Sheri S. Tepper's premise for Grass (1998) sounds a whole hell of a lot like the basic premise of Rider at the Gate (1995)---"horses" and all! the two are very very dissimiliar in the writing styles etc, and the stories seem to be different too (at this point). but my god the basic premise of the planetary situation is not an original of Tepper's at all. boo on Tepper.
for more, see "Rider at the Gate, by C.J.Cherryh".
Grass by Sheri Tepper
Read Date: Saturday, July 08, 2006
no, not smoking any. I'm on about page 167 of Grass right now. It's a very interesting read though not for the faint-hearted. a bit too heavy on symbolism or manipulation of the reader, some might say, a bit artsy you know, but if you think of it as a French movie and just know that it's going to be that way, it's in that genre so to speak, then the story is quite enjoyable.
I spent waaaay too much time in high school focusing on "literary criticism". if I am reading an article or an essay, or my own writing, I find that I switch into Literary Critic mode without thinking. however, when I am reading for fun or diversion, as is often the case, I tend to think of the story as a dream somebody's had, and they're telling me about it. considering the dreams I have sometimes, pretty much anything goes with this method ;)
you can probably tell that I'm not critical of/ editing the blog as I go along either...
Tepper's writing style reminds me, of all people!, of Cordwainer Smith. if you enjoy Tepper, I bet you'll relish Cordwainer. His work is not so dark as this book. It's just as complicated, unexpected, and original--- perhaps even moreso--- and it is not a happy shiny kind of work either. but you're a little less likely to wake up dreaming something Cordwainer-related and classify the dream as a nightmare.
In Grass you have the parrot, for instance. that is quality nightmarish usage right there. not the plague, mind you, but that infernal parrot! that kind of detail is what will throw you off, and that's why Tepper put it in there.
she practically has Mary and Joseph riding a donkey too, but that seems more symbolic and social/religous commentary. her usage of that kind of symbolism puts her right up there with Gregory Maguire's Wicked. and yes, the book is MUCH different and darker than the musical. Wicked (the book) was a bit much for me... I found it immensely interesting, but cluttered with ridiculisms--- yes I'm just going to say "ridiculisms" and act like that's a word. why he put in half of what he put in is beyond me. it seemed like he was trying to say something, to make a point, only... with his mouth full.
*shrug*
so you can think of Tepper's Grass (at least the first 150 or so pages of it) as a kind of combination of Cordwainer Smith and Gregory Maguire.
I say if you loved Wicked, you'll love Grass, and if you loved Grass, you'll probably enjoy Wicked very much. And if you loved Grass, you'll love Norstrilia.
but just because you loved Norstrilia doesn't mean that Wicked and Grass will make the grade. I would still recommend you try them though.
back to Grass. I like it... Tepper's world-building skill is apparent, yet she is not as skilled in this area as Cherryh. that would be saying quite a lot, however, if she were, as I consider Cherryh the most talented in this dept (and also in character development).
Tepper's character-building skill falls *very* much short of Cherryh's... the main character in Grass is done well enough, but many if not all the other characters seem two-dimensional. I couldn't get behind any of them. I can read about them, and follow the story, but I don't feel for any of them, not even Marjorie. and I can identify with Marjorie on many levels (none of them having to do with mind control or plague).
Grass is more about the plot, the story, and the universe Tepper creates to place it in. She really did a fine job, especially compared to *most* other authors out there.
That being said... some things about the plot are obviously just there to manipulate the reader, including the religious references. the story seems to be making a point about religion... but that point is a tangent. I'm not saying that I disagree, or that she annoyed or offended me. I actually agree with most of it. -but- in the interests of being true to the writing... you don't need that sideline in order to have the story. you could take the religiony stuff out, and switch things from church to government, etc, and the story wouldn't change. it seems superfluous. especially when part of it (Marjorie's vision) gets in my way of the story---
very much like when Pi ends up on a floating carnivorous island populated by meerkats. ok, yes, yes, I get it, it's analagous, it's a fable, it's symbolic, it's giving me some information... but it wasn't necessary, any insight that gave me could have been given in a different format, and I thought I was reading a *novel*. Tepper, not Aesop. I can only suspend my disbelief for so many things at a time. even if this story, Grass, were a dream, and somebody's just telling me their dream, that specific part of the dream would throw me off, and I'd have to blink and try to remember what was going on. that is not what I call deft writing. you can have dreams and visions in your writing or whatever, or perhaps you could really end up on a carnivorous island for all anyone really knows. but Occam's razor, let's cut through the chaff, shall we?
just got a bit too artsy for me.
the thrilling conclusion to the plot was believable enough, I suppose, but it was all "discovered" so quickly and condensed into one or two dialogues in the story... I mean, one clue and you've suddenly translated the entire language? sorry, but I know too much about linguistics for that one, superdupercomputers or no. oh but you were overlooking the other clues that were staring you in the face all the time. goodness it's Congo all over again. people, if the cavewall is covered in heiroglyphics, and 90% those glyphs are eyes, then don't expect me to be surprised when you finally figure out it means "We are watching you".
and the bats. all of a sudden there were just bats. sure, out in the grasses, they were there all along. but nobody ever saw a living bat or experienced anything about a bat until Marjorie witnessed something even more spectacular. it was just odd and disjointed.
having said all that, I liked the story... I guess maybe I should rate it...
I'll say that Grass by Sheri Tepper is 3, leaning towards 4, so 3.5.
murder is the next one ;)
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