Life

by Gwyneth Jones

A richly textured fictional biography of the brilliant Anna Sen oz, a scientist who makes a momentous discovery about the X and Y chromosomes. Her discovery provokes widespread sexual rage and impacts cruelly on her career, her marriage, and her child. Ultimately, Anna faces a challenge that the practice of science alone cannot meet. Original.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, 21st Century, Novels, British Literature, Gender

370 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2004

About the author

Gwyneth Jones is a writer and critic of genre fiction. She's won the Tiptree award, two World Fantasy awards, the Arthur C. Clarke award, the British Science Fiction Association short story award, the Dracula Society's Children of the Night award, the P.K.Dick award, and the SFRA Pilgrim award for lifetime achievement in sf criticism. She also writes for teenagers, usually as Ann Halam. She lives in Brighton, UK, with her husband and two cats called Ginger and Milo; curating assorted pondlife in season. She's a member of the Soil Association, the Sussex Wildlife Trust, Frack Free Sussex and the Green Party; and an Amnesty International volunteer.

Reviews

[karenology · Rating 1 out of 5]

An interesting premise bogged down by the epic soap drama of self-indulgent characters, alternately as dull as toast (Anna, Spence, basically everyone) or so incredibly annoying that I had to put the book down (Ramona)! This is one of the many books out there in which the ideas dwarf the writing.

[Ryandake · Rating 3 out of 5]

a science-y book with women and feminists and gender issues and sf? this one should have been an easy homer for me.

but alas, it's not.

the science in the book concerns the mutation of our friend the XX. XX is not holding up well, in fact is altering to another form altogether. possibly so is XY. i'm not entirely sure, because the science is so badly explained.

not being a geneticist but really enjoying being taught stuff new to me, i tried pretty hard to understand the info when it came up. the author handled it pretty well in terms of not info-dumping on we poor readers, but the explanations she gave did not illuminate the subject for me. maybe it's me? but i find i am able to grasp the principles of science way beyond my usual ken if it is explained carefully, and particularly if it is explained metaphorically. there's no reason genetics should be un-amenable to metaphor, but the only one we get is from computing and boolean logic.

hmmm.

the depictions of the world of women scientists is, from what i've read, quite accurate--women subject to all kinds of sexism and assumption and harassment and sometimes even downright violence. yet in this book the varieties of said really strike me as a 1970s lament--and i am left wondering, is it really still this bad? i am quite open to being instructed on this subject.

as sf, this book doesn't quite work for me. sf has to show us some way in which the world changes in response to technology, how society is affected by the change. Life doesn't really do that. it shows us how some people on the margins attempt to accommodate the change, even though it's not really yet apparent. many of the accommodations are no weirder than what can be found in contemporary society, either.

and for me, this is what ultimately disappoints: here Jones has posited that the genetics of the male human are in flux, will change, it's all inevitable; but what does that signify? for her, i'm thinking it just means more househusbands. but change in genetic markers certainly doesn't imply change in behavior, particularly not in something as complex as human society. she's not convinced me that any change whatsoever is inevitable, nor shown me how it will play out.

there are many good points to this book to enumerate, but i think i will let others do so. shop around the reviews, and read the book (or not) with an awareness that it's a great premise, not horribly executed, but is ultimately flawed.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

The lyrical opening was beautiful, and the world intriguing but I almost stopped reading around page 90, it was the kind of story I didn't like, about emotions and relationships and college years and the crowd. I felt stuck in this narrow world, as stuck as the main character unable to see inside of herself or outside. I realise I have very little interest in the grit and grime of the romantic affairs of others, especially people I don't especially like. But suddenly I was deep inside the characters and the science, and I realised that the story is about the bubble, about the ways people cut themselves off from the bigger picture, from the people around them, from their own power and abilities and capacity for love, from the evolutionary possibilities and the blurring and mutabilty of things we take for granted. Gender is, of course, at the forefront in this book, but it seemed to me that it was only one of the certainties that we hold to and that fall away. Anna Senoz has a character, a belief system, a history that I find entirely foreign, and yet I was able to experience with her limits that have never been mine, fears that I do not share, desires and dreams that I have never wanted. To me that is the true power of writing, and this book impressed me. Not least the mastery of the science, the fascinating larger debates that such writing raises about how large philosphical questions are experienced in the way each one of us lives our lives. I appreciated the way this book explored both the superficiality and the depths that such an experience reflects upon the questions through an impossibly real portrait of a family, which was always the emotional center through personal tragedy, science's disgusting sexual politics and the implications for sexuality itself, and breaking through here and there the physical violence, misery and poverty of the world impossible to fully escape.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very, very strange book, with moments of brilliance but also moments that I found troubling and others that seemed redundant. Life promises to be about the breakdown of chromosomal sex after the discovery of 'Transferred Y', or TY, by scientist Anna Senoz. However, TY turns out to be much more destabilising for society's ideas about gender than for biological sex itself; as Anna explains, the 'death' of the Y chromosome doesn't mean that sexually dimorphic men and women won't continue to make up the vast majority of the population, even if men are now all technically intersex, because the masculinising SRY gene remains intact on one of men's X chromosomes. Life, therefore, is really about the 'sex wars' and the tension between heterosexual sexual attraction and the more equal sexual relationships that some men and women are trying to forge. TY is such a problem because people believe there are fundamental genetic differences between men and women, and because they believe these matter for society to function. Gwyneth Jones is a bold and intelligent writer, but I felt uncomfortable with the treatment of lesbians, in particular, and the way the narrative flipped between being set in a speculative future where sex and gender are being reconstructed, and rehashing old feminist debates from the 1970s and 1980s. Ultimately, I believed in Anna as a character and she carried the book for me, even when it swung into baffling territory. 3.5 stars.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am curious about the reaction this book would get from someone unfamiliar with Jones’ other work. Her Bold as Love series is one of my favourite sci-fi universes. Unlike everything else by her that I’ve read, this novel isn’t really science fiction, although it is a speculative vision of the near future. There is even an AI, briefly. The focus, though, is on the professional and personal life of Anna Sendoz. I found her an interesting, believable, and sympathetic character. In fact, the whole cast of characters were fundamentally flawed enough to ring true. There seemed to me to be a tension between the detailed insights into the characters thoughts and emotions and the overarching theme of 'transferred Y', however. Or perhaps it was more of a gap between my expectations and reality? I thought that the book would challenge and interestingly deconstruct notions of gender, Judith Butler style. It did not, as the characters were trapped within depressingly rigid social gender constructions. Only one, Ramone, made any real effort to break out and that seemed self-destructive and oddly unanchored. There is a whole mass of gender and queer theory in the world, which somehow Ramone never seemed to encounter. The point might have been that biology isn’t important, society and culture trap us in gender roles regardless.

As a partial biography of Anna Sendoz, the novel was engaging but depressing. As an exploration of the implications of the fictional ‘transferred Y’, it did not satisfy. The word 'gender' was rarely used, which avoided what could have been an interesting exploration of gender identity. 'Sexual identity' was often used, which confused me as I wasn’t sure if this meant femininity/masculinity or sexuality - two very different concepts. The relationship between gender and sexuality also wasn’t addressed. The afterword rather explains this: Jones was writing a personal novel, she calls it 'the story of my life as a writer'. What I was expecting was more of a science fiction novel that delved sensitively into gender issues - which are incredibly rare. 'Life' is well written and vivid, but I had different hopes for it. Anna Sendoz is an excellent character, I just wish she wasn’t so cis and heterosexual.

[Mara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although overwhelmingly bleak and not for the easy-to-blush, Jones's writing is top-notch and her sci-fi elements service her broader implications about women in science, and what the amalgamation of genders might do, both to personal relationships and a broader, unfocused world plagued by terror. It's hard to get through, but you never feel like you're wasting your time.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book at Powell's Bookstore with the handwritten note saying that it's Margaret Atwood-level good. It so is. If you like bildungsromans from a female perspective, this is fantastic.

[Muriel (The Purple Bookwyrm) · Rating 1 out of 5]

More accurate rating: 3.5-4/10 at the absolute most.

What a freaking pointless waste of a book.

a) This has absolutely no goddamn business being an SF Masterworks. It's not science-fiction; at most, it's a bad wannabe (I say wannabe, cuz I actually mostly like) Sally Rooney slice-of-life relationship drama with a sprinkle of speculative scientific inquiry. Said inquiry revolving around the potential disappearance of the Y chromosome through viroidal transfer. Whoopee freaking doo. Yes, the Y chromosome is shrinking, but it probably won't disappear entirely, and even if it does, the SRY gene will just migrate somewhere else, or our species will develop another mechanism for differentiated sexual development, in millions of years.

Besides, the whole schtick with the TY viroid makes up, what, 1% of the actual plot of this stupid book? The rest is made up of insanely tedious drama, centred on largely tedious-to-hateful characters only marginally interested in actually dissecting gender, and female sex-based oppression.

b) Cuz yeah, this isn't even really feminist fiction either – or barely! Sex and gender are conflated out the whazoo by all parties concerned. E.g.: "there will be multiple sexes in the future because TY is re-configurating the sex chromosomes" – kill me now. Or: "clearly the proof is there because gender roles are loosening up, because biology, so... yay, gender essentialism for the win!" Again, kill me now.

Female experiences are centred, kinda, sure, but both Ramone and Anna seriously needed therapy for CPTSD... not that having CPTSD automatically invalidates your feminist analysis! But here, there just wasn't anything interesting or particularly salient to speak of. Those characters were largely fucked in the head, especially Ramone, who's into very violent sex and 'self-harm as empowerment', or whatever the fuck. Sounds more like post/faux-feminist BS à la Camille Paglia (hell, that one's even mentioned by name in the text) or Virginie Despentes to me, blegh.

Anna was very clearly autistic-coded (with only sensory sensitivities missing), and okay, her experience as a female scientist was the only truly valuable part of the book. But then even that was muddled by asinine conflations with gender: "muh, maybe I'm a female scientist cuz the TY viroid's mixing the sex chromosomes, and that's why I'm like a dude with Aspergers??" Like fucking really!? Jesus F. Christ, this book aged really badly in that regard. And yes, 'autistic angel' and 'Aspergers Syndrome' both pop up in the text, verbatim, towards the end of it, and I was just like... wut... are you trying to say with this, exactly? Like I said: #ThisAgedPoorly.

And then Spence. Who started out being kind of a good person, happy to be a supportive stay-at-home husband, then father... until welp! Sike! Actually naur, my masculine ego hurts, waaaaaah, and I needs fuck my pretty younger colleague, who happens to be married to the man who raped my wife, back when she was a much younger doctoral student. Not that he knows that last bit, to be fair, but aaaaargh, okay, he just ends up being yet another arsehole. It's not like Anna was perfect either, sure, cuz she neglected her marriage to a certain extent... but then fucking talk, oh my god! And the fact is I still felt a smidge of sympathy for Anna, as an AuDHD woman myself. Guess the moral of the story there is that you really can't hope to have an ND/NT relationship work long-term – especially not if it's a heterosexual one. Yaight. 😐

On top of all of that, the book was also kinda triggering for me in places. Not its fault as such, to be sure, but still... fuck this book, what a freaking waste of my time! The only reason I finished it is because I have a physical copy of it. Otherwise: blegh blegh blegh indeed, and fook me life! 🥲

[Kel Sta · Rating 4 out of 5]

'...there are men, first-class men in science, who have failed to be ruthless. Where does that leave us? Dominant people behave dominantly. Talent without dominance is a fish on a bicycle.'

'A woman, instead of growing up, gives birth.'

‎'... the game was up. She had peaked too soon; her genius had deserted her; she had missed the crest of the wave. She would never invent a new concept of humanity. From now on, she was falling, not flying, no matter how long it took to ...hit the ground. But still, she had an idea for a book...'

'Christmas has a terrible power: nobody dares to break the rules and stop pretending.'

'When there is nothing ahead but pointless toil and waiting for the grave, what is the sense in virtue or restraint or even self-preservation?'


Quotes from 'Life' by Gwyneth Jones.

[Devin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a frustrating read. There was a wealth of promising material and thematic elements. Every last bit of it rendered so timidly without bearing narrative fruit. An earth-shattering discovery about gender markers disappearing over a few generations rendered as a tedious account of life's minutia. The plight of being taken seriously as a female scientist drowned in the excruciating details of the lives of college friends. Sexual encounters drawn out through boring prose. Politics and terrorism as seen by its non-participants. A pandemic that miraculously spares all of the main characters in the novel. A rabid, misogynist lesbian turned pundit who fails to materialise as a dynamic personality. This was a long study on how to render radical ideas in muted, understated tones. I've rarely read anything that so consistently avoids realising so much considerable potential. Disappoint.

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know whether to give this a 3 or a 5. My soul hurts.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited by the idea of this book: a near-future woman scientist's discovery of some paradigm-shifting biological sex genetic thingy. And I read the whole thing straight through (have a cold) but what I came away with was that Jones's characterizations are bizarrely homophobic and even misogynist. Certainly Jones is willing to have the one lesbian character in the book be an avowed woman-hater and the one "lesbian" sex scene is as bad as some kind of 80s-era Naiad Press romance: "...they got naked and lay between them, and hugged and kissed and nuzzled and licked and enjoyed each other..." All non-gender-conforming and/or queer people in this novel are characterized as freaks, unstable, immoral, frivolous, or ugly. Seriously? This won the James Tiptree prize?

[Stephen Poltz · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a real slog of a book. It was a very long slice of life book about a tortured but brilliant scientist and her college friends over a period of about twenty years or so. It wasn’t classic science fiction; it was general fiction with a little science thrown in. Her devotion to science was the reason why her life and relationships were so bad. However, like a good Brit, she had a stiff upper lip, living in a lot of denial and repression, not dealing with the issues in her life until it all comes to a head at the end. I didn’t like it, but it did win a Philip K. Dick Award and was nominated for the Otherwise Award.

Come visit my blog for the full review…
https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspo...

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

a publisher recently said to me that 'big' speculative fiction by women is badly underrated inthe UK, and people don't buy it. Read this book to show you are missing. The book burst with big ideas, big characters and a huge story. Jones has roots deep in classic 'what if'sci fi but takes it so far beyond the straitjacket of conventional late stage capitalist patriarchy in exploring how people might behave as our technological reach extends beyond our ethical capacity. Love 'Life'!

[Kent · Rating 2 out of 5]

I kept hoping it would be more

I somehow had in my head that this would be science fiction. It was more of a coming of age story where the age was more like an entire life. But I found it very hard to really sympathize with *any* of the characters. They all had strangely contemplative inner monologues without ever being able to self-analyze. I read all the way to the end but never really felt like the promise was kept.

[Fiona Nevada]

Feminist sci-fi - what can I say? Always has a slightly different perspective, tells an original story, never sure where it's going to take you. That's not a bad thing but I couldn't recommend it to anyone I know.

[Sue Chant · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tiptree honours list 2004. Monotonous, middle-class soap; hardly enough science fiction in it to be worth the name. What were the sff-tiptree-award people thinking? Got half-way and couldn't be bothered to continue.

[Ana Inés · Rating 4 out of 5]

No era lo que me esperaba y tiene un montón de pasajes más bien del tipo realista cotidiano (lo cual por momentos resultaba cansado), pero terminó conquistándome la historia, cada uno de los personajes, tan complejos y llenos de contradicciones como los humanos mismos jeje. Interesante...

[Dyan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded down to 3. Really struggled to settle on a rating for this one. There were parts I really enjoyed, and parts that I found incredibly boring.

This is an extension of an earlier short story of Jones's: 'Balinese Dancer', which was published in 1997. I had been intrigued by the "Transferred Y" concept that lingered in the background of that story, so when I heard that Jones had written a novel-extension form I was keen to read it. I wanted more of the science behind Transferred Y, and more of the social fallout from its revelation. Alas, I was to be disappointed. While the science does appear (albeit in patches, and only really in depth at the end of novel), the social fallout is dealt with only minimally. There is one passage that explores a "Transformationist" commune pseudo-cult, but it seemed a bit slapdash and without much substance.

The bulk of the novel is character-based, centred around the lives of Anna (the scientist), her sexual partner-then-husband Spence, and Ramone, a college friend who flits in and out of their lives at various points. It's the "life" parts of these characters that I often found incredibly boring. I don't care that they went to a bar and got smash drunk and engaged in risque sex. Cut to the Transferred Y! Gimme the groundbreaking science!!! The evolution-altering, moral-bending reformation of gender in society!!! *That's* what I came to this book for. Not the sex lives of college students. You can find a hundred books about that.

Anyway. Clearly I am a plot-based reader, and not one who goes for character-based stories. That being said, there were some interesting statements about/allusions to feminism and gender relations. So I didn't hate it. But I also didn't love it. And I had really wanted to. Like I said: Alas!

[Maria Longley · Rating 4 out of 5]

What if...the idea that gender is all important could simply be wrong. Down among the chromosomes, says Gwyneth Jones, the science is neutral and looking for sexual differences at that level is a puzzle. The division of humanity into two could just vanish, like the Cold War. Is this a problem that could be solved and what would be the cost of the solution?

Life is about the obsessive and clever scientist Anna Senoz trying to do science while a woman. Anna is not interested in feminism as such, it's permanently angry Ramone (whose life haunts Anna's and Anna's hers) who is the voice of many theories and rants against all sorts, but is nonetheless caught in the web of doing-science-while-female. They all is the group of university friends and acquaintances Anna makes and keeps over the years of her life as a student, postgrad, and then married scientist. Her big discovery is found in the tedium of lab work and carefully analysed and studied (when she's allowed to) and is recounted and held onto alongside all of the life experiences Anna and Spence, Ramone and their friends and all it's messiness.

[As an aside this book has a pandemic (Ice Flu or Mammoth Flu) that has a final toll of a quarter of a billion. Not a major plot point. Weird to read about right now though.]

Gwyneth Jones is exploring these interesting ideas through the science Anna does but also through the lives of the characters in the novel.

[Jeanette Greaves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somehow this book slipped through the cracks and I've only now got round to reading it. It's a keeper, it's going nowhere. I'm not lending it out or giving it away, I will come back again and again.

'Life' feels like stepping sideways into my favourite books. It's a cousin of Mary McCarthy's 'The Group' in its sexual politics and focus on the dynamics of a group of fellow students as they grow up and go into the world. Reading it also brought back the urge to re-read Marge Piercy's 'Vida', there's something about the way the protagonist lives in her own world of research, whilst her most important relationships drift away, that reminds me of Vida's political isolation. Most of all though, the book feels a hair's breadth away from Gwyneth Jones' own 'Bold as Love' series, in its general mood and the personalities of the major characters. Loved it.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant novel. I could not point any faults if I tried.

Jones's depiction of Anna Sennoz, the scientist protagonist who endures and survives the hostility of the academic environment and its daily practices; her detailed, complex, elaborate human relationships, the hardships and the scars people leave in each other's lives; the way death seems to be everywhere; its genetic novum, with the TY viroid and the scandal it sets off, misteriously and purposely only fully explained in the end of the book (Jones makes you work for it!); the failings of advancements in the face of wars and violent policies; more importantly, the way it boldy describes the darkest thoughts and nightmares that go through a person's mind when they are low.

I love this book and I wish everyone read it.

[Dr. Bookworm · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not one to give up on books, even ones that I don't like. But I just can't read any more. I thought as a female scientist I would be able to relate to the story but the characters were so unlikeable.

[Stephen Heverin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty intense read. Different from what I usually read, but I liked it.

[Steve Kinsman · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave up after finding myself in a long soap opera ... Not what I expected at all.

[Albert_Camus_lives]

2/2

El eje de la historia es una de las cuestiones centrales de la sociedad actual: ¿Qué hace falta para acabar con las desigualdades de género y cuál será su precio?

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where to even begin with Life?

A novel-length exploration of gender, biological sex, reproduction and sexuality that does not even begin to answer the thorny, impossible questions it raises. A novel about people making terrible mistakes and all the consequences of those mistakes. A critical review of the failures of the second wave of feminism by a ferocious adherent of its principles.

At its heart, a story of a mostly-good woman trying her best, and all the cruelties that the world heaps upon her for it.

The story is so dark and cruel that it took me two years to get through it, and I regret none of it.

Though the speculative elements of this book are already becoming reality, it is still now-- more than ever-- worth your time.

[Catching Shadows · Rating 1 out of 5]

Life is a long ramble of a novel in which not a lot takes place except a lot of relationship drama. There are also a great many examples of covert and overt sexism which the focus character tries very hard not to notice. It takes place in the near future and among other things, involves social justice, genetic engineering, commercial science and a mysterious possible genetic shift that may or may not have far-reaching consequences.

The book mostly follows the life of two women.

Anna is a geneticist who ends up working for a company specializing in infertility because of a long convoluted disaster involving a fellow student who steals her work. Anna does not like to make waves, even if she ends up doing so by accident. She spends a great deal of the novel encountering sexism and condescension from male supervisors and coworkers. She has a mild obsession with a genetic anomaly referred to as “Transferred Y” and is thrust into the spotlight for a brief and extremely unpleasant period of time.

Ramone is completely indescribable. She gets into complicated and dangerous situations that other characters have to get her out of, though I really can’t figure out why they would bother since the rescuers are often people she has done vicious things to in the past. She is hostile and violent with a tendency to attack people. She seems to have some very convoluted ideas about social justice and often declares that she hates feminists and women. The narrative refers to her as “the rabid one,” and it’s pretty clear there is something very wrong with her.

I was not very fond of the book. Like most of Gwyneth Jones’ work, it’s very readable, but I could not get into any of the character’s heads. Anna lets men push her around and undermine her at every turn. Ramone is the opposite, in that she attacks everyone. Their relationship is as strange and convoluted as the book in that it starts out as a friendship and becomes a sort of horribly dysfunctional mess as time goes on. (I kind of like Anna more than I like Ramone though.)

This book is possibly my least favorite by this author. The story doesn’t go anywhere and one part in particular got on my nerves. There is a point where Anna wonders if the reason why she doesn’t understand some kinds of interactions might be because she is on the autistic spectrum. She then decides that no, of course she couldn’t be autistic, because only men were autistic. My feeling is that Anna could have gotten away with thinking that only if the book had been set in the 1940s, but it completely snapped my suspension of disbelief because this book is set in the near future, and had been published in 2004. (In other words, Anna is not ignorant enough to think something like that, or shouldn’t be, and I can’t tell if this is authorial ignorance of something easily researched or if it’s legitimately somehow character ignorance.)

While I did not like the book, it managed to be readable and more or less engaging. Some of the side characters are interesting and there are a few moments of humor. If you’re a fan of Gwyneth Jone’s writing, it’s worth taking a look at. If you have a strong aversion to extreme examples of sexism and discrimination, this is probably not the book for you.

[Michel Rudoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

En realidad esta sinopsis no es tan exacta, pero engancha a leerlo (como me pasó a mi). Es la historia de una muchacha, Anna, desde que es estudiante de biología en una universidad inglesa. Cuenta sus relaciones de amistad con compañeros, que incluye al que terminará siendo su esposo. Su vida está llena de altibajos, como los hemos tenido todos. La parte interesante, que debería ser lo central de la historia pero en realidad se va contando de a muy poquito y termina pareciendo algo lateral, es la parte que tiene que ver con la discriminación no solo femenina, sino también a los jóvenes en el ámbito científico. Anna, después de un desencuentro sexual con un compañero se refugia en terminar su doctorado haciendo labores de investigación en un centro especializado en infertilidad. Como le permiten utilizar el laboratorio en su tiempo libre para sus intereses más personales, un día encuentra un caso extraño que tiene que ver con la transferencia genética de los cromosomas sexuales XX y XY. Intrigada le pide opinión a sus "gurús-profesores" pero estos la toman de a loca, creyendo que hizo todas las pruebas mal. Por su carácter ella lo deja pasar, pero sigue en su mente y cada vez que puede continuará investigando. Es más, un buen día la invitan a hablar en una conferencia y sin avisar habla del tema, cosa que le cuesta que sea despedida del centro de investigación. Luego escribe un artículo que, aunque es publicado en una revista de prestigio, pasan los meses y nadie lo ha descargado o leído... hasta que un día otro investigador de renombre lo descubre y entonces sí, poco a poco empieza a crear una revolución científica. Digo que la sinopsis no es exacta, en primera porque ella nunca se entera ni cree que su descubrimiento va a transformar los conflictos de género ni la discriminación... sí la sexualidad pero más desde el punto de vista biológico.
Mi opinión personal es que toda la parte que tiene que ver con el ámbito laboral, académico y científico sí está muy bien relatado ¡En la actualidad así sucede! ¡Nadie lee ni hace caso a los estudiantes y menos si son mujeres en este tipo de ciencias! Pero por desgracia, como dije antes, esta parte termina siendo casi lateral en la novela, que más bien nos va contando todo lo que le va pasando en la vida: sus amigos, su matrimonio, un aborto, el desempleo del marido que hace que ella sea la que mantiene la familia, etc. A más de la mitad del libro de casi 350 páginas, todavía no te enteras ni para donde quiere ir la autora ni casi se menciona lo que debería ser más central. Creo que podría haber sido más interesante.

[Macha · Rating 4 out of 5]

a very understated account of a brilliant female scientist, whose career difficulties are gender-based. the background setting is a world gradually falling into chaos based on geopolitical issues generated in our present. the research involves DNA changing, rapidly altering male/female characteristics. it's also a realistic account of a marriage from the point of view of both parties and even of the small child they share, of a number of friendships complicated over time in a culture that's very gradually disintegrating, and of the central character's experience of the world around her. her view of and response to the events in her life is also driven by her experience of a rape she never reveals to anyone: instead perennially stepping around it in every situation, always attempting to placate aggressors though she sees clearly their duplicity as they attempt to silence her or arrange to take credit for her work. because she has some form of undiagnosed Asperger's, she also has difficulty meeting people head-on, preferring to prioritize work over socializing, especially because she knows very well she's onto something world-changingly important. but she has an unusual voice and point of view. altogether a very thought-provoking book on many fronts, which could have been marketed as mainstream fiction, but which because of its setting reads very much like Kim Stanley Robinson's way of telling a story, and to him she dedicates the book.