The Mount: A Novel
A science-fantasy novel set in a future where humans are ruled and ridden by an alien species. Through the relationship between Charley and the young alien who owns him, it questions servitude, attachment, and the desire for freedom.
Work Information
The intimacy between ruler and ruled unsettles the meaning of freedom.
A novel by Carol Emshwiller that presents the relationship between humans and alien rulers as an embodied fable from a boy's point of view.
Review Summaries
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The novel is memorable for refusing to reduce its unusual premise to a simple fable, instead portraying intimacy and exploitation as coexisting.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Small Beer Press
- Published
- 2002-08-01
- Pages
- 200 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 13.97 x 1.78 x 20.83 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9781931520034
- ISBN-10
- 1931520038
- Price
- 3714 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Science Fiction & Fantasy/Science Fiction
* Philip K. Dick Award Winner * Best of the Year: Locus, Village Voice, San Francisco Chronicle, Book Magazine * Nominated for the Impac Award Charley is an athlete. He wants to grow up to be the fastest runner in the world, like his father. He wants to be painted crossing the finishing line, in his racing silks, with a medal around his neck. Charley lives in a stable. He isn't a runner, he's a mount. He belongs to a Hoot: The Hoots are alien invaders. Charley hasn't seen his mother for years, and his father is hiding out in the mountains somewhere, with the other Free Humans. The Hoots own the world, but the humans want it back. Charley knows how to be a good mount, but now he's going to have to learn how to be a human being.
Carol Emshwiller is the author of six novels including Carmen Dog, Ledoyt, Mister Boots, The Secret City, and Leaping Man Hill, as well as collections of short fiction: Joy in Our Cause, Verging on the Pertinent, The Start of the End of It All, Report to the Men’s Club, I Live with You, Master of the Road to Nowhere, and two volumes of Collected Stories. She grew up in Michigan and France. She lives in New York City.
Reviews
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Haunting and believable
There are no plot reveals in this review, because I don't want to spoil it for you! I finished this book recently and it really does haunt me with the voices of the main characters and the interesting premise. Young Charley speaks with an authentic voice for his age and situation, someone who has no concept of freedom and who only wants to please and excel in his rôle, and the author's made it possible to relate well to, and even sympathise with, the aliens, and especially the infant who is so important to Charley. You learn only gradually how such puny creatures enslaved humanity, and the casual delivery of the information makes easy to believe. There's a little switching time periods, and certainly no sense that the book is little more than the shallow sequence of events you sometimes get in fiction; the treatment is reflective. There's some poignant insights here into many relationships: father and son, human and animal, slave and master. A great read.
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more people should read this
Seeing the 13 year old protagonist think and act like a pet horse makes me feel sad and guilty about the way we treat pets and animals, especially horses. The story however, is not depressing. The smart, hopeful ending is a pleasant surprise in the end. Excellent research work on the part of the author on pet psychology. Very interesting. It's a unique fantasy fiction that is very well done.
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Engaging read
Y'know, I dithered about whether this book was a four-star or a five-star. The style of writing is a bit lacking and flavourless, and there is a hint of tweeness. But the key thing for me is the masterful way - no other way to describe it - the author describes Charley's participation in his own subjection; how he internalises the values imposed on him by the Hoot masters and sees value in being a 'good slave' when the Hoots themselves generally - but not always, as in the case of his rider - see those values in cynical terms as a method of control. The way Charley then manages to reconcile his slave morality with the values of true freedom is dealt with marvellously. For this alone, brilliant. But also a fascinating sf concept (rare in sf these days, and well-enough executed. A very engaging read.
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I initially read this novel because it was on a ...
I initially read this novel because it was on a list of bizarre sci fi books that are worth a read — and it definitely lives up to that. It excellently explores the interesting premise.
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Very original
This book was reminiscent of john wyndhams midwich cuckoos. I imagined the hoots looked like granny from the squidbillies. & wonder what happened to horses in that world.