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Originally Posted by BookStop  I wonder if the author meant for his characters to be so emotionally disabled to show the differences in society since unification |
If this was indeed his reasoning (and it sounds very plausible), I think it demonstrates a very good point: even if something in a book does what it's intended to do, it may not work, because it spoils the reading experience in other ways.
So why, if none of us here (a group with widely diverse tastes to be sure) are exactly enthusiastic about this book -- reactions varying from mildly favorable, through lukewarm, to reluctant to read another page -- was it so highly praised?
Could it be that back in 1989 readers were so enthralled by Moran's vision of future technology that they were willing to overlook any shortcomings in the plot and characters -- but now that the novelty of some of his ideas has worn off there is less to hold a reader's interest? Also, with the characters, I felt that I was expected to like them on the basis of the coolness factor alone. But that's the sort of thing that loses its novelty even faster.
Sometimes, when a book is particularly in tune with the mindset of its time, it doesn't age very well. Could that be the problem here?