The Big Green Tent

Abstract

of the twentieth century. Further, it is a romance novel, but not in the typical sense. Every phrase, line, and character carries with it a romantic ambience. The story begins with young Englishwoman and archaeologist Vivian Rose Spencer. Through Vivian, we gain some sense of the romance present in ancient lands when great warriors gave glorious speeches and beautiful shrines were devoted to them. Vivian has gone on an archaeological dig in Turkey that changes her life. Forced to serve as a nurse for the army, Spencer quickly realizes her true calling is not in the hospital but in the dirt, digging for ancient artifacts that ring of stories from an ancient time. To pursue this dream, she goes on an adventure to find the ultimate dig site in Peshawar, Pakistan. Vivian’s life in Pakistan quickly changes as she becomes a teacher and mentor to the young Najeeb Gul, brother of Lance Corporal Qayyum Gul, a wounded soldier whose bravery is revealed through his war narrative . Shamsie takes us through their separate lives and shows us how the beauty and cruelty of the world can exist side by side. Shamsie combines the characters’ lives as the novel progresses in a way that leads to a heart-wrenching but never-clichéd climax. The theme of a loss of innocence is present in every character, but it is coupled with that of learning acceptance and humanity. Through her characters, Shamsie offers an inside look at cultural biases and uncontrollable tragedies but in the end reminds us to look deeper within the world, because no matter how hidden, there is a god in every stone. Janny Gandhi University of Oklahoma Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology. Ann Vandermeer & Jeff Vandermeer, ed. Oakland, California. PM Press. (IPG, distr.). 2015. 341 pages. This collection brings together stories from the 1970s onward from new and established writers in science fiction and fantasy . The editors note in their introduction that the stories were arranged for flow and readability without regard to chronology, and I believe they hit the mark. Speculative fiction provides an excellent milieu in which to explore feminist themes and the pressures and impositions put upon women in everyday life. In fact, it is almost easier to confront the absurdity of social constructions of gender in a setting that itself is absurd or surreal. All the stories challenge patriarchy and patriarchal thinking in some way and reveal to us just how dangerous it can be. Some of my favorites include: “The Forbidden Words of Margaret A.”, by L. Timmel Duchamp, gives us a powerful heroine whose words are outlawed and body imprisoned by a government that fears her influence. “The Mothers of Shark Island,” by Kit Reed, explores the isolation, burdens, and responsibilities of maternal love. “Unlike pneumonia, motherhood is an irreversible condition.” “Boys,” by Carol Emshwiller, takes place in a society where men and women live separate from each other. Hypermasculinity and war have become the norm among the men, and women are used solely for copulation and reproduction. Until the women revolt. “The Grammarian ’s Five Daughters,” by Eleanor Arnason, is a charming story of strong women who make the world a better place through grammar, of course. “Gestella,” by Susan Palwick, takes a chilling look at the ways in which women are held to very particular beauty standards , desired as trophies in their youth and rejected in old age—all through the eyes of a werewolf. Typical of any collected work of stories, I enjoyed some more than others, though there truly were no weak entries in this book. The diversity of this anthology keeps the collection interesting and provides something for everyone. This book is a must-read for fans of speculative fiction, feminist or not, and would be an exciting text to build a women’s studies course around. Diane Karns University of Oklahoma Ludmila Ulitskaya. The Big Green Tent. Polly Gannon, tr. New York. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 2015. 592 pages. Ludmila Ulitskaya’s new novel offers an almost ethnographic portrait of Russia’s 1960s generation, who came of age during Khrushchev’s Thaw. The book, which opens amid the aftermath of Stalin’s death and...