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• 日本語で失礼します

  私が初めて１冊読みきった洋書です。 不完全な英語力ゆえ、誤読をたくさんしていると思います。 分からない個所もありました。 しかし、感動しましたし、楽しかった。面白かったです。 自分が理解した範囲では・・・ 舞台は未来のロンドン。 何らかの事情で電力が失われ、今は有機的な素材でできたコンピュータ・シス テムによる社会管理が行われている。 少ない資源で多くの人々が生きていくために、人々は人体を光合成できるよう にした。だから、太陽の光の下では、人々の頬は紫色になる。 食べ物は食べるが、少しだけ。 子供達は中央システムに中身を読み取られ、知識を植え込むウィルス剤を服用 させられて教育を受ける。幼児でも大人のような知識量。 何でもウィルスが記憶しているから、本や紙は要らない。紙の存在しない世界。 また、人体改造の結果、世界から癌の脅威は去った。 しかし寿命は短い。多くの人々は３０歳代の若さで寿命が尽きる。 癌の撲滅。その代償に人類は短命になった。 しかしウィルスに頼る生活に、少しずつ翳りが生じ始める。 喋れなくなり、歌うことによってしか話を伝えられない人々。 変異、病気の不安。 「Bee（蜂）」と呼ばれる不思議な集団生活をする人々。 気候の変化による猛暑・・・。 そんな中で、電力やかつての科学技術が復旧する。 ウィルスに支配される世界に馴染めない、チェコスロバキア移民の子で孤児院 （チャイルドガーデン）出身の若い女性ミレーナと、南極で暮らせるよう遺伝 子操作して生まれた毛に覆われた種族出身の、大柄な女性ロルファをめぐる愛と 別れの物語でもあります。 一人ぼっちだったミレーナはロルファを通じて音楽や芸術と出会い、自分の居 場所を見つけます。 孤独、哀しみと痛み、様々な出会いと別れ、愛、音楽と美、世界の移り変わ りと変容、そしてその先には・・・。 ジェフ・ライマンはあまり邦訳されていないようですが（それで仕方なく原書 に挑戦したのですが）、邦訳の短編は「20世紀SF (5)」（河出文庫）という アンソロジーで『征たれざる国』を読めます。これが良かったから、こっち にも挑戦しました。

• Not a Dystopia

  I'm writing this review in response to people who seem to feel Ryman's world of the future is a dystopia. I feel the point of the book is that you're left unsure in this regard. We're told the story from the point of view of an outsider to the system certainly everyone in the system is very nice to her. They are always willing to help even if it sometimes means bending their own laws (Hiding Rolfa) or going far out of their way to do so (as with the previous case or helping Milena in her career). Even the main body of gov't is not a hinderance, but as benevolent as the individuals despite Mileana's mistrust. And it's not as though the people who have gone through the reading are stepford wives either. They are still unique individuals as we see through the affair between Berowne and the Princess. People are just nicer and know more (if not necessarily more intelligent). I do not believe Ryman meant this book to be anti-genetic engineering so much as just showing us how it can change and letting us make up our own minds. As for me I don't see any harm in the possiblity of our world turning into that of this book as it is definately going change in some way. Certainly we are different from the societies before us, so as change must I see no harm in this coming. It's just different not bad. On the other hand, I would never want to be read myself. I am a very happy well adjusted homosexual and that is something I advocate doesn't need to be fixed. Of course, perhaps I make to much out of orientation, certainly in heaven people won't have any sexual desire at all. And perhaps this means it is something I should not be so worried about giving up on earth despite the knowledge that I won't miss it once I've left it either with death or with being read. I mention this quandary because this and indeed all of Ryman's books (I've actually only read this Was and Lust, but I'm assuming) give rise to constant reveries on my staunchest beliefs. It is for this reason I always think of them as, if not specifically Christian, religious books. Very few authors have the ability to keep me tossing and turning all night from considering what they've written. I think that perhaps C.S. Lewis is the only other. I can't reccomend Ryman well enough and believe those who haven't read him are missing out on something extraordinary.

• A grim prognostication with a glimmer of hope

  This was my first Geoff Ryman read, and a wholly fascinating one. Ryman takes us into a future of ecological and psychological disaster, in which the one redeemimg feature is the power of love. The book could be seen as a grim warning for humanity if it does not now take steps to avoid further pollution of the planet, and fails to understand the power of the mind for good and for evil and to educate its children to develop their minds accordingly. Worth every penny and every minute expended.

• This one will stay in your head for a while!

  I very much enjoyed this book, and have been thinking about it a lot since finishing. Four stars cos it did get a bit trippy and weird at the end, and I found myself skipping pages.

• Chid Garden

  This is a strange story with lots of very original themes, not always an easy read as it incorporates many time shifts. The end of the book is odd, it is a very personal thing to decide if it works. Worth reading as it is certainly different.

• Almost holds together

  The Child Garden, written in the midst of the initial AIDS onslaught, a book that has as its subtext the then-emerging field of viral genomics... which the author wrestles onto its shoulder with some weird linguistic jiu-jitsu for a two-point takedown, is not to be missed! Ryman's sense of pacing, at least in the book's first section, is brilliant. Unfortunately the work begins to falter afterwards; it's as if his fireworks go dark, and we are left with dry shavings where once magnesium burned so bright. The development falls apart, and the logical expression of consequences becomes boring, and if never particularly formulaic (Ryman is too clever by half), somewhat confusing. Lots of fun ideas, too many not explored fully, some followed by the author to an end that baffles the reader (what happened, for example, to the Snide? Why is it important that Milena be Czech? And more that I won't bore you with). Lastly, the conclusion seems completely uncalled for by the book's opening chapters - I sensed that Ryman was writing in a hurry, that his pace of creation outsped his need to review. Why as much as four stars? Because although I was not satisfied with the work as a whole, much of the writing, as writing, was truly excellent. The current edition is not helped by lazy proofreading: incomprehensible that any typos should exist. Did Ryman read the proofs? One would hope not! Nor would I advise reading Wendy Pearson's introduction - not at least until you have finished the book. Who cares what she thinks? Form your own conclusions before reading hers. After all, the book's an entertainment, and, regardless Pearson, not necessarily a commentary on the world of then, nor is it going to be particularly helpful for you to think it such.

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