"A Door into Ocean" is the novel upon which the author's reputation as an important SF writer principally rests. A ground-breaking work both of feminist SF and of world-building hard SF, it concerns the Sharers of Shora, a nation of women on a distant moon in the far future who are pacifists, highly advanced in biological sciences, and who reproduce by parthenogenesis--there are no males--and tells of the conflicts that erupt when a neighboring civilization decides to develop their ocean world, and send in an army.
--This text refers to an alternate
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
This gem of a sci fi novel is the best case study of nonviolent resistance to oppression I've ever seen. The struggles of a people to hold onto their own unique, peaceful (women's) culture--as an outwardly more powerful (male-dominated) enemy tries to take them over, and as they contend not only with the atrocities committed against them by that enemy, but also with their own divisions and disagreements about what to do--are fascinating, both at the social level and from the viewpoints of strategically-placed protagonists. These characters include an adolescent male, invited by the leaders of "Ocean" to come live among them so they can understand each other better, and a three-year-old girl who, when held hostage with other children, takes the "self-name" She-Who-Spits-Up-Her-Food as part of the coming-of-age ritual the children participate in when they decide to take up the adult responsibilities of resisting the enemy. The only book I know that compares to this one is Starhawk's almost-as-wonde
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars
24 reviews
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Environmental utopia
18 Oct 2001
By Kimberly Wells
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Dune was probably the first "environmental" sci fi, exploring issues of how "where you live" and how your relative harmony/disharmony with that place can affect your society. This book is similar in that way-- and it adds the element of a society where gender relationships are examined, like the best utopia sci-fi. I thought that the characters were interesting, and the clash between a sort of "patriarchy" with a definite matriarchy was thought-provoking, as well. If you liked books like Ursula K. LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness, The Handmaid's Tale, The Gate to Women's Country, and other "dystopic/utopia" fiction, you'll probably like this one.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Timeless Science Fiction Classic
8 April 1998
By Tom Bourne (tomdigsit@rocketmail.com)
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
In this novel Joan Slonczewski combines striking character interactions with a solid science background, making a thoroughly enjoyable story that completely captured my attention. The clash of the Sharer society concerned with fitting into the overall ecosystem on the ocean moon Shora with the techno-mechanical Valan military trying to establish lordship over Shora makes for an excellent story that should become one of the textbooks for future science fiction writers. The interaction of the Shora and Valan cultures are effectively illustrated from both an overall culture perspective and a personal point of view, and I was captivated with the diverse character set created by the author. The book manages to convey the Shora ecosystem science aspects in an easily readable form that you don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand. The internal conflict in the Sharer community over how to deal with the Valan presence seems to me to be a classic study on the trials all non-violent societies go through to maintain their ideals when confronted with an opponent prepared to use violence. I found this book to be a most enjoyable read and have gone back many times to reread it.
21 of 25 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Very Good
15 Aug 2001
By R. Albin
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
This is a very good science fiction novel. The scene is a system with 2 inhabited worlds. There is an inhabited planet and a moon around the planet which is entirely ocean. Markedly different societies occupy these worlds. The planet is a largely traditional human society; capitalist, patriarchial to a large extent, traditional forms of government, and physics based technology. The inhabitants of the aqueous moon are females who reproduce via parthenogenesis, have a very egalitarian society, and rely on sophisticated biotechnology. The book is about the clash of these two cultures. The themes are rapacious patriarchy versus feminism, hierarchy versus egalitarianism, ecological integration versus exploitation of the natural world, and coercion versus pacifism. This is a well written and enjoyable book. The author does a very good job of depicting ecology of the aqueous moon. Defects include the fact that the contrasts between the two societies are too black and white, and an overly elaborate plot with unnecessary prolongation of the book. This book is also somewhat derivative. There are themes and ideas drawn clearly from Ursula Le Guin's great utopian novel, The Dispossessed. This book is still superior to most science fiction but because it has pretensions to greater value, invites harsher criticism.
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4.5 out of 5 stars
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