Mission Child | |||||
Maureen F. McHugh | |||||
Avon EOS Books, 385 pages | |||||
A review by Greg L. Johnson
Janna of Hamra clan lives on a world which was colonized by humans,
then fell out of touch with the rest of humanity. Now Terrans have returned
to re-establish contact, and life is beginning to change for everyone. For
Janna, the results are at first tragic. War and violence make her a
refugee, fleeing across an arctic wasteland to life in a city she does not
understand. Along the way, she is mistaken for a boy, and believing she is
safer that way, she decides to continue the disguise. On her journey, she meets
other refugees who have had their traditional lives disrupted, Terrans
attempting to find ways to work with the native culture, and a shaman who
wears a dress.
One of the most interesting aspects of this novel concerns what it
might have been. It could have been a novel of gender issues, like LeGuin's
Left Hand of Darkness, or the more recent Halfway Human by Carolyn Ives
Gilman. But while the question of whether she feels more like a man or a
woman is of great concern to Janna, who becomes known as Jan for much of
the book, her concern is a personal matter, a result of experiences on her
journey, and not the main theme of the novel.
Mission Child might also have easily been a book that adopted a
popular political viewpoint, with the technologically advanced Terrans as
the bad guys exploiting the low-tech, victimized natives. Indeed, our own
history is full of examples of just such villainy and exploitation.
McHugh's sense of history, though, is not nearly so black and white. The
returning Terrans have rules against introducing technology too quickly and
attempt to minimize the affects that technology will have on the native
cultures. The point of Mission Child is that such attempts, even with good
intentions, cannot be completely successful. The mere existence of the
higher tech off-worlders causes disruption and change in the natives'
lives, and such change is often painful for the individuals involved. The
beauty of Mission Child is that we see this process not through a character
who stands as a symbolic representative of her culture, but through the
eyes of a woman whom we come to know as a unique individual, whose
experiences and decisions are entirely her own. That is the difference that
makes Mission Child an engaging story and exceptional novel.
Mission Child soars on the character of
Janna and the artful writing of Maureen McHugh. Janna may make mistakes
and doesn't always immediately understand everything she sees, but she
keeps trying, keeps learning, and quickly earns the reader's sympathy and
respect. McHugh's prose style subtly insures that Janna and her story
remain the focus of our attention, as they should be.
Fans of McHugh's first two novels should find Mission Child to be better
than either Half the Day is Night or China Mountain Zhang. Newcomers to
McHugh's writing will find the novel to be the work of a mature writer,
full of ideas and interesting characters. Pick up a copy of Mission Child
and journey along with Janna as she grows to understand herself and the
world she lives in. You'll be glad you did.
Reviewer Greg L. Johnson lives in Minneapolis, which for much of the coming Winter will resemble the arctic environment that Janna calls home. His reviews also appear in the The New York Review of Science Fiction. |
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