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Cargando... Feed Them Silencepor Lee Mandelo
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Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. Visceral and smart, this is a novella full of wonder and pain which practically vibrates with need. It is difficult if not impossible to put down once begun, and carries such a dangerous inertia that it must be read to be believed. Mandelo's prose carries such gorgeous weight, and such difficult themes which beg for thought and are at the same time so universal as to be utterly familiar. I was in love with the book when I began it, and sobbing when I finished, and I can only thank the author for the experience and hold this book close. Absolutely recommended. Imagine experiencing the world through an animals eyes; feeling their heightened senses, their reflexes, their instincts, and their hunger. Dr. Sean Kell-Ludden doesn't have to imagine anymore. In this near future novella; Sean uses a neurological interface to experience first hand what it's like being a wolf in the wild. It's all new scientific research and despite objections from her wife - Sean can't stop obsessing over her project. Soon, the only thing she looks forward to is getting to the lab so she can "log on" and become one with her wolf. Stalking prey, running through the woods, smelling nature, and being with the pack doesn't seem trivial when you're experiencing it "first-hand." As Sean continues to lose herself in her work, her relationship with her wife deteriorates and she starts to lose the trust of her team. Is Sean even trying to collect data anymore? Is she just trading one pack for another? Exceptionally narrated by Natalie Naudus, who flawlessly conveys the growing feeling of unease as Sean loses herself within the wolf's mind. Verdict: this genre bending novella is perfect for those readers who love ethical quandaries touched with a bit of science fiction. Though short in length, the story will stick with readers long after they've listened to it. - Erin Cataldi Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got an eGalley of this book through NetGalley to review. Thoughts: I wanted to read "Summer Sons" when it came out in 2021 and so when I saw "Feed Them Silence" up for review I thought it would be a great opportunity to read a Mandelo book. I ended up being pretty disappointed in this book. It feels unfinished and gets us part of the way "there" but just doesn't delve into this topic as deep as I hoped. The story takes place in the near future, in Minnesota. The story follows Sean, who has finally gotten funding for her research project. Sean wants to know what drives one of the last wolf packs in America. She gets approval to put a neural network in her brain that links to one of the female wolves in the pack. Sean's wife has an issue with the morality of linking a wolf's brain to a human's (and she's not wrong here). However, Sean's obsession with the wolf pack drives her beyond logic; she has determined that understanding this wolf pack will help them understand climate change and help the world as a whole. I had a lot of issues with this book. I work in a science field and a lot of things in this book just didn't ring true. There's a lot of hand-waving around the science here and the way the research grant was dealt with was weird. If you want to read this you have to set aside logic and just to go with it. I expected more of a science fiction bent to this novel, however most of the time here is spent on Sean's relationship issues with her wife. Sean is a person obsessed with her work and she really doesn't think much about the other people in her life. Surprise, surprise this affects her relationship with her wife. I expected things to get a bit crazy here and the character and the wolf to start affecting each other or something...but things remain pretty ho-hum throughout. There is the very typical plot-line of a university research getting their project taken away by a corporation (sigh, so overused). The ending was disappointing just like the rest of this for me. I was expecting something interesting, intriguing or exciting. This had an interesting premise but just didn't do anything with it. SPOILER START-------------------------- The research project is stopped because there have been some changes in Sean's brain structure. Then the corporation funding the research destroys the wolf Sean was bonded to and she is surprised by this?? Anyone who's ever been involved in medical device testing on animals knows this is what happens; Sean works in the field so she should know this. Then her solution to the whole issue is to write a book about the wolf's feelings?? Is this supposed to be ironic because we just read a book about Sean and the wolf and their feelings? This just felt so shallow and incomplete to me. The repercussions of Sean's change in brain structure are never really explored and everything ends up feeling very pointless. Is the point to this story that it's pointless? SPOILER END---------------------------- My Summary (3/5): Overall I was pretty disappointed in this book, I went in expecting so much more. The premise sounds pretty cool but it just didn't go anywhere. This ended up being more of a book about a professor and her failing marriage rather than being about than deep human interactions with the wild or anything cool and sci-fi-ish about mind melding with nature. It was just "blah". The premise was initially intriguing and it was a quick read, but I learned that Mandelo is not the author for me.
The work truly excels when Mandelo lets the reader wade through this interpretive murk. Both Silence and his 2021 debut novel Summer Sons are concerned with the dangerous imprecision of relating to someone else. Miscommunication can doom relationships. Fear of saying the wrong thing leaves unspoken resolution in its wake. A character opening themselves up to the possibility of receiving genuine care is just as likely to be left particularly vulnerable to harm in the unsettlingly familiar worlds Mandelo creates....The tense dependency between every creature in the book simmers just beneath the text. And when the fractures begin finally to be perceived, it already feels too late. Paragraphs function like discrete and failing ecologies. Within a few taut sentences, Lee Mandelo shows how quickly catastrophe can breed distrust in both people and starving wolves. When a single element falters, the entire environment begins to crumble A masterpiece of a novella ... Mandelo here weaves intricate queer appetite with a scathing, intimate exploration of the boundaries, possibilities, and failures of American academia ... Mandelo expertly braids the tangled relationships between Sean and Kate, Sean and Riya, scientist and subject, self and subject, science and nature. The parallels cut deep, the dissonance rings loud. Dr. Sean Kell-Luddon, has received a corporate grant to establish such a neural linkage, connecting her own brain with that of a gray wolf she calls Kate, hoping to experience, ‘‘for the first time on earth, another creature’s thinking, feeling self from the inside.’’ While this represents a lifelong dream for Sean, her wife Riya views the whole project as exploitative, ignoring the broader problems of shrinking habitats and climate change, and selfishly focused on Sean’s own career goals.... Feed Them Silence raises important questions about consciousness, research ethics, corporate sponsorship, shrinking habitats, and the various ways we interact with our planetary companions, but it doesn’t suggest that there are many easy answers. It sets out to be a provocative tale, and it works. Mandelo deftly illustrates the disintegration of a marriage while addressing serious questions: can a profit-driven company ever truly fund conservation? How much self-sabotage can a relationship sustain? Climate-fiction readers, Sarah Gailey fans, and folk-horror aficionados should all take note. DistincionesListas de sobresalientes
What does it mean to be-in-kind with a nonhuman animal? Or, in Dr. Sean Kell-Luddon's case, to be in-kind with one of the last remaining wild wolves? Using a neurological interface to translate her animal subject's perception through her own mind, Sean intends to chase both her scientific curiosity and her secret, lifelong desire to experience the intimacy and freedom of wolfishness: to see the world through animal eyes; smell the forest, thick with olfactory messages; even taste the blood and viscera of a fresh kill; and, above all, to feel the belonging of the pack. Sean's tireless research gives her a chance to fulfill that dream, but pursuing it has a terrible cost. Her obsession with work endangers her fraying relationship with her wife. Her research methods threaten her mind and body. And the attention of her venture capital funders could destroy her subject, the beautiful wild wolf whose mental world she's invading. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyClasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
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The novella is at times gripping and thought-provoking, raising questions about the nature of consciousness, empathy, and identity. Mandelo skillfully portrays the contrast between the human and the animal perspectives, as well as the ethical dilemmas that arise from such a radical experiment. The novella also touches on themes of environmentalism, conservation, and animal rights, as well as the challenges of being a queer woman in a male-dominated field. The writing is crisp and engaging, and the plot is fast-paced and suspenseful. There also times the story is bogged downed about sophomoric ethical philosophy and naivete that is ill suited for an accomplished researcher. ( )