Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

So I'm going to do a short review, and a longer one behind a page cut.   I'm going to spoil things behind the page cut, so there you go.   I'm also going to get fairly long, so there you go.   

I was in a long, long book slump and the longer I was in the slump, the more depressed I got.   The more depressed I got, the harder it was to read.   This broke me out of the slump: the prose is compulsively readable, and the flow absolutely charmed and captivated me.  

I found the Meduse to be original, not necessarily when broken down as an alien culture, but in the way all the elements were put together.  I also gave a good deal of thought to the criticism of this book, and I agree on some levels: why didn't Binti notice this thing, why did she accept the Meduse after they did that thing?   But on another level, I understand.   She was convinced she would die, was resigning herself to that fate, and I think she just clearly wasn't thinking straight.   I can buy the things that happen.   

Others cannot.   I don't think either of our readings is right, or should I say more right than the other.   They're simply different readings.   I can easily see people not being as into this as I am, but I know I'm really glad I picked this up, despite my initial hesitation. 

Page break!   There will be immediate spoilers. 

So I'm going to go by this point by point, keeping one thing in mind: shitty things happens and then life goes on.   Binti's coping mechanisms seem to be denial, doing what she can with what she has, and befriending those who traumatized her in the first place because that's how she had to survive.   (And how many stories do we have of political negotiations, marriages of convenience, and people staying with those who abuse them in our history books?   I don't find it that hard to believe these are the coping mechanisms that Binti uses, especially given that the Meduse do what they have to do to prevent further war: their rationale was that if they had to change Binti without her permission, it would be best for everyone.   Not to mention, I'm not sure they truly grasp the concept of what they were taking from her, or cared before she'd proven herself to them given what their chief had been through and how honor-bound their society was.   Furthermore, they end up not being malicious, but rather logical, determined, and unable to conceive of humans having any honor.   Again, not an illogical conclusion given their concept of honor, and what humans did to their leader.)

Binti doesn't notice when her hair is changed to tentacles, so she can speak with the Mecduse.   Then again, she was also dealing with the death of the only people she'd known since leaving home, so there was a lot on her plate.   She also cries when she loses the last of the otjize that is all she has from home.   She cares a great deal about who she is and where she comes from - even if she doesn't want to be as traditional as everyone expects her to be.   So I believe her denial was partly shock from what she'd witnessed, and partly denial so that she could feel as if she still had her hair to connect her to home. 

Which leads me to those deaths.  I don't believe these characters weren't fleshed out so the reader didn't have a connection to them, so that the ending could be shoehorned in.  I felt connected enough to them to be truly shocked at the quick, brutal deaths, and I felt numb when I read about them.   I think the ending wouldn't have resonated with me as much if that scene hadn't been there.   I have to admit to this being the most impressive fridging scene ever: Okorafor creates a whole crew to kill them off to make Binti's ability to repress and forgive even more impressive.   I also think we should note that the most graphic death is the one of the boy Binti has a growing crush on, and I think this is for a very good reason: it explains why she retreats into her mind, treeing, and it explains her denial.   It also makes it more impressive that she can forgive, and even befriend, the Meduse.  

Which leads me to what the Meduse do to Binti, which is take her otjize, and her sense of community.  I believe that they saw humans as animals, and therefore couldn't fully comprehend what they were doing to her at the time when they change her.   They claim her as their own, turn her into their ambassador, and unknowingly pile on more trauma.   Even if they had known, I don't think they would have cared at that point.   Even if they saw humans as more than animals, they thought of them as having no honor and that seems to be just as bad, or worse.   Their system of thought, and of how they see other species, seems fairly well thought out, even if it's something that's horrific to me.   And here's the thing: humans did shitty things to the Meduse, and they did shitty things back. There are no truly clean hands if one looks at things on a species basis.   The Meduse conceded that humans have honor at the end, and they are impressed.   The humans show they deserve this respect by claiming culpability for their own actions, showing that they are willing to punish those who break their laws - of spirit and word - and by forgiving the Meduse.   

I think looking at it as a 'but how can they all forgive?   Especially Binti?' as just that is oversimplifying things.   As I mentioned elsewhere, political marriages and concessions are made all the time.   The professors at Oomza University had little choice: they could deny the chief of the Meduse its stinger, and continue war.   They could give it over and not negotiate and risk further war.   Or they could give the stinger back, and accept a Meduse student to try and foster a relationship between the people.   I thought of it more as a marriage of convenience: it was trying to help breach the rift between the people eventually.   Not only that, but all the students don't trust Okwu, the Meduse student at the end.   And why should they?   Prejudice, and a long history of war, won't be forgotten, or even forgiven, by everyone this soon. 

Which brings me to Binti.   She cries over the loss of otjize, she cries over the loss of her hair and braids, but she accepts it all and moves on as best as she can.   And the thing is she does this when she realizes her edan will save her earlier on.   She has born witness to a hugely traumatizing thing, and survived.   If she clings to Okwu, perhaps it's because she feels safer around those most dangerous.   The power that Okwu has - the sheer physical terrific force - has destroyed so many people and left their corpses right at her feet.   But now that Okwu is no longer trying to kill her, and even her friend, perhaps she feels comfortable knowing what it's capable of comforts her because she believes it will protect her.   Or perhaps the Meduse did more to her than just change her hair - as they claim - and in fact made her more susceptible to trust the Meduse.   Something physical may be noticed visually, but something more than that?   How would anyone know?   Binti knows no one at Oomza University, so the Meduse could easily have changed something inside, something about how she thinks, and no one would even realize.   We only have their word, and it's unseemly to change someone physically without their agreement.   Why should we truly trust them when we only have their word that Binti's hair was the only thing changed?

And yet, I find even if this is the case, I don't quite view them differently.   They made hard choices, choices that were right in the context of their culture.   Then again, I don't think their culture is being presented as either savage, or purely innocent.   Like most creatures, they are a mix of both.   Their appropriating Binti's hair, and body, and possibly mind, seem like a scathing commentary on the appropriation of black and tribal people's hair and bodies and minds - and even culture - by others.   (And yes, the Meduse take that from Binti, too.)

Binti's trauma and quick recovery aren't delved into deeply, at least not yet.  I'm not sure they will be in the next book, but I do hope they'll be touched upon at the very least.   I think this is a complex novel, about race, about racial divides, about different species, about second contact after a disastrous, and murderous, first contact, about how preconceptions can be harmful, about trauma, recovery, and forgiveness.   And yet the language is deceptively simple and simply a joy to read.   I'll be starting the sequel tonight when I go to a concert since I was given tickets that my parents can't use since they bought tickets to other things.  (I read during breaks and before shows start!)