I never felt that she or any of the other characters were really in any danger.
I'm not sure if I can articulate this sensibly, but I see Bujold's main weakness being a fetish for symmetry or uniformity - she has this kind of compulsion to demonstrate that the women are just as strong as the men, the poor are just as smart as the rich, and that power and politics are exactly the same for every social class everywhere in the universe. She's constantly having her characters make comparisons like that - everything's value-laden and it all weighs the same. She wants everything to balance out, and that means that nothing unredeemable can ever happen. I feel I can safely predict that Bujold will never write a book about the Holocaust.
This is problematic because her main strength is in building characters, and if nothing really bad can ever happen to this larger-than-life military genius you've got set up, we start wondering why we should care. And if you repeatedly insist that his relationship with his wife - who just may - someday - (like when she graduates college and things) - be the best gardener in the world! - is a perfectly symmetrically equal one, then it's going to fall pretty flat.
(I declare this day to be International Dubiousness About Ekaterin Day. Or maybe it's just in general Dubiousness About Bujold's Female Romantic Leads (Except Let's Say Cordelia And Ista To Be Safe) Day, because this is a common problem. It's pretty painful in The Sharing Knife. "This young girl is the one who deserves your praise for slaying the monster!" "She was there by accident. She stabbed it because it was going to eat her." "The look in her eyes tells me she has the spirit of a true warrior!" "She's five years old and she can't tie her shoes! She just dribbled on the floor." *inappropriate romance* "OH MY GOD"
...yes.)
I could obviously go on about this stuff for many pages, because it drives my insane, but I probably shouldn't, as you haven't read the Vorkosigan books and I'm technically supposed to have left five minutes ago.
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Fri, Apr. 6th, 2007 10:35 pm (UTC)I'm not sure if I can articulate this sensibly, but I see Bujold's main weakness being a fetish for symmetry or uniformity - she has this kind of compulsion to demonstrate that the women are just as strong as the men, the poor are just as smart as the rich, and that power and politics are exactly the same for every social class everywhere in the universe. She's constantly having her characters make comparisons like that - everything's value-laden and it all weighs the same. She wants everything to balance out, and that means that nothing unredeemable can ever happen. I feel I can safely predict that Bujold will never write a book about the Holocaust.
This is problematic because her main strength is in building characters, and if nothing really bad can ever happen to this larger-than-life military genius you've got set up, we start wondering why we should care. And if you repeatedly insist that his relationship with his wife - who just may - someday - (like when she graduates college and things) - be the best gardener in the world! - is a perfectly symmetrically equal one, then it's going to fall pretty flat.
(I declare this day to be International Dubiousness About Ekaterin Day. Or maybe it's just in general Dubiousness About Bujold's Female Romantic Leads (Except Let's Say Cordelia And Ista To Be Safe) Day, because this is a common problem. It's pretty painful in The Sharing Knife. "This young girl is the one who deserves your praise for slaying the monster!" "She was there by accident. She stabbed it because it was going to eat her." "The look in her eyes tells me she has the spirit of a true warrior!" "She's five years old and she can't tie her shoes! She just dribbled on the floor." *inappropriate romance* "OH MY GOD"
...yes.)
I could obviously go on about this stuff for many pages, because it drives my insane, but I probably shouldn't, as you haven't read the Vorkosigan books and I'm technically supposed to have left five minutes ago.