stellarexplorer
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- Joined
- Oct 29, 2006
- Messages
- 21
Just finished Black Man by RKM.
Quite good, I must say. A considerable leap from Altered Carbon, IMO.
As a preface, I liked Altered Carbon very much, though I did find some of the violence gratuitous, and objected to parts of the concept of the digitizable human mind, which I think was woefully oversimplified. Which might have been more forgivable to me if he had written that concept with a lighter pen, or left more room for the imagination, or maybe even fleshed it out more fully. But it lay in the middle, and it troubled me.
Black Man is a much more ambitious work from a literary point of view. His characters are very well conceived , almost exceptionally so for the SF genre. Especially --but not only -- the protagonist, Marsalis, whose full realization ought be applauded. Morgan captures subtleties of Marsalis' perceptions and his insights into others despite that Marsalis is not entirely human -- he is a genetically altered human whose thinking and emotional makeup differs from that of the ordinary human in entirely convincing ways. So Marsalis' perceptions and observations ring true, but in a way that is as satisfying and consistent as it is alien and alienated. And in the final analysis, we see him as intensely human after all.
The book can be described as fast-paced, thriller, crime-SF. The plot is intricate. The world-building is admirable. It is not a short book.
One has the feeling that Morgan has grown considerably as a writer from the days of Altered Carbon. I did not read the sequels to that book, so I don't know whether this growth was evident later in the series, but I relate to a reviewer's comment cited by Morgan to the effect that this is Morgan's best work "by a considerable margin".
It is not a perfect book, but my criticisms are small compared to what is good:
I found the plot to be a bit too tidy, with connections among the characters stretching credulity. I question whether this degree of plot intricacy was really necessary; could the book have been improved with further editing? As a rule, there is an overuse of the word "F**K". Why is a Haag gun more terrifying than one that kills you right away? Dialog tags have frequent and undue adverbial modification, especially when Thirteens are speaking, and particularly via the word "evenly".
As you can tell, I liked the book a lot. I recommend it strongly. It is not an easy read, but it would be tougher were one not so powerfully swept along by the action. If you were bothered by the violence in Altered Carbon, you will find no relief here either.
* * * *
Other thoughts: While it is not explained in the book, "Thirteen" refers to Brodmann Area 13. Brodmann areas are regions of the cerebral cortex defined in the early Twentienth century (by Brodmann!) based on cytoarchitectural parameters, ie. based on fine analysis of the microstructure of the neural tissue. In recent decades there has been considerable effort to understand these areas in functional terms. Cleverly, Morgan selects Area 13 as the region genetically modified in the human variants that figure in the book. Brodmann Area 13 is found only in primates and no equivalent structure exists in humans.
This leads in to another very interesting idea in the book. The selection of Area 13 apparently supports the notion in the text that human males were once more aggressive, had more of the characteristics stereotypically identified with maleness, were "hypermales" so to speak. These hypermale qualities were selected for, ie. were adaptive earlier in human evolution -- and may have an affinity with aggressive traits in other primates -- but with the onset of agricultural and the establishment of civilizations, they threatened the stability of social order. The shift to patriarchal societies run by a primary leader led to the eradication of the hypermales, and brought about a more feminised male, less aggressive, more flexible. Genetic modification has brought back the hypermales, evidently -- at least in part -- by fiddling with Area 13 which exists only in non-human primates.
Morgan takes considerable liberties with the work of anthropologist Richard Wrangham, who has written extensively about violence in humans and primates, and who Morgan credits in the Acknowledgements section. As I read Wrangham, he chronicles the patterns of male violence across species and cultures, but does not necessarily believe the reduction in human violence compared to the Middle Ages or compared with tribal and hunter-gatherer societies (yes, it is shockingly so!) is due to genetic change. In fact, Wrangham appears to support the view that societal structure and culture strongly affect the tendency toward violence.
As you can no doubt tell, there is much richness in thought here. Perhaps not as much as in Kim Stanley Robinson's's recent work, but richness nonetheless.
Change of topic:
Don't miss Morgan's sly inclusion of the titles of some of his previous novels sprinkled about in perfectly ordinary sentences thoughout the book!
Quite good, I must say. A considerable leap from Altered Carbon, IMO.
As a preface, I liked Altered Carbon very much, though I did find some of the violence gratuitous, and objected to parts of the concept of the digitizable human mind, which I think was woefully oversimplified. Which might have been more forgivable to me if he had written that concept with a lighter pen, or left more room for the imagination, or maybe even fleshed it out more fully. But it lay in the middle, and it troubled me.
Black Man is a much more ambitious work from a literary point of view. His characters are very well conceived , almost exceptionally so for the SF genre. Especially --but not only -- the protagonist, Marsalis, whose full realization ought be applauded. Morgan captures subtleties of Marsalis' perceptions and his insights into others despite that Marsalis is not entirely human -- he is a genetically altered human whose thinking and emotional makeup differs from that of the ordinary human in entirely convincing ways. So Marsalis' perceptions and observations ring true, but in a way that is as satisfying and consistent as it is alien and alienated. And in the final analysis, we see him as intensely human after all.
The book can be described as fast-paced, thriller, crime-SF. The plot is intricate. The world-building is admirable. It is not a short book.
One has the feeling that Morgan has grown considerably as a writer from the days of Altered Carbon. I did not read the sequels to that book, so I don't know whether this growth was evident later in the series, but I relate to a reviewer's comment cited by Morgan to the effect that this is Morgan's best work "by a considerable margin".
It is not a perfect book, but my criticisms are small compared to what is good:
I found the plot to be a bit too tidy, with connections among the characters stretching credulity. I question whether this degree of plot intricacy was really necessary; could the book have been improved with further editing? As a rule, there is an overuse of the word "F**K". Why is a Haag gun more terrifying than one that kills you right away? Dialog tags have frequent and undue adverbial modification, especially when Thirteens are speaking, and particularly via the word "evenly".
As you can tell, I liked the book a lot. I recommend it strongly. It is not an easy read, but it would be tougher were one not so powerfully swept along by the action. If you were bothered by the violence in Altered Carbon, you will find no relief here either.
* * * *
Other thoughts: While it is not explained in the book, "Thirteen" refers to Brodmann Area 13. Brodmann areas are regions of the cerebral cortex defined in the early Twentienth century (by Brodmann!) based on cytoarchitectural parameters, ie. based on fine analysis of the microstructure of the neural tissue. In recent decades there has been considerable effort to understand these areas in functional terms. Cleverly, Morgan selects Area 13 as the region genetically modified in the human variants that figure in the book. Brodmann Area 13 is found only in primates and no equivalent structure exists in humans.
This leads in to another very interesting idea in the book. The selection of Area 13 apparently supports the notion in the text that human males were once more aggressive, had more of the characteristics stereotypically identified with maleness, were "hypermales" so to speak. These hypermale qualities were selected for, ie. were adaptive earlier in human evolution -- and may have an affinity with aggressive traits in other primates -- but with the onset of agricultural and the establishment of civilizations, they threatened the stability of social order. The shift to patriarchal societies run by a primary leader led to the eradication of the hypermales, and brought about a more feminised male, less aggressive, more flexible. Genetic modification has brought back the hypermales, evidently -- at least in part -- by fiddling with Area 13 which exists only in non-human primates.
Morgan takes considerable liberties with the work of anthropologist Richard Wrangham, who has written extensively about violence in humans and primates, and who Morgan credits in the Acknowledgements section. As I read Wrangham, he chronicles the patterns of male violence across species and cultures, but does not necessarily believe the reduction in human violence compared to the Middle Ages or compared with tribal and hunter-gatherer societies (yes, it is shockingly so!) is due to genetic change. In fact, Wrangham appears to support the view that societal structure and culture strongly affect the tendency toward violence.
As you can no doubt tell, there is much richness in thought here. Perhaps not as much as in Kim Stanley Robinson's's recent work, but richness nonetheless.
Change of topic:
Don't miss Morgan's sly inclusion of the titles of some of his previous novels sprinkled about in perfectly ordinary sentences thoughout the book!
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