place. I especially am grateful for the author's recognition of mental health and the part that mental health plays in our personal and professional lives (especially for women - who are seen as "overly emotional" or "hysterical" to start with). I thought the way that this topic was raised and examined was fairly true to historical context and added a good layer of depth to the story. I do think that the plot points and scenes that had to do with the character grappling with her experience as a white woman were sometimes glossed over or not done with the sort of cultural sensitivity that I would have expected for a book published this recently. Again, I'm glad the topic is raised but I think I expected a bit more depth.

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