Book review:
THE LONG
WAY TO A SMALL ANGRY PLANET (2015) by Becky Chambers
I read
this novel and as I soon grew bored with it, I kind of asked myself:
Am I the jerk here? The one who’s just small-minded and
petty and can’t appreciate the positive vibes in a story where so
many different characters can get along and be themselves and
validate each other? Surely that’s a message I could get
behind...?
But you see, in order to make a story engaging it’s
not enough to be right or good or decent. The Hallmark Channel is
decent, but I don’t want to watch it. It's not enough to have a
single message, even if I basically agree with it.
At the
point when the characters went into yet another heart-to-heart talk
about their feelings and how much they understood and supported each
other, I started to understand that these talks were really what the
novel is ”about.” The story didn't have to take place on a
spaceship, and the ”alien” characters wouldn't have to be
aliens.
Because all the main characters are really just there
to assist the principal protagonist – a rich girl who ”goes
slumming” among the ”charming and authentic” working class to ”find herself.”
(She is supposed to be from Mars, but
she is so obviously a white American upper middle-class
woman.)
Someone who had also read the book pointed out the
telling detail: This reads like fanfiction. Dead on target!
The lack
of plot, the overreliance on borrowed genre tropes, the all-too-human
”alien” characters, the myopic focus on relationships (in the
most watered-down sense), the anxious avoidance of genuine conflict
and tension between characters, the sex scenes... it all fits into
the cliches of fanfiction.
It's not that this novel
”challenges” me – I find it not nearly challenging enough. It
wouldn't even have to be violent! Just one outspoken conflict between
the characters would have been an improvement.
Just as an
example: The ”working-class” characters could have cornered the
upper-class protagonist with the tension and resentment that real
people can express:
”Hey, rich girl! Why don't you ask your
parents for help?”
Judging by the glowing reviews on Amazon
and Goodreads, this novel has a fan base. There may be many young readers who need to feel encouraged and validated through
fiction. They love this novel, and good for them.
If you're into this sort of ”cosy”
space opera aimed at teenagers, or if you like TV shows like FIREFLY
and STAR TREK, then I guess you could try it.
I'd prefer
something a lot more original and a lot less saccarine.
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