Review: Maureen McHugh’s “Half The Day Is Night”
I have a habit of buying nearly all the science fiction with a woman’s name on it that I happen to see at a bookstore, then stockpiling it for later when I need something new to read. I pulled “Half The Day Is Night” off the shelf when I found out Maureen McHugh will be honored at this year’s WisCon.
I’ve never before read any of her work, but after reading “Half The Day Is Night”, I’m curious to read other pieces she’s written. McHugh is *masterful* at description. After just a few paragraphs, I was there in the story, beneath the ocean in this brilliantly depicted world of levels below the sea.
The novel takes place in a deep-sea community in the Caribbean, on and below the ocean floor. The lead characters, Jean David Dai and Mayla Ling, are uncertain people in uncertain lives, and McHugh relays this discomfort painfully well. Dai is a war veteran who has taken a job he regrets accepting, and keeps looking for a graceful way to get out of it. His employer, Ling, is hesitant in her business dealings as well as her personal life, and constantly questions her own decisions. I found it easy enough to identify with Dai – he’s just an unhappy man in an unwelcoming environment – but I expected more from Ling. Admittedly, I’m always looking for strong female characters, and Ling just seems to be “going along to get along”, even when she decides to make a change.
What I loved about this book was the imagery. The blackness of the water, the close-in smells of a contained world - I could smell the air, hear the high-pitched voices of the people in their pressured environment, feel the closeness of the underwater cities. This section, while certainly vivid, demonstrates what I mean:
“The air smelled even worse here: unwashed bodies and curry over the dirty sock odor. The Plaza was rimmed with shops and the streets were full of vendors with vegetables set out on tables, homemade clothes on blankets, stalls that sold Indian food. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he wasn’t getting enough oxygen.”
I recommend it to anyone who wants to read about a place incredibly different from what we all experience. This is the very essence of true science fiction.
That said, if you’re looking for a fast-paced thriller or some serious futuristic tech, this isn’t the book for you. The story meanders from place to place, and the resolution doesn’t quite resolve anything; the characters don’t seem to dramatically develop or change, they just escape. It’s a beautifully rendered portrait of someone I’m not that interested in seeing. I think my disappointment with this book comes from being pulled so vividly into McHugh’s world, so much so that I expected to have a heck of a lot more happen while I was there.
I recommend this to folks who have a some time on their hands, and can spend a few hours sinking into something completely different. If you’re looking for action, drama, gadgetry, or cyberpunk, keep looking. I must say that McHugh writes well enough that I’m going to track down her first novel, “China Mountain Zhang”, as well as her more recent work.
For more information about Maureen McHugh, visit her website: http://my.en.com/~mcq/
Related posts:
- Review: Ann Aguirre’s “Grimspace”
- Review: Elizabeth Moon’s “Trading In Danger”
- Review: Elizabeth Moon’s “Marque And Reprisal”
- Women of Science Fiction
- Review: Janna Levin, “A Madman Dreams Of Turing Machines”
