Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
My rating: 3/5 cats
having been gleefully freeloading off the free tor shorts for years now, i absolutely want to support tor in their “buy some novellas, cheapskate”* endeavor, especially since the first one i read – Every Heart a Doorway – was one of the best things i have ever read ever. but even though Binti won/was nominated for a billion awards, it was only medium-enjoyable for me.
i’d read Lagoon by this author, with the same general reaction (even though I KNOW everyone tells me Who Fears Death is incredible, and i believe them and i will read that one, because every author gets three chances with me)
this is the first book in what i expect will be a trilogy, and it’s only 90 pages, so it’s hard to be hypercritical of it, although just now reading the synopsis for part 2, it takes place a year later, so i guess this part of it is over and i can be as critical as with any other book.
so – first, the good things: i really like the character. 16-year-old binti comes from the isolated himba region whose desert community holds fast to its customs and where the emphasis is on family, science, and a connection to the land so deep that no one ever leaves their homeland. however, binti, despite the privileges of her family, cannot refuse the unprecedented opportunity to study at the oozma university, which offer has never before been granted to a himba.
I was sixteen years old and had never been beyond my city, let alone near a launch station. I was by myself and I had just left my family. My prospects of marriage had been 100 percent and now they would be zero. No man wanted a woman who’d run away. However, beyond my prospects of a normal life being ruined, I had scored so high on the planetary exams in mathematics that the Oozma University had not only admitted me, but promised to pay for whatever I needed in order to attend. No matter what choice I made, I was never going to have a normal life, really.
on her journey towards the terminal, binti feels her outsider status acutely. because her people never leave their land; because they are so insular, other people assign characteristics to them through lack of contact/experience: they are assumed to be backwards, primitive, and filthy, in part because of the himba custom of smearing their bodies and hair with a fragrant paste made from the clay of their land, as well as their darker skin and fuzzy hair.
once binti makes it to the ship (which is actually a living creature “closely related to a shrimp”), surrounded by other prospective students, she has an easier time acclimating, and even makes friends and develops a crush on a boy.
and then the meduse arrive, and everything goes sideways.
for the characters and this reader both.
again, binti is a remarkable character – she’s plucky, brave, resourceful, and supersmart but she’s not unrealistically heroic and capable – she’s never experienced life beyond her home and family, and her discomfort and awkwardness are appropriate for someone with her background.
i also appreciated the attention to detail given to the customs of her people, and her memories of her life among them.
but from the meduse part on, there seemed to be a motivation to reach a desired ending without respecting the consequences of certain actions, which brad addresses admirably in his review, to which i can add nothing more because it speaks to every single “but wait” objection i had while reading this and i don’t wanna be a plagiarist.
like him, i appreciate the message, but the delivery of the message was a bit trite and slapdash.
however, i like the character enough (and i owe tor enough), that i will likely read the second part of this. this novella is completely appropriate for a YA audience, and i think it would be better received by younger readers, who tend to read more for plot and enjoyment than old folks like me who suck all the joy out of books with too-nitpicky dissections resulting from too much academic training in joy-sucking.
i still love you, tor, and i will continue to love you both for free and for ca$h.
*not actual name of program
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WINNER!!! 2015 nebula for best novella!! shows what i know!
and now hugo winner, too!
i cannot be trusted to speak about books! i know nothing!
