But one thing Tchaikovsky seems to go back to a lot is the nature of the alien, seeing the self in the other, other *kinds* of person, recognition of self in other -- and this book has that theme in spades and on many levels. Masterfully constructed; I immediately want to read it again. (5 of 5)

Stylistically entirely different but I kept thinking of Pratchett; because it's written out of deep rage, deep love, & the sort of selfishness which makes all things and people your own, thus yours to protect and keep. It's incredibly human-an ironic statement for a book about alien life! (4 of ?)

This is SF which is doing the thing the best SF (imo) does, which is take our modern contemporary moment and reflect it and intensify it and bloody well eviscerate it. It was actually almost hard to read at times, in the best possible way; I had to put it down and catch my breath. (3 of ?)

The Tchaikovsky of it comes through in an interest in identity, speculative bioscience/evolution, insect imagery, distributed intelligence, body horror which isn't what it seems, etc. As I said, "Children of..." etc in one book, and just as enthralling. (2 of ?)

I'll never tell the story again. Because the thing is, he knows the answer to 'why does she do it, if she hates it,' and it's 'because you forced her to.' He just doesn't care. And ignorance isn't absolution.

During the meet-n-greet afterward I told him as a fun little anecdote, and he was warm and charming about it all even when I stammered because I belatedly felt awkward bringing up oral sex to not only a stranger but someone I looked up to. I've told the story since, joking about my blush.

and it's not so bad if a kid reads something they're a LITTLE too young for. It helps them grow up, being exposed to new things, having questions. I totally understood and agree, even now. But I thought then how funny it was that this had not only happened to me but with one of his own books!

Then I went to see a talk Gaiman put on at Chicago Public Lib, about children's literature. He talked about how kid's books are whatever kids want to read, and that they self-select reading material pretty well, and often miss things adults would find shocking just because they don't understand yet;

It's a good story, interesting, it hides its own mysteries inside itself. I enjoyed it as an adult more than when I was 12, for sure; understood it more too. It was interesting to engage with it again and compare to my first reactions to story elements. That's what good stories can do sometimes!

If you've read 'Murder Mysteries,' you know that man killed that woman afterward. And he then encounters a fallen angel, who investigated the very first murder. This angel wipes the memory of the man to set him on a fresh path, implying a sort of absolution through ignorance of crime.

-- old enough to understand what oral sex was but not the social/gender politics. I didn't recall anything else about that story but that; and then in my 20s I read 'Smoke & Mirrors' and there it was! How funny, I thought, that one story turning out to have been by what was by then a fav author!