Laura Preble
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Anna Incognito por Laura Preble
Anna Incognito is powerful. I don't know how else to explain it. It definitely tugged at my heart a bit, but it also just kept me completely enthralled. It's a raw look inside the mind of one person with mental illness and it can be difficult to read at times, speaking as someone who has been battling with their mental health for years, but it's definitely worth it. No punches are pulled and Anna's journey isn't just a physical one across many miles, it's a mental one and it's an amazing thing to witness… (mais)
It seems there's a lot of controversy surrounding this book. The basic premise of the book is that "normal" people are in same-sex relationships and male/female relationships are unusual and against the law. Pretty much the exact opposite of real life. What I keep seeing over and over is that people are upset that the gay community in this book are made out to be the villains. While that's technically true, I think people are really missing the point with this book.
What if being straight was considered wrong? What if you could be thrown in jail for loving the wrong person? What would it feel like to be told that being straight was a sickness and you should either be "re-trained" or eradicated so that you don't "infect" others? These are the questions posed in this book. These are all things that people in the GLBT community face in real life. Instead of condemning this book for making gay people out to be the bad guy, people should be praising it for showing the general straight population what it's like to live that way. Only by walking in someone else's shoes can you really understand them and that's what Laura Preble attempts to do with this book.
Although I understand what the author was trying to do and commend her for it, I thought the general plot left a lot to be desired. Things moved slowly in some parts and a little bit too quickly in others, there were some unbelievable coincidences and I wasn't altogether happy with the ending - although maybe we're not supposed to be happy with the ending here.
Overall I enjoyed this very thought provoking read and would encourage others to read it for themselves before judging based on other reviews.… (mais)
What if being straight was considered wrong? What if you could be thrown in jail for loving the wrong person? What would it feel like to be told that being straight was a sickness and you should either be "re-trained" or eradicated so that you don't "infect" others? These are the questions posed in this book. These are all things that people in the GLBT community face in real life. Instead of condemning this book for making gay people out to be the bad guy, people should be praising it for showing the general straight population what it's like to live that way. Only by walking in someone else's shoes can you really understand them and that's what Laura Preble attempts to do with this book.
Although I understand what the author was trying to do and commend her for it, I thought the general plot left a lot to be desired. Things moved slowly in some parts and a little bit too quickly in others, there were some unbelievable coincidences and I wasn't altogether happy with the ending - although maybe we're not supposed to be happy with the ending here.
Overall I enjoyed this very thought provoking read and would encourage others to read it for themselves before judging based on other reviews.… (mais)
1/27/12: Nope. Just, nope. Molestation! Lesbians and gays are evil! Trans-individuals don't exist! Lesbians and gays don't rape! Men can't be raped! Nonsensical/nonexistent world-building! Underage sex scenes! Every one of those damn things makes me want to burn this book instead of read it, even to make a point. Thankfully, someone took that bullet for us: Rose's Review (and status updates) paints a grim, enraging picture that proves that all of the concerns I wrote about below were not only dead on but the least of what's problematic about this novel.
1/23/12: Okay, this is free right now. I'm debating on whether or not to go ahead and finish reading. I mean, look how long my review of the first chapter is. And I'm still nervous.
08/29/12: The initial reaction to this is that is another [b:Revealing Eden|12393909|Revealing Eden (Save the Pearls, #1)|Victoria Foyt|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327901263s/12393909.jpg|17375046], this time exploring what would happen if, in society and religion, homosexuality is the norm and heterosexuality were outlawed. It doesn't parallel our society exactly as heterosexuality is punishable by imprisonment and the government appears to be inextricably tied to the church.
I was going to give this a fair chance because it doesn't seem to be as inherently problematic as Revealing Eden. I'm not sure what turning the oppressed minority into the villains in speculative fiction accomplishes, but it's possible that, with a deft hand, a valuable lesson could be taught in this type of story. After reading the first chapter I'm left to wonder if it doesn't suffer from similar pitfalls as Victoria Foyt's novel.
The first few paragraphs are slightly confusing and should probably be separated into a prologue. They also paint the gay majority as rather horrific. Again, I don't understand what is gained by writing them this way.
This story is told in first person, present tense and yet I have no feeling for Chris at all. It's almost like it picks up in the middle of a story. I had trouble even remembering his name. All we really know about him by the end of the chapter is that he doesn't like his family and he thinks he's going to hell (even before the unthinkable happens), and he's never been attracted to anyone before.
The world building is already questionable. Perpendiculars are heterosexual and Parallels are homosexual. I don't really get that, but at least it's not out-of-the-gate offensive like "Coals".
I include these quotes as I saw someone ask about procreation. It's…odd, but okay it's a part of this society. I think if I think about it too much I'll end up with a headache. But here's where it becomes confusing:
How is heterosexual mating part of the evolution of humans in this story but also "not natural"? So far this is reading like the 'homonormative' society in this book was a conscious choice and not something that actually did evolve naturally. I also fear that this ignores the existence of the transgendered. I hope it's addressed in some way and other than "it's a sin!" If you're going to explore this alternate reality, do it thoroughly. Speaking of, I think so far the religious influence in society is already a bit heavy handed. For instance,
Again, not something that makes sense to me but I can accept it as being a part of this world. I'll try not to think about it too much.
For the plot of this book to work I think the love between Chris and the girl is going to have to be a real, all abiding love worth fighting society/God, and risking imprisonment and possibly death.
This is not giving me hope that this won't be insta-love. Attraction is a fine jumping off point. It's different and "wrong" and something for him to freak out about as the story begins. But I won't be able to buy all the suffering and pain they go through later if electrical touch attraction is the only basis for their love.
At this point I was still willing to continue reading to really give this a chance but I think I've hit the point at which Laura Preble did not think her premise through to see how it would be perceived by readers. I'm not sold on continuing this story anymore.
Chris is 17 years old and his father is trying to marry him off to a 30-year-old for political gain. He tried to do the same with his older sister, Jana, when she was his age. Jana also hints at the Angelicant Senate being involved in other deviant activities.
There are people out there who still equate homosexuality with pedophilia. Others believe homosexuality immediately means sexual deviants who engage in all types of aberrant behavior. With those dangerous and hurtful stereotypes still a part of our society why, why, why would you write about the gay majority being involved in basically selling off underage kids? Again, what purpose does that serve? How could Preble not see how this would be perceived?
This doesn't bode well. At all.… (mais)
1/23/12: Okay, this is free right now. I'm debating on whether or not to go ahead and finish reading. I mean, look how long my review of the first chapter is. And I'm still nervous.
08/29/12: The initial reaction to this is that is another [b:Revealing Eden|12393909|Revealing Eden (Save the Pearls, #1)|Victoria Foyt|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327901263s/12393909.jpg|17375046], this time exploring what would happen if, in society and religion, homosexuality is the norm and heterosexuality were outlawed. It doesn't parallel our society exactly as heterosexuality is punishable by imprisonment and the government appears to be inextricably tied to the church.
I was going to give this a fair chance because it doesn't seem to be as inherently problematic as Revealing Eden. I'm not sure what turning the oppressed minority into the villains in speculative fiction accomplishes, but it's possible that, with a deft hand, a valuable lesson could be taught in this type of story. After reading the first chapter I'm left to wonder if it doesn't suffer from similar pitfalls as Victoria Foyt's novel.
The first few paragraphs are slightly confusing and should probably be separated into a prologue. They also paint the gay majority as rather horrific. Again, I don't understand what is gained by writing them this way.
This story is told in first person, present tense and yet I have no feeling for Chris at all. It's almost like it picks up in the middle of a story. I had trouble even remembering his name. All we really know about him by the end of the chapter is that he doesn't like his family and he thinks he's going to hell (even before the unthinkable happens), and he's never been attracted to anyone before.
The world building is already questionable. Perpendiculars are heterosexual and Parallels are homosexual. I don't really get that, but at least it's not out-of-the-gate offensive like "Coals".
"I think my surrogate mother must have had some faulty genes or something. Maybe she was secretly reading banned literature while I was in utero. Listening to pirate radio. Dabbling in deviant art.
Would have had to have been secret; no way David and Warren would have chosen a less-than-perfect-model-Parallel citizen surrogate for their family. Conscious survival of the species and all that."
"I know, it’s wrong, and if Perpendicular couples lived freely, society would go to hell, there’d be chaos and unplanned babies; God wants Parallels to be parents because they choose the experience."
I include these quotes as I saw someone ask about procreation. It's…odd, but okay it's a part of this society. I think if I think about it too much I'll end up with a headache. But here's where it becomes confusing:
"Parallel relationships are clean, safe, sanctioned by the church, and you have to plan to have a child, you have to apply for a license, and any lust there might be is not going to produce some random baby. It’s progressive evolution, and all that stuff they teach you in school."
"It’s not just against the law, Andrea. It’s not natural, and it's a sin. I committed a sin. God knows about it. "
How is heterosexual mating part of the evolution of humans in this story but also "not natural"? So far this is reading like the 'homonormative' society in this book was a conscious choice and not something that actually did evolve naturally. I also fear that this ignores the existence of the transgendered. I hope it's addressed in some way and other than "it's a sin!" If you're going to explore this alternate reality, do it thoroughly. Speaking of, I think so far the religious influence in society is already a bit heavy handed. For instance,
"I don’t know if you were paying attention in government class, but the person who runs the Anglicant church also becomes the leader of the U.S. Senate, and that’s fully half the functioning government. If the president is pro-Anglicant, the House of Representatives becomes irrelevant, and then…well, then,the Senate leader is pretty much running the country."
Again, not something that makes sense to me but I can accept it as being a part of this world. I'll try not to think about it too much.
For the plot of this book to work I think the love between Chris and the girl is going to have to be a real, all abiding love worth fighting society/God, and risking imprisonment and possibly death.
"I want to touch her again, to talk to her, dammit, dammit, why does it feel like I stuck my finger in an electrical outlet?"
"I went up to light a candle, and bumped into this person, and then I got these weird chills and hot stabs and just felt like...like I was going to pounce on him and lick him all over. But it wasn't a him. It was a her."
This is not giving me hope that this won't be insta-love. Attraction is a fine jumping off point. It's different and "wrong" and something for him to freak out about as the story begins. But I won't be able to buy all the suffering and pain they go through later if electrical touch attraction is the only basis for their love.
At this point I was still willing to continue reading to really give this a chance but I think I've hit the point at which Laura Preble did not think her premise through to see how it would be perceived by readers. I'm not sold on continuing this story anymore.
Chris is 17 years old and his father is trying to marry him off to a 30-year-old for political gain. He tried to do the same with his older sister, Jana, when she was his age. Jana also hints at the Angelicant Senate being involved in other deviant activities.
There are people out there who still equate homosexuality with pedophilia. Others believe homosexuality immediately means sexual deviants who engage in all types of aberrant behavior. With those dangerous and hurtful stereotypes still a part of our society why, why, why would you write about the gay majority being involved in basically selling off underage kids? Again, what purpose does that serve? How could Preble not see how this would be perceived?
“What about love?”
“Love?” He snorts. “Well, you sound like what you are, a teenager. Love is great for ordinary people, Chris, but for people like us…it’s just not practical. You’re part of something larger than yourself. A church. A government. You’re my son, and if I can find you a place, you can be part of what makes this country great. We can be part of that. That means something.” I sit silently, fumbling with my seatbelt. He hits the steering wheel, which makes me jump. “I just wish you’d wake up and stop being so….”
This doesn't bode well. At all.… (mais)
I was extremely wary about picking up this book. I have yet to read a discrimiflip novel that worked and didn’t end up being really appropriative and offensive. I find it doubtful they can work due to the inherent nature of making minorities the evil perpetrators of the very crimes committed against them. Still, I’m told it is possible, people assured me it was possible, so I picked up this book when it was released to see if it actually managed it.
So we have the story of Chris. A straight boy living in a world where, it seems, just about everyone is gay. Being straight is considered sick and wrong, condemned by both the church and the state (which are closely entwined). He tries to navigate this discrimination, as the son of a minister, and try to find freedom with the woman he loves.
And no, this discrimiflip did not manage it. Not even close. In fact, I’m sorely tempted to put a trigger warning for homophobia simply for having to discuss the contents of this book.
The author has appropriated every aspect of homophobic oppression imaginable. We have child bullying, we have demeaning dehumanisation from the pulpit, we have a horrific description of conversion therapy, we have chemical castration; we even have concentration camps, actual concentration camps.
All of these are extreme examples of oppression that have constantly been used to persecute and destroy gay people and they’re all used in this book – often graphically – but flipped. The victims of this torture and even this genocide are now made the villains. Those who inflicted them are now the victims. It is unbelievably offensive and enraging to see these despicable crimes that were – and continue to be – inflicted on gay people depicted with gay people as the perpetrators and straight people as the innocent victims. Even some of the basic language of anti-gay oppression have been callously appropriated by this straight author: we even have straight people being called “queer”. The book's even called "Out"! There really is no limits to the appropriation in this book and the extent to which gay people are presented as inflicting exactly the same cruel persecutions that, in reality, gay people have endured and died from.
To take the history of gay persecution, to take all of these horrendous things that have been used to victimise gay people and then mangle them to make gay people the villains makes me choke with rage. I have no words to describe how offensive this is. I had to stop reading several times because the book was so painfully offensive to read I couldn't keep going
The actual depiction of someone living with a closeted sexuality is also ridiculously shallow, especially for a young person. Chris finds out he likes a girl (note: A girl. Not girls. Just the one twu luv that follows the endlessly dull love at first sight meme that I’d complain more about if it weren’t such a tiny problem compared to the gross offensiveness of this book), it’s a shocking discovery. Within the hour he seeks out his friend to tell her. No, really.
In this society where being straight is illegal and demonised universally from birth, he couldn’t even keep it a secret for an hour. In fact, he goes home and his sister – in this ultra gay-normative society – already knows he’s straight! She even has some subversive literature for him! Yes, within a day of realising he’s straight, he already has a support net in this overwhelmingly gay world where heterosexuality is constantly demonised from the highest echelons of government. As an extra bonus, he meets Carmen, his love interest and she tells him she is straight in their first ever conversation, in a public café no less. They’re complete strangers, straight people are tortured and killed with the full blessing of the theocratic government but she’s going to spill her secret. I boggle how it can even be called a secret if 5 minutes acquaintance are sufficient for the big reveal.
To go with all these suddenly revealed straight people (including his sister, his sister’s boyfriend, his sister’s friends – seriously there seems to be more named straight people than gay people in this gay majority world!) Chris deals very quickly with any elements of self-loathing, low self-esteem etc he has from spending his entire life being told he’s diseased, wrong, mentally ill, a plague on society, bringing about the end of civilisation, hated by god and going to hell. Within the first three days we seem to be totally past such questioning and the focus quickly changes to the terrible forces that are keeping him and his beloved apart and the utter cruelty of living without her. There is a brief attempt to have him doubt himself in the very beginning but it takes less than a week for it to fade as a distant memory and him to be sure that the persecution of straight people is wrong. He's actually openly challenging and arguing against persecution of straight people on his first day realising he's straight- and it's used as an excuse to clumsily shoe-horn in many of the arguments the gay rights movement uses in the real world (and I have to say how unpleasant it is to see straight people taking our words and arguments for our survival and putting them in the mouth of a straight boy being attack by the evil evil gay folk).
Read More… (mais)
So we have the story of Chris. A straight boy living in a world where, it seems, just about everyone is gay. Being straight is considered sick and wrong, condemned by both the church and the state (which are closely entwined). He tries to navigate this discrimination, as the son of a minister, and try to find freedom with the woman he loves.
And no, this discrimiflip did not manage it. Not even close. In fact, I’m sorely tempted to put a trigger warning for homophobia simply for having to discuss the contents of this book.
The author has appropriated every aspect of homophobic oppression imaginable. We have child bullying, we have demeaning dehumanisation from the pulpit, we have a horrific description of conversion therapy, we have chemical castration; we even have concentration camps, actual concentration camps.
All of these are extreme examples of oppression that have constantly been used to persecute and destroy gay people and they’re all used in this book – often graphically – but flipped. The victims of this torture and even this genocide are now made the villains. Those who inflicted them are now the victims. It is unbelievably offensive and enraging to see these despicable crimes that were – and continue to be – inflicted on gay people depicted with gay people as the perpetrators and straight people as the innocent victims. Even some of the basic language of anti-gay oppression have been callously appropriated by this straight author: we even have straight people being called “queer”. The book's even called "Out"! There really is no limits to the appropriation in this book and the extent to which gay people are presented as inflicting exactly the same cruel persecutions that, in reality, gay people have endured and died from.
To take the history of gay persecution, to take all of these horrendous things that have been used to victimise gay people and then mangle them to make gay people the villains makes me choke with rage. I have no words to describe how offensive this is. I had to stop reading several times because the book was so painfully offensive to read I couldn't keep going
The actual depiction of someone living with a closeted sexuality is also ridiculously shallow, especially for a young person. Chris finds out he likes a girl (note: A girl. Not girls. Just the one twu luv that follows the endlessly dull love at first sight meme that I’d complain more about if it weren’t such a tiny problem compared to the gross offensiveness of this book), it’s a shocking discovery. Within the hour he seeks out his friend to tell her. No, really.
In this society where being straight is illegal and demonised universally from birth, he couldn’t even keep it a secret for an hour. In fact, he goes home and his sister – in this ultra gay-normative society – already knows he’s straight! She even has some subversive literature for him! Yes, within a day of realising he’s straight, he already has a support net in this overwhelmingly gay world where heterosexuality is constantly demonised from the highest echelons of government. As an extra bonus, he meets Carmen, his love interest and she tells him she is straight in their first ever conversation, in a public café no less. They’re complete strangers, straight people are tortured and killed with the full blessing of the theocratic government but she’s going to spill her secret. I boggle how it can even be called a secret if 5 minutes acquaintance are sufficient for the big reveal.
To go with all these suddenly revealed straight people (including his sister, his sister’s boyfriend, his sister’s friends – seriously there seems to be more named straight people than gay people in this gay majority world!) Chris deals very quickly with any elements of self-loathing, low self-esteem etc he has from spending his entire life being told he’s diseased, wrong, mentally ill, a plague on society, bringing about the end of civilisation, hated by god and going to hell. Within the first three days we seem to be totally past such questioning and the focus quickly changes to the terrible forces that are keeping him and his beloved apart and the utter cruelty of living without her. There is a brief attempt to have him doubt himself in the very beginning but it takes less than a week for it to fade as a distant memory and him to be sure that the persecution of straight people is wrong. He's actually openly challenging and arguing against persecution of straight people on his first day realising he's straight- and it's used as an excuse to clumsily shoe-horn in many of the arguments the gay rights movement uses in the real world (and I have to say how unpleasant it is to see straight people taking our words and arguments for our survival and putting them in the mouth of a straight boy being attack by the evil evil gay folk).
Read More… (mais)
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Estatísticas
- Obras
- 7
- Membros
- 215
- Popularidade
- #103,625
- Avaliação
- 3.7
- Críticas
- 11
- ISBN
- 16