The Child Garden

I picked up this book (The Child Garden) in a bit of a rush a few weeks back. I had forgotten the book, which I had just started reading, on the plane coming to Dublin, and there I was without a book, and the only book store I could find, was a small one on Crafton Street. Unfortunately it doesn't have a big selection of fantasy or other books that I felt like reading, so my choice was fairly limited. The story sounded promising enough though, with people being educated by viruses and living in a sort of communistic London with Mao, Stalin and others as role models. It must be said that the world that Ryman builds up is very interesting. The problem is, that he simply tries to do too much at once.

Ryman is trying to explain the our world ended up like the one in the story, at the same time he's trying to explain how the world works, how the universe (both ours and the future one) is constructed, while at the same time trying to tell stories about forbidden love, people who are destined to live forever, how it would be like to only have 35 years to live, friendship, great ambitions, deep hatred, knowing you will die soon and finally the end of the world as he describes it.

There are material enough for two, three or even four different books, but unfortunately Ryman decided to cram everything into one book. It's not even that big, probably the size of one of the six Tolkien books, but it was as difficult to get through as all of Lord of the Rings...okay, that's probably grossly exaggerated but I was just disappointed about all the open stories he left behind and the way half the book is just a mix of incoherent memories.

Another problem I found with the story, was that I had no chance of identifying with the characters at all. The main character is a girl who's been brainwashed so badly by the viruses that she can't see the flip side of the world, until she meets this genetically modified woman who is just as much polar bear as she is human. These two find fall in love, but as it's not allowed to be homosexual in this communistic world they can't show it, and this situation and ackwardness is a great part of the first 100-150 pages...

So sorry, but that is just too far away from anything I'm can relate to. It's not the fact that the main character is woman, or that she's lesbian, it's the entire thing that just seem to get out of hand in a way. Somehow I can easier relate to a cold-blooded female mercenary with reflective lenses build into her skull to shield her eyes (yes I'm referring to the Trinity character in one of Gibsons trilogies) than with a young girl trying to be an actor who falls in love with a polar bear :)

There are clearly a very creative mind behind this book, but I'm not sure I'll try another of his books, as I've come across authors who I find get their stories much better across and who can tell a fascinating story without having to explain everything under the sun. To wrap this up in an easy recommendation; try something by William Gibson or Charles de Lint instead :)