Somewhat creepy reading material
Nov. 19th, 2013 03:12 pm![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kassI just finished the newest book from Mira Grant (a.k.a. ![[livejournal.com profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
seanan_mcguire in her science / epidemiology / zombie-writing incarnation)' --Parasite, first of the Parasitology series.
There are ways in which this book appeals to the same part of me which loved the Newsflesh trilogy. Sal, Nathan, and even Dr. Cale and Tansy and Adam, make a terrific chosen family of misfit toys, and that's one of my favorite tropes.
I do wonder why no one in the book called the sleepwalkers "zombies," since they more-or-less appeared to be zombies.
What's most interesting to me is the way the book was structured -- not in the sense of the frequent use of excerpts from published and unpublished meta-materials (which I love), but in the sense that the central "mystery" of the novel was clear to me, and I think to other readers as well, from very early on but the narrator never realized it until the end.
Which is to say: we all knew Sal was a tapeworm, right? It was clear from the get-go. And there were all of those hints along the way: the dream of drums, the comfort she finds in being in the ultrasound machine. She even says, in several places, that she killed Sally and took her place. But she's unwilling to recognize herself for what she is until the last page. It makes her one heck of an unreliable narrator.
One of the things that makes this feel most related to the Newsflesh universe, for me, is the centrality of conspiracy on the part of health care providers and government. ::shudder:: Perhaps that makes this not the very best book to have been reading when I'm dealing with some medical anxiety at the moment, but hey. *grin*
I'm curious to see where the next book in the series goes. The war between Sherman et al and Dr. Cale et al, I presume. Which is related to, but different from, the fight between Dr. Banks and Dr. Cale et al.
For those of y'all who've read it -- what did you think?
seanan_mcguire in her science / epidemiology / zombie-writing incarnation)' --Parasite, first of the Parasitology series.There are ways in which this book appeals to the same part of me which loved the Newsflesh trilogy. Sal, Nathan, and even Dr. Cale and Tansy and Adam, make a terrific chosen family of misfit toys, and that's one of my favorite tropes.
I do wonder why no one in the book called the sleepwalkers "zombies," since they more-or-less appeared to be zombies.
What's most interesting to me is the way the book was structured -- not in the sense of the frequent use of excerpts from published and unpublished meta-materials (which I love), but in the sense that the central "mystery" of the novel was clear to me, and I think to other readers as well, from very early on but the narrator never realized it until the end.
Which is to say: we all knew Sal was a tapeworm, right? It was clear from the get-go. And there were all of those hints along the way: the dream of drums, the comfort she finds in being in the ultrasound machine. She even says, in several places, that she killed Sally and took her place. But she's unwilling to recognize herself for what she is until the last page. It makes her one heck of an unreliable narrator.
One of the things that makes this feel most related to the Newsflesh universe, for me, is the centrality of conspiracy on the part of health care providers and government. ::shudder:: Perhaps that makes this not the very best book to have been reading when I'm dealing with some medical anxiety at the moment, but hey. *grin*
I'm curious to see where the next book in the series goes. The war between Sherman et al and Dr. Cale et al, I presume. Which is related to, but different from, the fight between Dr. Banks and Dr. Cale et al.
For those of y'all who've read it -- what did you think?
(no subject)
Date: 2013-11-19 10:01 pm (UTC)I also thought it was obvious that Sal was a tapeworm by about...page 50 or 60? I don't remember when I started wondering, but that was when I became pretty sure. I almost wish Seanan had made it more obvious that it was supposed to be something we could figure out quickly, because I've seen a lot of people saying they were disappointed by it being the Big Reveal at the end when it wasn't actually being surprising.
I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next one, but I didn't fall in love with it in anything like the same way I did with Newsflesh. But parasites are so not my cup of tea that making me enjoy it at all is an accomplishment, and interestingly--given that I don't love it fiercely, at least at this point--it's sort of lingering in my head in a way most stories don't. So I don't know what to make of that. The second book may make me come to love it retroactively.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-11-19 11:32 pm (UTC)Sal and Nathan are awesome characters. I am psyched to see more of them.
I think the drama was watching Sal fight against what we all knew -- and what she subconsciously knew, but didn't want to know -- and finally reach a point where she couldn't delude herself anymore. Quite the psychological thriller, really. :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-11-19 10:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-11-19 11:33 pm (UTC)I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next, too. I kind of can't see how this is going to end well...
(no subject)
Date: 2013-11-21 03:38 pm (UTC)