Here's the biggest problem with this book: Card's a terrible world-builder. (Okay, the biggest problem might've been that whoever edited this book didn't feel comfortable telling Orson Scott Card that big chunks needed to be rewritten or scrapped, but I can't be too hard on our hypothetical editor: this book came out in 92, right when Card was big.) Sure, he's fine when telling us about his world - this is a book about a matriarchy, a city ruled by women, a city where women hold power, and no man can spend even one night inside the city's walls if he doesn't spend that night in a woman's house. Okay. Fair enough; a little ridiculous, but okay, I'll play Fantasy Matriarchy with you, Card. How do we play? Oh, well, it's a matriarchy, but every guard mentioned in the narrative is a man. Oh! Unmarried men cannot spend the night in the city unless they spend it in a woman's house...unless they're the men selling goods and services in the market, because those markets are open 24-7. Is there a curfew? Is there any way to enforce this particular rule, or are we on the honor system? Spoiler: throughout the book, hahaha nope, we are on the honor system. Oh! Uh, if we're talking construction, all of the construction workers are burly men, by the way. Oh! If we're talking politics: the protagonist's mom has some sway, politically speaking, but every other named character with any influence in the politics of the city is a man. So in this matriarchy, Card gives us one (1) woman with a speaking role who's shown to have political power, and three (3) men with political ambitions and power. Oh! Um, also every merchant selling goods or handling money is shown to be a man, and all the bankers and stewards mentioned in the book are men. (There's a couple of merchants explicitly identified as female who sell...poetry and history and pornography, but I trust I don't need to explain why this is Not the Matriarchy I'm looking for.) How is this a matriarchy? Good question! Men have 75% of the political power, and men are the guards and bankers and construction workers and explorers and tradesmen, and they can enter and leave the city with impunity, and women are singers and dancers and teachers and raise each other's kids, and a couple of them are scientists, and a couple of them are politicians, but mostly: they are actresses and teachers and homemakers. This is not a Matriarchy, you're scowling. Where are the men crushed under the stiletto of oppression? I knooooow, I tell you. Look, this is what Card thinks is a matriarchy: exactly the same as the US, circa mid 1980s, but only women are allowed to own residential property inside the city proper, there's a special religious lake that men aren't allowed to visit, and people sign marriage contracts with each other that only last one year. (ONLY HETERO MARRIAGE. So basically: no-fault divorce is legal, but marriage is still only one man, one women, and gays are still icky, and there is DEFINITELY only two natural genders - which, by the way, is presumably why every man in the book spends 80% of his time panicking about whether he is Manning the Right Way, haha, lil sarcasm for you there - and no one is ever transgender.) Oh oh! There are "wilders" - naked desert women who wander into Matriarchy City, where the women of Matriarchy City consider them holy and sacred, but ...it is so common for men to rape them in the street that there's slang phrases that have developed to describe the act. Your Evil Oppressive Matriarchy, folks! Tremble at all of this sexy Male Oppression, y'know? So there's that trainwreck. Look, just...it needs an EDITOR so badly. Like all of Card's work, our protagonist is a boy whose one weakness is that he is Too Smart, right? So when we're in his head, it is generally acknowledged that his observations and perceptions are correct. There's a line in this book where the protagonist seriously considers who is "better," the "brutal but rational men, or the irrational but gentle women," when he's comparing their styles of worship. SPOILERS: in this book, women worship by going down to their sacred lake, jumping in the water, and tripping balls. Their magic computer gives them hallucinations, but only in that lake. In this book, men worship by going into a fountain and tearing themselves up with barbed rings. Everyone bleeds into the same water. It is apparently considered pious to submerge your freshly-wounded body in this mix of god-knows-how-many-men's-blood and water*. Why? WHO THE FUCK KNOWS? The only rational explanation is "because otherwise how will you be SURE that everyone has the same amount of hep C and HIV?" but I don't...think that's what Card was going for. But remember! Men: brutal, rational, (ALL INFECTED WITH EVERY SINGLE DISEASE). Women: gentle, irrational, (AND YET NOT THE ONES WHO ARE GOING TO WIPE OUT THE ENTIRE POPULATION WITH A HARDY STRAIN OF SYPHILIS.) I could continue picking out the stupid bits - this is a city that doesn't have wagons because wheels are forbidden, and the city is not DIRECTLY on the coast, but somehow shark fights that take place in pools inside the side are big enough that they're a commonly accepted cultural practice. (No, really. These people carry their goods in caravans on camelback. Explain in detail how you would transport a shark from the ocean to the shark pool without a wagon or wheeled conveyance of some fucking kind.) The whole book is like this! Maddening, weird, nonsensical bits that don't fit with anything else that Card has told us about this world that he's building. It's a promising first draft from an aspiring writer who's not bad but needs a lot of technical guidance? But not really worth money, honestly. *this practice is first seen through the eyes of the (probably?) fourteen-year-old protagonist, while he's naked, waist deep in a "swirling, thick mix" of other men's blood and water". there might be a way to interpret this that does not make you want to call Chris Hansen. good luck; i haven't found it.
This is a difficult review for me to write, as it raises the question of what my book reviews need to be. On the one hand, I found this book to be very well-written, yet the themes, implications and general message I profoundly disagreed with and found a little disturbing. To deal with this, I've decided to score this one based on it's craft, not counting "against" it because I happen to disagree with it's message, although it will be impossible for me to make a full review without commenting on it.If there's one thing Orson Scott Card does well more than anything else, it's character creation. His characters almost always have a depth and pathos that is often lacking in pop sci-fi stories of this type. That tendency is certainly true in the main characters of The Memory of Earth. We follow a group of brothers (and half brothers, begotten through a complex web of regularly shifting marriages) and their sibling rivalries in the midst of a strange society that is simultaneously very primitive, and highly advanced. The world is controlled by The Oversoul, a powerful machine that can influence the minds of humans, essentially, to prevent them from developing technologies that could lead to destruction, such as fast land vehicles, flight, atomic power, etc. Thus, certian technologies such as complex electomagnetic manipulation and powerful computers are common, yet things like cars and explosives are unheard of mysteries. This creates a setting that looks in many ways, like ancient rome, the renaissance, or perhaps the Old Testament, but allows for science fictional high-technology elements as well. It's an interesting mash-up that has a lot of promise. Card also spends a lot of time developing a matriarchal society with complex family relationships, and a very ordered religious system that is based on worship of The Oversoul. It's an interesting culture, to say the least. Women have more power and prestige than men, often having many husbands, although never simultaneously. Only women are allowed to perform higher religious ceremonies, and have more say in government and politics.But the intricacies of the unique setting and cultural background is not what the book is about. The main plot concerns the Oversoul becoming weak, losing it's influence over humanity, allowing people to think of once forbidden technologies and begin to implement them. But even this plot is not what the story is really about. Most of the plot concerns the main characters--a group of four brothers--and their sibling rivalries. Card gets into the heads of all four, and allows us to see things from their perspective at all times, which is nice. Each character comes across as understandable, and while the one main character is clearly presented as the hero, I felt that I could just as easily "root for" any of the others. This is not true of the book's villian, who is the only character I've ever seen Card present as a completely one dimensional caricature. The villian serves just to create a situation for the protagonists to react to, and while his motivations and actions make sense from a plot perspective, little thought is given to him other than, "he's the bad guy."And now we come to the real problem of the book. Ultimately, the story is about faith triumphing over reason. This bothers me on a fundamental level. I believe in reason. I believe in rationality. I believe that logic and reasoning should be the largest factor in decision-making. This book features characters who ignore logic and reason, acting irrationally because of their faith in something they have no direct evidence for. Some people may find that uplifting, but I do not. However, I was still interested, because, in this universe Card had created, we weren't talking about mystical gods, paranormal weirdness, or cosmic forces. The "God" of this book is a computer, a literal Deus ex Machina that was created by humans. From the persepctive of the characters it might look like faith, but I was curious about the implications that the object of their faith was a man-made machine. These implications were not explored, but this is only the first book in a series, so I had hope that this line of reasoning would be developed.So, I did something that I often do when I read the first book in a series and find myself intrigued, but also filled with trepaidation. I've been burned by enough seemingly interesting books whose sequels ended up being absolutely awful. So I went online and looked at spoilers. And boy was I surprised.I had obviously noticed all the Old Testament references in the book. Many plot points seemed to be mash-ups of Old Testament stories, a little bit of Joseph here, and little bit of Abraham there, etc. But that's only because I am unfamiliar with the Book of Mormon. Apparently, this story is an exact retelling of the Book of Mormon, to the point where some character's names are only a few letters off. Not having read Mormon literature, I can't say this for sure, but it appears to be the consensus of readers. And apparently, the subsequent works in this series only continue to exploit this connection. The implications of the culture Card creates, the unique setting, and the consequences of having faith in a man-made machine are, according to plot summaries of the works, not explored at all. The apparent consensus is that this series is essentially nothing more than Mormon propoganda designed to prosltyze readers. Some fans might think that harsh, and, while I can't say for absolute certian that this is the case since I haven't actually read them all, the consensus is so strong that I have absolutely no interest in reading the rest of these. The only elements I was interested in are ignored, and the points that I had misgivings about are amplified. So I won't be continuing this series. I have far too many better books on my "to-read" shelf to spend time reading Mormon commercials wrapped in science fiction trappings.
What do You think about The Memory Of Earth (1993)?
Fans of ENDER'S GAME--BEWARE! This is not on par with that novel in any way. Personally, I can't believe how many of the novels within this series I've read when I realize I should have ended with this one. To me, this novel felt like it was one of Card's many forgotten manuscripts, written while he was a writer honing his craft, left at the bottom of a desks drawer in a beat up manila folder to gather dust. Then, when the Ender novels garnered much appraisal & awards, Card's publisher must have asked: "What else you got?" & lo, we have this novel.It's not a good novel, nor is it the worst. It has a lot to be desired & even though it is the first in a series, its main flaw is failing to make the reader want to continue--to take the journey through so many other books to reach a conclusion. Even by writing that last sentence within this review makes me realize how mediocre this book is. I'd continue with a synopsis but the one Goodreads provides is good enough as an overview. I don't see much point in expounding upon it.I will say this: There are a lot of blatant Mormon undertones (Card is from Utah &, if I remember correctly, an excommunicated Mormon) & the reverse polygamy within the novel is not at all shocking--Women on the planet Harmony can chose more than one male to mate with & it's encouraged--hell, it's contracted! It provides an interesting look at family values within the planet's society & is played out within the main character's family through the interaction between the siblings. Also, the idea that the satellite orbiting the planet, Oversoul, has the ability to block certain ideas that may form within the populations' minds, resulting in no technological advances & weapons, shows how freewill is stunted & human growth with it. Could this be a statement by Card on how religion does the same--by placing blind faith within a god can lead to the hijacking of one's liberties, whether it be vocal or thought? Or is he merely rewriting The Book of Mormon? To emphasize my point: The realization by certain people on the planet Harmony that Earth is something to be sought out again makes me think of the Mormons pilgrimage to their land of Zion. Plus, the Index of the Oversoul is plainly a metaphor for The Book of Mormon & the main character whom the Oversoul mentally communicates with is clearly the society's John Smith. All these concepts are interesting but are played out within what I believe to be a very weak novel masked in science fiction. They need a stronger structure & a better cast of characters who are far more interesting than the ones presented in THE MEMORY OF EARTH. I wanted to like this novel--I really did--but I think it reveals more of a sermon by Card than an sci-fi epic. I believe he intended to make a great series but there's a reason why certain stories should remain at the bottom of a desk drawer--a reason why they were put there in the first place. It's exactly like what I've said about people who pull "lost" recordings of John Lennon out of the vaults: There's a reason why they're still in the vaults & why they're "lost". So after reading this one, why do I have two other titles in the series on my list? They're there because I borrowed the audio books from the library when I was driving on a long trip & I wanted to see if the story got any better. It didn't.
—Jason
I really enjoyed reading this book. I liked the descriptions of the cultural and political systems used in the setting as they are very different from any other kind I have known of. I have also gotten to like many of the characters, and even some of their strange names, though a few of them still bother me (such as "Luet").The only reason that I gave this book four stars rather than five is that I would have liked for it to surprise me a bit more. Being very familiar with the story that it is based on (the first few chapters of the Book of Mormon), I knew what to expect every time. That made it interesting for a little while ("How is he going to incorporate this detail?"), but then I was disappointed that most of the suspense was lost. I always prefer to discover a story as I read it, and I wasn't able to do that to the degree that I wish I could. I would rather that, instead of simply being a retelling of parts of the Book of Mormon in a science-fiction setting, it took some main themes from the original story and incorporated them into a new story.Despite that setback, I liked this book a lot and would have other people read it, and will be looking for its sequels next time I'm in a bookstore that has a higher likelihood of carrying more of Orson Scott Card's books that just his most famous ones.
—Emma
The Memory of Earth left me wondering if it is blasphemous for a Mormon to compare God to a computer? The re-telling of the Book of Mormon as science fiction works to create a sense of familiarity, which anyone who knows the Old Testament (let alone the Book of Mormon) will feel as they read the book. The most interesting aspect of this book for me, wasn't the story or the characters, but musing throughout on archetypal story-lines and the moral questions raised and answered by scripture/fiction. Probably the most jarring aspect of the book was the modern sense of morality that was imposed on a clearly tribal and backwards community. I just couldn't buy the Oversoul controlling people's thoughts. Also, the gender wars in the book also seemed to be more of a commentary on modern marriage practices of divorce and step-families, than a futuristic society, but then again, I guess that is the point of science fiction.
—Kent Winward
