The young woman is desperately accumulating money for a sex-change operation to become a male. The woman is a psychic card read for the President of the DR. I’ll use spoilers:Ī young woman has just made a career change from street prostitute to maid for a wealthy important woman. Illegal immigrants from Haiti are hunted down in DR and killed by robots.Īgain, there’s a lot going on in this book, so I don’t think I’m giving too much away if I tell you what’s going on in just the first 17 pages so you can get an idea of what you are signing up for if you read this. Some science fiction aspects: People have computer vision built into their eyes and cameras built into their hands. So we hear a lot about music and we know we are not too far off in the future because people still listen to Metallica and REM Music - the author is also a musician who has her own techno-rock band.
Race – we are often told a character is ‘black as coal,’ white, light-skinned, has cinnamon skin, etc.ĭystopia: a 1984-ish, tightly monitored central city surrounded by slums where poor people live and anything goes Other ethnic groups in the DR especially Italians and Jews The indigenous Taino people of the DR, Puerto Rico and Cuba There’s a lot going on in this short book (130 pages) and there are many themes, so let me list some of them:Įnvironmental disasters and the preservation of reefs I am truly amazed at how this brief novel covers so much ground in such an effective and artful manner.īrava to the author and I wish you all an impactful Pride month !Ī science fiction/fantasy story set in the Dominican Republic (DR) in the near future. The importance of rebalancing our world before capitalism and western liberalism destroy the earth forever are front and center of this powerful short book. The world is not presented in white suburban feminist ideals but rather as how the Island life is dangerous for many including women, queers and the poor. The prose is rich, intelligent and full of violence.
This book is very literary with heavy doses of science fiction and magical realism. They are able to transcend time and flit between environments as they battle on the Dominican republic while exploring politics, art, nature, sex and music while taking drugs and exploring Caribbean syncretic religions and magic. In addition the near future of environmental destruction and ongoing disease with the supremacy of government corruption.īoth the hero (a transman) and villain (a repressed misogynistic bisexual man) are really antiheroes and fit on the same coin. The present day of poverty, classism, colorism and gender repression as well as homophobia and machismo. The turbulent past with issues of colonialism, racism and slavery. This book takes place in three time periods of Dominican history. This is a defiant, brave, complex short novel that challenges genre, sexuality, gender, and the nature of love. 5 "harsh complex queer machismo" stars !!!
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