Calculating Stars - Mary Robinette KowalI have a weak spot for retrofuturism. Jet packs and ray guns
Calculating Stars - Mary Robinette KowalI have a weak spot for retrofuturism. Jet packs and ray guns and flying cars and all that stuff that now we know better than to expect. We know the future won’t look like it does in the Jetsons, and our media reflects that. This is, generally, a good thing, and I love me some extremely believable science fiction, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying the heck out of the older aesthetic. Calculating Stars reminds me of that aesthetic in many ways, but it also has a lot more grounding in the actual science available at the time. It’s the perfect mix of an age when people still believed colonizing the Moon and Mars seemed feasible and the science and imagination to make it believable. Elma and her husband Nathaniel survive a massive meteor strike that obliterates most of the East Coast and starts off an environmental disaster that threatens to make the Earth inhospitable. Nathaniel’s an engineer and Elma’s a calculator, so they’re both at the forefront of the plan to get humanity off Earth and into space. But for Elma, who is not only a brilliant calculator but also a first rate pilot, that soon isn’t enough. Elma doesn’t want to settle for helping get people to space. She wants to get to space herself. Only problem? Women aren’t allowed.This book is a fantastic ride. The plot is great. Elma doesn’t want to be the face of a revolution, but once people start declaring her “the Lady Astronaut” it’s inevitable. She has to deal with sexism from coworkers, some of whom eventually come around, some of whom don’t, and racism, in others as well as herself, as she comes to realize just how whitewashed her world had been before the comet and how many assumptions she still holds onto. She also suffers from anxiety, something that becomes increasingly clear and increasingly a problem as she becomes more of a public figure, and her struggle with both the anxiety itself and the social stigma surrounding it are extremely well handled. It’s the perfect mix of science and social issues, and I was into it. Also? Elma and Nathaniel are Jewish, which is always a bonus for me.Shop indie! Find a store at IndieBound, or buy digitally on Kobo. -- source link
#lady astronaut#jewish characters#diverse fiction#science fiction#alternate history