So as the title suggests, I decided to pick up The Female Man. I’d not heard of it before, but I saw it at a good price as part of the SF Masterworks collection and liked the sound of it from the blurb.
However, I’m 20 pages in and I’m struggling. I’m really confused about what the hell is going, who’s perspective I’m reading, what timeline I’m on… It seems to jump about without informing the reader. And I swear it just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, unless I’m just stupid.
For example, it tells us that Janet Evason teleported to a different time and at the same time, the policeman who approached her is transported away for an hour. However, it then says that a moment later, JE is transported back again to “The New Forest”. A paragraph or two later, she’s on a talk show chatting with the presenter about how she’s from the future… But she was only here for a moment, wasn’t she? Or am I just getting this all wrong?
Can someone tell me if I’m just being incredibly stupid, or does this book start to make sense? Because if it carries on in this style, I think I’ll read something else
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I agree that it is a slog. I found her writing style reminscent of phillip k dicks psychadelics (lies inc. Etc). Very much did not enjoy it and i would also like to hear from others on what they found appealing.
I read this and struggled for a bit. But once I’d looked it up and read a bit about what happens (I’m not too fussed about spoilers, mind) then it was much easier to follow and I could appreciate the style much more. It might not work for you but if you’re desperate to get through it it could be worth a go.
I read it, quite a long time ago.
I can’t guarantee anything for your experience. These are different stories, and they are brought together and it might require a second read-through, when the significance of things will be a little clearer.
Yeah there’s three different main characters with similar names in different times/realities. If you keep going they eventually become distinct