MEMORY, Lois McMaster Bujold

[truepenny]

I said back here that I'd talk about why I think Memory is one of the best sf novels of the 1990s, and pameladean expressed interest. So, it's my fault, but she egged me on. *g*


It's been a really long time since I wrote about a book without having an argument or a problem or something else to hang the discussion on. So this may be a little random.

The core reason that Memory is on my Best Books list is the perfect integration of plot, character, and theme. The mystery of who sabotaged Simon's chip; Miles's descent into darkness and his return to life, linked as that is with his rejection of Admiral Naismith; and that constant thematic question of What will your heart's desire cost you? ... they balance each other and strengthen each other and deepen each other, so that solving the mystery requires Miles to embrace the awakening self that is NOT the Admiral and furthermore shows us several things about the cost of one's heart's desire.

I also love Memory for its position in the ongoing saga of Miles Vorkosigan, as it pushes Miles up against an enemy he can't defeat, a defeat he can't weasel his way out of, and a weasel who knows how to make Miles his own enemy. (Sorry, got carried away by the rhetorical corona--Elizabethan poets did 'em with sonnets; I can manage it in a single sentence. Ha!) Rhetorical flourish aside, it's also true that Haroche, of all the villains Miles has been up against, is the one who plays Miles most expertly, who knows how to use Miles's own strengths against him. And in this novel, that's not merely effective villainy plot-wise, it's also necessary heightening of characterological and thematic tension. No matter which thread you pull on, they're all firmly interwoven.

And I like the way the book is also Miles finding out, the long way round, what it is he's been built to do. That's one of the things I also like in Komarr, even though I tend to skip the bits it involves, because I find Komarr's A-plot ungripping--Miles as Auditor is tremendously satisfying, because of the ways in which he is so very good at it. I don't know if it's realistic that Miles gets rewarded for fraud, insubordination, and general idiocy with this amazing job, but it works for me. I'll buy that swamp-land in Florida and I'll do it with a big goofy grin.

I like the restrained counterpoint of the romance plots--not allowed to overwhelm the action (as I think happens at the end of A Civil Campaign), but offering another perspective on the question of the heart's desire. Also, Duv Galeni is one of my favorite secondary characters, so I'm just pleased to see him again and pleased to see him find the beginnings of happiness.

I love the interplay between Gregor and Miles in this book. I love the way Bujold handles Simon Illyan's descent to the underworld and re-emergence, again balancing against Miles's similar journey. I find it just slightly too tidy that Illyan's beloved happens to be Alys Vorpatril (and I have a hard time imagining their interactions with each other offstage), but that's a personal quirk and not really a flaw with the book. I like Ivan in this book (I don't always, which is again a personal thing more than a flaw); I like the way the relationship between Miles and Ivan both remains as we have seen it in earlier books and shows depths and strengths that have only been hinted at before.

One of my favorite things about Bujold is the way she works through the social, psychological, and emotional ramifications of the technology she introduces. (This is why I love Ethan of Athos.) And so I am deeply and permanently impressed with the deterioration of Simon's chip, its effects on him, and the infinite problems that are spawned for those trying to deal with it, ranging from the petty bureaucracy of ImpSec, through Haroche's subtle manipulations, to the fact that the thing's lasted so long that there aren't any experts on it left.

Both here and in Komarr, I very much like the way she deals with Miles's seizures, the way that there's FINALLY something Miles can't power through, and the way that the seizures force him to reevaluate both himself and his relationships with the people around him.

And, finally, I like the way his relationship with Quinn ends. I'm kind of neutral on Quinn, as a character and a love interest (although I wish Bujold would do more with the drawbacks of that perfect face), but I very much like how she's handled in this book, and how her relationship with Miles is revealed to be sincere but simply not enough, for either of them. It's a very adult, very realistic ending to a relationship that has clearly not needed to be much of either. (And I supposes that's another reason ACC disappoints me; it seems to be a big step back from the realism and depth with which Miles and Quinn's break-up is handled.)

So that's why Memory amazes and delights me.

Questions? Comments?

Comments

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I like the way the relationship between Miles and Ivan both remains as we have seen it in earlier books and shows depths and strengths that have only been hinted at before.

Brothers in Arms: "Ivan is my brother!"

I think rewarding Miles with the Auditorship is a (writing) mistake, and one that leads to Ekaterin. I was startled to see a new love interest in the very next book, too. Because Miles Vorkosigan is very, very young. Younger in many ways that Admiral Naismith, narrower in experience, if vastly deeper. Miles Vorkosigan is a naked baby squalling in the cold, and Gregor handed him lightning bolts.

Harouche is very good. I wish we had a look at the political opposition to the Vors who haven't been subsumed by Gregor; Duv doesn't suit anymore. Not that that should have been in Memory, which is just remarkable, but that would have been one way to go with the next book. If you'd asked me what I'd expect out of a book called Komarr, it wouldn't have been the Vor-distorted view we got.

Damn, now I'm going to have get more books out of storage. I only have 3 LMBs.

And I'm sounding much crankier than I feel, because I do love the books, and think Memory is probably the greatest of them. Not my favorite, but the greatest.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Right. You're right. Mirror Dance is filed in my memory under Mark, so I tend to forget that we also get Ivan-with-depth. (Parenthetically--I would love to see another serious Vorkosigan novel with Mark as the protagonist.) I guess what I was trying to get at is that in Memory we get the depth without the parallax view. If that makes any sense at all.

Like I said, that auditorship is swamp-land in Florida, but I'll buy it anyway.

I think, though, that it's a choice that didn't have to be a mistake. What *I* was expecting as follow-up to Memory (although I like your idea, too, and, really, it would fit in with mine *g*) was at least a couple of novels that were simply about Miles being an auditor and figuring out how to handle it. Possibly I want this because I love mysteries (and think Bujold writes really good ones when she wants to), and that's essentially what such books would have to be, but it would also be the performance of a gesture I'm very fond of, in which a character gets what they think they really want, and then has to deal with all the drawbacks of that much desired thing.

Bujold isn't terribly interested in politics--which is fine, she doesn't have to be--but one thing I want to see reversed and recomplicated is something I was complaining about in ACC: the fairytale oversimplification of the Barrayaran factions, so that "good" equals "Miles" and "bad" equals "opposed to Miles." So Komarran nationalists who have read Gandhi and MLK, traditionalist Vor who are men of honor, principle, and intelligence ... good people who aren't marching in lockstep with Miles. We need to see them.

(Ooh, I just realized. What I really want: a Mark-and-Duv book. With no Kareen or other romantic/sentimental emollients. Just Mark and Duv and an intergalactic mission. Ooh, yes. *dreamy grin*)

This is a very long way 'round of saying your corrections & caveats are much appreciated. *g*

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

Right now most of my books are in boxes in the garage. They're difficult to get at because one of the cars is there, and most recently got parked uncomfortably close to them, which is to say, smashed up so close to the boxes that I don't think anyone could have gotten out of the car on the passenger side, and with the nose of the car butting the books in front of it. Getting at things is difficult. I did manage to find one B-C read hardcovers box, though, and extracted Memory and Komarr; Mirror Dance and ACC must be in a different one, and the rest of them are mass markets, of which I already have out only Brothers in Arms (because it's my favorite) and Cetaganda (because I was so little impressed by it, I only read it once, and thought it might bear rereading).

*sigh* I miss my books. I like my book collection.

I picked up a jumble of unreads on the search, but it's not the same thing as having them all easily available.

<i>What I really want: a Mark-and-Duv book. </i>

[oracne.livejournal.com]

[whimper]