The Core of the Sun
Registered by 
GoryDetails
of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 8/9/2017
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 8/9/2017 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
I've enjoyed several of Sinisalo's books, especially Troll: A Love Story, so when I saw this one at a local Savers thrift shop I had to pick it up. From the cover-blurb it sounds a bit like The Handmaid's Tale - with an addiction to hot peppers thrown in...
Later: Very unusual story indeed, with some chilling aspects - and some surprisingly humorous moments, though those are rare. (Both wince-inducing and funny are the opening scenes of the main character testing the heat of a new supplier's goods - by tucking some into her vagina, with the mental comment "the lower lip never lies". Eep!)
The viewpoints are mainly those of Vanna, a girl born without the meek, subservient "eloi" tendencies valued by this society, but who learned early to mirror her very-eloi sister Manna (though without understanding why it seemed so important to the grownups that she hide her attraction to toy tractors in favor of dolls). Now an adult, she and her companion Jare - who knows her secret and helps her "pass" as an eloi - make a living dealing in contraband capsaicin. (The state of the world is a kind of not-that-distant-future slow-apocalypse, with resources failing and dissent being quashed. The reasons for outlawing hot peppers are presented here and there, but I didn't really care why {wry grin}.)
Manna has gone missing and is presumed dead, but Vanna wants to know the truth, to avenge her if necessary. In the meantime she's in search of the most powerful and rare pepper of all, the Core of the Sun - and she must evade the law, rival pepper-smugglers, and anyone who might realize that she isn't what she seems.
Jare gets his own viewpoint sections, which fill in parts of the story that Vanna isn't thinking about. There are also snippets of documents and news broadcasts here and there, describing the state of the world.
The story includes some pretty basic messages about the ills of trying to force children's interests into tight little categories, and the nightmares of a repressive society - but it also features mystery and action, and of course lavish descriptions of different flavors and heat-levels from the array of hot peppers out there.
Often grim, sometimes hopeful, definitely unusual!
Later: Very unusual story indeed, with some chilling aspects - and some surprisingly humorous moments, though those are rare. (Both wince-inducing and funny are the opening scenes of the main character testing the heat of a new supplier's goods - by tucking some into her vagina, with the mental comment "the lower lip never lies". Eep!)
The viewpoints are mainly those of Vanna, a girl born without the meek, subservient "eloi" tendencies valued by this society, but who learned early to mirror her very-eloi sister Manna (though without understanding why it seemed so important to the grownups that she hide her attraction to toy tractors in favor of dolls). Now an adult, she and her companion Jare - who knows her secret and helps her "pass" as an eloi - make a living dealing in contraband capsaicin. (The state of the world is a kind of not-that-distant-future slow-apocalypse, with resources failing and dissent being quashed. The reasons for outlawing hot peppers are presented here and there, but I didn't really care why {wry grin}.)
Manna has gone missing and is presumed dead, but Vanna wants to know the truth, to avenge her if necessary. In the meantime she's in search of the most powerful and rare pepper of all, the Core of the Sun - and she must evade the law, rival pepper-smugglers, and anyone who might realize that she isn't what she seems.
Jare gets his own viewpoint sections, which fill in parts of the story that Vanna isn't thinking about. There are also snippets of documents and news broadcasts here and there, describing the state of the world.
The story includes some pretty basic messages about the ills of trying to force children's interests into tight little categories, and the nightmares of a repressive society - but it also features mystery and action, and of course lavish descriptions of different flavors and heat-levels from the array of hot peppers out there.
Often grim, sometimes hopeful, definitely unusual!
Journal Entry 2 by GoryDetails at Monument Square, Amherst and Concord sts in Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Monday, August 21, 2017
GoryDetails at Monument Square, Amherst and Concord sts in Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Monday, August 21, 2017
Released 6 yrs ago (8/21/2017 UTC) at Monument Square, Amherst and Concord sts in Nashua, New Hampshire USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
I plan to leave this book on a bench in the square at around 12:45 or so, before heading home to watch the eclipse. Hope the finder enjoys the book![See other recent releases in NH here.]
*** Released for the 2017 Solar Eclipse release challenge. ***
