A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Before I get into my analysis of this book, let me just
share my favorite quote, told by Sissix to Ashby: “Come on. Put on your
trousers. I want to meet the woman who gets to take them off.”
This book is definitely geared more toward social issues
than it is toward plot. However, that really works for the book, and I found
myself enjoying all of the species diversity, character interactions,
government commentary, and environmental issues.
This book definitely touches on multiple social issues we
face in our current society. It speaks to racism and how other species are not
only treated, but how they are spoken about. Like how initially Rosemary
described Sissix not as beautiful in human standard, but as striking. She can’t
judge that the Aandrisk appearances by human norms. That also is seen in how
Sissix at the beginning sensors her affection with Rosemary despite Rosemary
expecting overt affection from her studies of Aandrisks. They can’t always
believe what word of mouth or books teach them about society and morality of
others without personal experience. Not only that, but the book touches on
language barriers and how different people adapt in order to be able to communicate
or interact with other species, like how Ashby knows the basics of Pei’s color language
and how she has a vocal implant to be able to speak aloud to him.
The book not only speaks to racial outcasts though, it also
speaks to gender and sexuality, and even to mental health. For example, the ‘rashek’
Aandrisk that Sissix sees on the street is very similar to modern day
perceptions of Autism. Without the prompt asking this though, I would have just
categorized the action with any other form of social isolation to things people
see as odd, like how westerners view eating bugs as gross whereas other
cultures don’t. But with the prompt, I thought about it more in regards to even
people of her own species treating her differently and the answer became clear.
She isn’t physical contagious with a disease, she just is ‘awkward’ and doesn’t
know how to properly interact with other people around her. Sissix gives her
affection while other Aandrisks who are from there walk by and act as if they
don’t see the older woman.
A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet made me think back to the
social issues addressed in The Bear and the Nightingale as well. That book talked
about cultures changing and evolving, like Christianity taking over primarily
pagan spaces, or the social expectations of a young girl growing up in that time
period and era. This book felt like it also focused on topics like that in
regards to outside influences and perspectives views on other societies. Rosemary
was a newcomer, someone who had never left her home planet of Mars, and yet she
was very accepting in trying to be respectful and not judgmental of all these
species lives and customs she wasn’t used to. She even was reasonable with the
space pirates, who were a great representation of the lower economic class
turning to crime in order to take care of their family.
There are too many social issues to get into in so little
space. I haven’t even touched on how society views death, and the perspective of
Ohan and the other crew on their dying. Needless to say, this book is much more
about the characters and their interactions than about plot. I thought the book
was slow until 1/3 of the way through when the crew got a new job for
tunneling. But as I got farther into the book, my perspective changed too. I
went into the book with expectations of tension and stakes in plot to keep me
reading, like I do with most stories, but this book changed my mind. While it
is a lot of world building and background information following several
characters, it works. When I restructure my framework of what I expect out of a
book and take a step back, I really enjoyed the book. It flowed well and I was
interested in every single character's goals and motivations.
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