Nalo Hopkinson's Midnight Robber is science fiction that doesn't feel like science fiction. It is steeped in science fiction traditions, as the narrative takes place in a future where humans live on and have colonized a different planet (Toussaint), rely heavily on nanotechnology, and have the use of transdimensional and space travel technologies; even when the highly technologized world of Toussaint is abandoned for New Half Way Tree, a more primitive and less technologically advanced version of Toussaint, the narrative still places us clearly within the realm of science fiction, as this world places Tan-Tan, our protagonist, on an alien planet with alien creatures and an alien society to contend with. And all of this is fascinating, made even more fascinating by Hopkinson's combination of science fiction elements with Caribbean storytelling and mythmaking traditions, which makes the novel seem to reach simultaneously forward into the future and backward into a storied past. But even in the midst of advanced technology, foreign cultures, aliens, new worlds, mythological beings, and fantastic events, it is Tan-Tan's very human story of family strife, abuse, and exile that takes center stage. This was the final novel on my African American reading list, and it is particularly appropriate that this should be so. Hopkinson was born in Jamaica and grew up in Guyana, Trinidad, and Canada, a truly international writer born into a postcolonial world. This illustrates the growing range of interests of African American and American literatures (acknowledging the distinction between U.S. and American literatures) and the growing importance of postcolonial literature and theory in literary studies in general. The fact that she writes science fiction is also appropriate. Even after Samuel Delany, Octavia Butler, and Colson Whitehead (all featured earlier on my list), black writers are only a very small percentage of science fiction writers, black women writers being an even smaller percentage. But their numbers are growing and they are being more and more widely recognized. Science fiction's borders are shifting; African American literature's borders are shifting as well. The two fields become more comfortable with each other. In some ways, then, Hopkinson represents the growth and expansion of the field of African American literature as unified movements become less likely and less necessary (thanks to the Civil Rights movement for the political change that made this possible and thanks to postmodernism for the philosophical/cultural change that made this unavoidable). But her work still fits nicely within patterns and traditions of African American literature of the late twentieth century. As in the work of many other black women writers, abuse figures prominently in Hopkinson's novel. Tan-Tan is sexually abused by her father and spends the last half of the book developing a coping mechanism for this abuse. As is common in such traumatic situations, Tan-Tan suffers a sort of split. As a result of this, she begins to act out the persona of the Robber Queen as a way of paying penance for her bad behavior in fighting back and killing her father. Exiled from her community, she lives with aliens (until exiled from their community as well) and then goes from village to village, living on the outskirts, only entering as the Robber Queen, when she calls out those who are doing wrong to others and humiliates and punishes them, or when she finds those who need her help and provides them with that which they need. Her actions quickly turn Tan-Tan the Robber Queen into a legend among the villages. But she must eventually face the people she left behind after her father's death (her stepmother, her best friend and boyfriend) and in doing so must face her own actions and the abuse and trauma that led to her actions. This trajectory is unique in its use of Caribbean mythology and even in the way it provides power to Tan-Tan through her chosen coping mechanism of the Robber Queen rather than leaving her powerless, waiting on others to find her and heal her, but it also revisits common ground for black women writers and thus Hopkinson's book finds a place in that tradition of literature of abuse and trauma. Another tradition of late-twentieth century African American literature that Hopkinson contributes to is that of speculative fiction. Science fiction specifically (particularly harder science fiction) is not common among black writers, but speculative fiction more broadly has become so. Octavia Butler, Ishmael Reed, Samuel Delany, Toni Morrison, Phyllis Alesia Perry, and Colson Whitehead--approximately half of the final part of my reading list has consisted of African American speculative fiction. Clearly, there is an affinity between the freedoms that speculative fiction affords and the themes that African American writers find themselves drawn to. Many of these writers deal explicitly with slavery or abuse and those that do use the speculative elements of their work not to distance readers from that violence by making it less realistic but to broaden the impact of the violence by including more aspects of reality. Hopkinson, I would say, does the same. In her book, there are no ghosts, there is no reincarnation, and there are only passing comments about African slavery; but there is abuse. And that abuse, in Midnight Robber is the most real part of the book. At that point there is no nanotechnology to rely on, no alien civilization to contend with. It is just a girl and her father. And a knife. A human story with familiar technologies. In this particular instance, the alien world and future setting illustrate how widespread and common the issue of violence is. But the alien setting is not just backdrop for this story, for, beyond this, Hopkinson is able to make a statement about the human tendency toward violence, toward seeing those who are different as less-than-human. The douen, a weird bird-lizard-bat kind of creature that is native to New Half-Way Tree, lives side by side with the human exiles (all humans there have been exiled from Toussaint for one crime or another) but is seen by the humans as childlike, primitive, less-than, Other. And so the humans have little trouble with attacking the douen, killing them, taking advantage of them. But Hopkinson gives us an insight into their culture when Tan-Tan is exiled from her human community and shows just how advanced their culture is. In this dynamic, Hopkinson uses the alien culture to represent very familiar differences within human groups and, by placing the reader's sympathies with the douen, makes a strong anti-racist argument without having to re-tread the same ground that African American writers have been thoroughly covering for decades. Because these issues have been covered so thoroughly, Hopkinson has the freedom to gesture toward such things and have the audience make up the difference. Midnight Robber concludes with a revelation (which I will not share here) that gives everything that has preceded it a new significance. It makes the story larger than Tan-Tan, larger than the tensions with the douen, and points toward a new and very interesting future for the worlds of New Half-Way Tree and Toussaint. Midnight Robber also points toward a very interesting future for science fiction and for African American and Caribbean literature.
I like science fiction. I like Caribbean cultures. But I've never looked for the intersection of the two. Actually, now I think about it, I have encountered lots of science fictional themes in reggae lyrics. But certainly I never thought to look for a science fiction novel written from a Caribbean perspective.So that was the first thing I liked about Midnight Robber. It begins on the Caribbean-colonized planet of Toussaint during Carnival. We read this for my book club here in New Orleans just as our own Carnival season was coming to a climax — so I was immediately hooked by the setting and the voice.The entire novel is written in what I guess might be described as creolized English. It was certainly easy for me to understand once I got the hang of it, so I'm guessing it's a blend of English and perhaps several true creole languages. (As an aside, I love it when two books I'm reading at the same time illuminate each another in unexpected ways, and that happened here when I got to Jared Diamond's section on pidgins and creoles in The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution & Future of the Human Animal.) In any event, the "patwa" definitely gave the book a unique flavor that I enjoyed hugely. In my mind I kept hearing the voice of my favorite Dominican poet, Billy Jno Hope.But as I read on I discovered a lot more than that initial hook to keep me interested and involved. The father-daughter relationship which is a key element of this story resonated with me, but I did not anticipate the direction it would ultimately take. To say more would be to risk spoiling, so I'll shut up. The daughter emerges as the protagonist in the story. It's a coming-of-age tale. I've read plenty of those from the male perspective, so it's refreshing to get one from the female side.Indeed, the perspective of this book is profoundly and vitally female. I would not hesitate to call it feminist, except that label might scare away people who have certain preconceived notions about the f-word. Forget all that. This is first and foremost a book about being human. But it's hard to imagine it being written by anyone other than a woman of color. I suppose comparisons to Octavia Butler are inevitable, not just because of the identity of the author but also because of the themes addressed. I was also reminded of Marge Piercy's far more strident Woman on the Edge of Time.I found the whole story deeply involving and stimulating to my imagination. Did I fail to mention this is unapologetic science fiction as well? In addition high technology we also have alien creatures. Blending these elements with Afro-Caribbean folklore is a powerful combination that really worked for me.I'd knock off half a star for the ending which felt a trifle rushed and a little too "easy" for me. But endings are hard and I can't begrudge the last few pages when the rest of the book is so accomplished.
What do You think about Midnight Robber (2000)?
I will start my review by mentioning first that I am not a fan of Science fiction. I was assigned this book for an odious SF course at my college. I have read the "classics" of SF but the contemporary works of science fiction, quite frankly, piss me off and bore me to tears.That aside, this book, I found wildly exciting. Finally, a contemporary work of SF that I was not tempted to throw against the wall at the first inevitable mention of late capitalism or Marxism!I was reading some of the reviews that were a bit lukewarm and felt it necessary and completely prudent to mention the virtues of a running list of defined terms. What he hell do I mean? Any word that you read that is not "standard" English needs to be understood to fully grasp the richness of this dialogue. For instance, all spoilers aside, the Douen are not just odd, under-developed plot points, but rather, a homage to a African story of unbaptized children. Y'know, the type of monsters that pull you into the "darkness" of the woods. Re-imagine Chichibud. The most paternal character of the novel and he is modeled after a rather frightening "don't go into the woods" trope. How splendid.Furthermore I encourage readers to imagine what language does in this novel, like my awful professor has encouraged us to do...language, and specifically the dialects of humans brings storytelling back to it's roots...the spoken language. Likewise, this reflects the idea of creating folklore within the story as the true story, told by an anansi (another word that has a fascinating back story) Artificial Intelligence. I suppose one more disclaimer is due...I grew up on a Caribbean island so the objects that were described in french/creole are things that have different names in spanish from my childhood. This story, for me, did not create a foreign "otherness" dialogue, but rather a sentimental exploration of vague memories.Re-read this novel with paper, pen, an open mind, and a respect for oral tradition: the original storytelling mechanism.
—Genna
This futuristic tale follows the early life of Tan-Tan, who fantasizes about being the Robber Queen. Through no fault of her own, she, along with her father, is sent through the dimension to the prison planet of New Half-Way Tree. She is transported to another world where modern convenience and the comforts of home are gone forever. We follow Tan-Tan’s plight as she grows into a “Big Woman.”This is the first book I’ve read written in Patois, oui. I got lost in the imagery of the mako jumbie birds, the food, and the excitement of Carnival. It may have been naiveté on my part, but I was expecting a happy sci-fi tale, like Jamaicans on the Enterprise. This was not that. “...New Half-Way Tree does be rough.” Tan-Tan suffers through a harsh and brutal life. I was disappointed that humanity didn’t evolve and become more enlightened in the future, but then why should it.As I was reading the story of Tan-Tan, I wondered why she made some of the decisions she made. Then the author points out that she was still only a child herself. She was dealing with things that children shouldn’t know anything about. This coming of age story was rich in strong beautiful imagery.Be aware that while the book is focused on the life of a child, it contains strong adult themes.Check out my blog: http://mysoul20.com/
—Reba-Lynne
"The only thing soft about Tan-Tan is she big molasses-brown eyes that could look on you, and your heart would beat time...”So I read this for a lit class thinking that I would expand my cultural horizons and even learn something new in the process of reading this piece of fiction that I have never heard of in my life. The good news is that I can say that I've read it and possibly understand culture better, the bad news? About that......The PlotI don't mean to disrespect the culture and what it is trying to bring in this science fiction world, but dang this book was boring. It had a lack of an interesting story, and it seemed like some of the events that happened either made no sense or were pointless. I have the strong feeling that this is probably due to the fact that I simply didn't understand or couldn't connect to the story. I'm not saying that this is a bad book, but I personally didn't like it. But I know that other people might so I'll just talk about the basics.The story is mostly about Tan-Tan who is abused sexually and physically by her father. She eventually runs away and lives with this alien race that's smarter than they let on and let her stay for a while but eventually she goes to this town and pretends to be the 'Midnight Robber' which is basically some sort of goddess and she judges everybody.I know I'm not explaining it very well, but that's the short version. Lots of other twists and turns happen, but I didn't really find any of it entertaining of interesting. Unfortunately most of it bored me or simply didn't keep me interested long enough to continue....yet I finished it. (Not that I really had a choice since I had to write an essay on it, but oh well). The CharactersSo there were a lot of characters in this book but the only one I will focus on is Tan-Tan just because she is the main focus of the story. The other characters do have important and help her grow throughout, but I honestly don't remember their names very well. Tan-TanTan-Tan is the main character of the story and I may not have liked the book, but I can't deny that Tan-Tan was a very strong willed and determined woman. She faced a lot of hard ship and learned from her mistakes to be able to become the Midnight Robber as well as accept herself for who she is. She was able to take care of herself as well as help out Chichibud and his family (Chichibud being the one that took her in). She is also able to help some of the humans even though some of the methods she uses are a bit extreme. So she's a good character, I unfortunately just didn't like the story that she was in.Personal Thoughts (you may skip since its relevance may vary)I know that I'm not explaining/representing the book very well and I know I should put more effort into this review, but it's hard since there's not really much for me to say other than the fact that I didn't like it. But I would recommend that you at least read the complete description for yourself since it might be something up your alley. Especially if you're big on science fiction, cultural aspects, and technological aspects as well. I know that many people may also have problems since it deals with the issue of rape and that might make people uncomfortable. I don't believe that it's actually described or anything but some people may be a bit sensitive to that sort of thing so it is mentioned and it plays a part in the story, but it isn't the main focus. Still I feel the need to mention it since it is a big deal and some people may be uncomfortable with it so there's that warning. I have to say that I didn't hate the book because of this issue. I mostly hated it because in my opinion it was boring and didn't really have any depth and the characters weren't relatable or even interesting. I know that this is my personal opinion and that others will probably disagree with me so there's that too.But in all honesty, just read it if it sounds like your thing, that's I can really say.
—Kate Van Rompaey
