Lovelock

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Summary: Great Book, But Where Is It?!
Review: I recently read the book, and was amazed at how detailed it was. The thoughts that ran through Lovelock, the "enhanced" capuchin monkey produced and conditioned to serve his master as a Witness, made me feel like that was actually what he thought. And it wasn't just, "I have realized I am a slave. Darn." I read what he went through and what he did about it. But you've alread read all the praise given to the book. It doesn't take an enhanced monkey to realize this is good stuff. I just wanted to say that it's a great book, and that the authors should reprint this book either before or after the second come out.

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Summary: A unique perspective on the ethics of enslavement.
Review: I very much enjoyed this book. My only difficulty was with the unbelievibility of some of the background characters. The story though is well written and gives one an inside view of an enslaved being's realization of his situation. I'm partial to thinking novels and this is one as well as being a good tale. I've been anxiously awaiting the sequel

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Summary: Interesting concept but poorly conceived
Review: I was grabbed by this book's opening sentence: Lovelock says something like, "This is the story of how I stopped being in love with my mistress and came to commit murder," although worded better than that.

Now, this opening reminded me of the first sentence of "To Kill a Mockingbird," where Scout says (to paraphrase crudely again): "My brother was thirteen the summer he broke his arm." The story takes off from there and covers so much ground that by the time it gets to the climax, the reader has forgotten that Scout's brother's arm is going to get broken.

I expected similar plotting in "Lovelock" and kept waiting for the actual story to start, but it never did. Lovelock just describes a sequence of events in which he becomes more and more disillusioned with his mistress and his own slavery. The only suspense was waiting to see who gets murdered. There weren't really any other side plots or even a bigger overall plot. There isn't anything that makes me want to read the next book in the trilogy except mild curiosity.

Because of that I find this book to be poorly conceived and amateurly plotted, something surprising from a master of the genre. But Card even says in his introduction that he and Kidd lost interest in the story while writing it, and generally played computer games the whole time.

That said, "Lovelock" is still worth reading for anyone interested in Orson Scott Card or sci-fi in general. The concept of a super-intelligent monkey as the narrator is original. The writing is easy to read. The story is intriguing and thought-provoking, if light and one-dimensional. I do have some problems with the main ideas driving the story, however.

Unlike some other reviewers, I don't have a problem with the monkey's quest for sex/masturbation. But wouldn't it have been easier to neuter the monkey rather than condition him against it? Also, is a super-intelligent animal really the best way to record someone's life? And I don't think people would really treat their "witnesses" like slaves. I would love it if my cat were super-smart (not that she isn't already). I would make sure she had as much freedom as she wanted.

But worst of all, the concept of the Ark is dreadful! (Not the hard science behind it, the people in it I mean). Nobody would let these idle, gossipy, obnoxious busy-bodies colonize a new world. I have a problem with the rule that only heterosexual breeding couples were allowed, which Card and Kidd mention but don't discuss. I've never understood the point of spreading human populations to the stars just to breed more humans. Why not try to make a stable, diverse, non-oppressive society? And if only breeding couples are allowed, why were those horrid grandparents allowed?

I'm kind of sick of Card's dysfunctional families. Everybody in "Lovelock" is having an affair and not even going through with it very well. This book convinced me that there is something seriously wrong with small Protestant towns and probably with religiously-organized communities in general. I couldn't relate to any of the characters.

To conclude, I'm surprised that so many reviewers actually liked this book. I recommend reading it just to see what it's all about, but I can't believe anyone thought it was a good or well-conceived story. Even the authors didn't like it enough to finish the trilogy.

Rating:
Summary: an excellent book
Review: it seems like they are never coming with book

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Summary: Great book - can't wait for the next one in this series!
Review: Just like the Ender series, this looks like a promising story. Very neat outlook on life from a monkeys point of view. His discriptins of the charachters are based off of todays social classes - which places the transition of living in the near future into a neat perspective. Can't wait for the next in the series to find out what will happen when they reach their destination.

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Summary: A capuchin is a person
Review: Let's say you were an Enhanced Capuchin. You had all of the intelligence of a human, more, but all of the emotional and psychological properties of a capuchin. You have been conditioned not to do the unseemly things capuchins do. But never fear, you can conquer this and, as a culmination of your growth, successfully masturbate. This book is no more than a tool to put dirty ideas in the mind of readers, from a unique standpoint, a monkey. This book has no value, it is essentially a story of a monkey who wants to be sexually free, with himself and everyone else, even going to the effort of growing a wife for himself. Welcome to the twisted mind of Orson Scott Card, I can only say that I am happy OSC has mellowed his writing in his old age, and am glad that he has redeeming books such as the Ender's saga. Sorry OSC, I like to think of you as the inspiration for my writing efforts, but some of your books are nothing to be proud of.

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Summary: A capuchin is a person
Review: Let's say you were an Enhanced Capuchin. You had all of the intelligence of a human, more, but all of the emotional and psychological properties of a capuchin. You have been conditioned not to do the unseemly things capuchins do. But never fear, you can conquer this and, as a culmination of your growth, successfully masturbate. This book is no more than a tool to put dirty ideas in the mind of readers, from a unique standpoint, a monkey. This book has no value, it is essentially a story of a monkey who wants to be sexually free, with himself and everyone else, even going to the effort of growing a wife for himself. Welcome to the twisted mind of Orson Scott Card, I can only say that I am happy OSC has mellowed his writing in his old age, and am glad that he has redeeming books such as the Ender's saga. Sorry OSC, I like to think of you as the inspiration for my writing efforts, but some of your books are nothing to be proud of.

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Summary: LoveLock mixes psychology with a great science fiction
Review: LoveLock is a great story that mixes psychology with a great science fiction! The characters are well developed, but not overly developed. But what really makes this a great story is how the characters interact. LoveLock's psychological and social analysis of these interactions is wonderful. LoveLocks's self analysis perspective is also quite interesting!

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Summary: lovelock has a complex hero who happens to be a monkey
Review: lovelock is about drama, and adventure set in space.the people in a voyaging ship take a lowly looking monkey for granted but the funny thing is that the monkey is the main character who is lovable ,wise and more complex than some of the other humans on the ship.its a good story.i reccomend it totally and cant wait for the sequel

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Summary: This book is great for those who have imagination...
Review: Lovelock is very inspirational... I think that people should read this book because it makes the mind think in what the future might hold. The story is very well written. I can feel the monkey's need to be free and its sorrow as it realizes it has no hope of having a mate. I think Orson Scott Card should follow through with this novel soon.