I received this book in the mail a couple of months ago. No return address, no note, no promo letter. While I do put up my address so that publishers and authors can send A.R.C.s or other promo material, I kind of expected stuff to come like it did when I worked at the book store. There was always a for your consideration
letter included that hyped the book in more detail than the normal cover blurbs. A quick glance told me it wouldn’t be too schlocky though, so I’m gonna read it.
The book would probably qualify as Mundane-SF, as the subject concerns a near future Earth where for some reason the lifespan of women has increased but men are only living the same amount of time they do now. Or something like that. Resulting in a world where women run everything, since they have the experience and the old girls network to outdo pretty much any man. Relationships are also increasingly rare, since most women don’t want to watch the men they marry die.
Here are some bullet point thoughts written as I read through the book:
- Early on, the writing relies a lot on exposition and the omniscient narrator describing the participants’ thoughts. I don’t know if it’s that in particular, but it feels kind of clunky in the first couple dozen pages.
- All the characters are referred to by first name. My memory does much better with last names. I’m already confusing who some of these people are! Probably not the fault of the author though.
- I wonder if Boultbee has spent any time in corporate America. The descriptions of corporate relationships here matches better with my experience than some other books, but it still seems to fall under some stereotypes that I just never found to be true when I worked as middle management. For instance, there’s a scene where Ryan Peters gets to wait several hours in the lobby for his scheduled interview with the C.E.O. of the company. I’ve seen this scene written before (not that I can recall where), as a test (as it is here) and also as a way to show the V.I.P.’s callous disregard of underlings. I was made to wait once for an interview for several hours. It was actually a sign of a disorganized C.E.O. more than anything else. I wouldn’t stand for it anymore. Anyone worth hiring will just walk out. The whole corporate culture described here feels just a bit off. Though I must again iterate, nowhere near as wrong as some books I’ve read.
- I’m confused. The C.E.O. Olivia treats Ryan as the son of a former lover. Ryan acts like that. But his thoughts are as if he is Olivia’s former lover. The blurb on the back cover says he’s one of the few men who live as long as women. So is he hiding that fact? Is he he posing as his own son? But if he is, wouldn’t Olivia recognize him not just as the son, but as the real Ryan? Specially considering that she notes he was the love of her life. It was years ago in the storyline. So I’m not sure what’s the case here. Reading on…
- Ahhh okay! He is hiding his age by posing as his own son. Though he reminisces about his
handlers
who also know his real age. Two questions come to mind. Why is he making a secret of his age? And who are his handlers that are sponsoring this? - For a supposedly liberated female world, Olivia the C.E.O. seems remarkedly prone to male charms. Her whole career is supposedly based on her trying to forget Ryan and throwing herself into her work. And now he’s back (secretly) and she just can’t resist heading to his house to give him corporate news personally, or inviting him to her special restaurant where she goes to escape, or surprise meeting him at the airport on his return from a trip to help him unwind.
- So now we know his handlers have him set up for some industrial espionage at Delphi. Forty years of effort for this. Not sure exactly why or what though. Was Ryan’s age predating his recruitment, or did the handlers give him the extra age? If they did, why do they need for him to steal something related to it from Delphi? They already know how to extend a male’s life. These little bits of foreshadowing just leave me confused, rather than anticipating.
- Senior V.P. of something or the other Nicole knows Ryan and Olivia’s history. Does that mean she is one of Ryan’s handlers? Again, the bit of foreshadowing is confusing me rather than drawing me in. Making a decision right here, this will not be one of the books I stick out to the end no matter what. The 100 page rule applies. If my opinion isn’t on the positive side at that point, I am putting it down.
- Are these people in sixth grade or are they senior executives in a bio-pharmaceutical company? This is the equivalent of Johnny telling Susie that he thinks Robbie likes her. If there’s a Tolo (Sadie Hawkins for you east coasters) dance involved I am going to drop this book before page 100. I’m on page 70 something and it’s not looking good…
- Okay, now we know what the deal is for Ryan, 85 pages in. Delphi holds the secret to male longevity. For some reason, only men who already have the alteration can see it, which is why Ryan is recruited. Why Delphi has this secret is not revealed yet of course. Why the C.E.O doesn’t know about it isn’t revealed either. If she did know, she would immediately suspect Ryan of being his
father
. Pretty certain I won’t last beyond page 100, because this is just stupid. Good idea, poor execution.
Yep, definitely giving up on this. As I wrote in that last note, this is just poor execution. Everyone acts like they are in sixth grade with regard to the relationships, not like they are 80 years old. Plus, Boultbee can’t decide if he wants this to be a techno-sci-fi thriller or a cheesy romance. The two are not mixing well in this case.
If you want to buy/read this book despite my shredding review, head over to Lulu.com to buy it. It appears to be the only place still selling it. The publisher, Shadow Rose Publishing, let its web site go defunct two months ago. The site for the imprint Shadowmere Publishing is still active, though it lacks any information normally associated with an imprint, like its back list. I’m betting it will disappear when the domain name expires.
Title: The gender divide
Author: David Boultbee
Cover artist: Melanie Fuller
Imprint / publisher: Shadowmere Publishing / Shadow Rose Publishing
Format: Paperback
Length: 222 p. (I got to 99)
Publication date: July 2007
ISBN-13: 978-1-8907-8512-3
