Cuckoo’s Egg
2008-05-16 | Filed under Books |
Patti’s been doing a regular Friday series, asking folks to blog about favorite books that aren’t “first-tier classics.” A worthy goal, encompassing a great many books. In fact, I had a tough time narrowing down the list properly, especially with Patti’s off-hand reference to “classics we can all name.” Who’s “we”? And how much meta-commentary can be used as padding?
I decided to eliminate books that won major awards of some sort, or that might reasonably appear on a college syllabus, or have been the basis of a film adaptation, or have “bestseller” plastered all over the cover. I also eliminated books published this millennium and authors previously mentioned (though I’ll also endorse On Stranger Tides as the best voodoo pirate puppeteer book ever penned, and you should also read Wintertide by Elizabeth Hand).
That still leaves a lot of worthy books. In the end, I decided to pick by cover.
C.J. Cherryh’s a prolific author, and she’s been lucky enough to have some fine Michael Whelan covers. (Let’s forget the Gates covers for the moment.) This has always been one of my favorite book covers, period. Absolutely adorable. Yeah, yeah, never judge a book by its cover. And it’s true, the infant on the cover matures, as infants are wont to do. But this is one of those rare and wonderful covers that works as art, marketing, and a representation of the story.
Cherryh’s novels often tackle themes of culture clashes and communication. In her recent Foreigner series, those questions have been explicit: her protagonist is a diplomat and linguist trained to take part in politics at the highest level. In Cuckoo’s Egg, it’s simultaneously more obvious and more subtle.
The book opens in a hospital, with the human baby on the cover handed over to Duun, described as general and lord and “another thing.” (Cherryh often defines alien concepts by talking around them.) It is clear that the human is the alien species, and that Duun is both outcast and venerated. The novel is devoted to Duun’s efforts to raise the boy—learning what a human requires, training his body and mind, and sheltering him from others for as long as possible—and Thorn’s efforts to discover why he is different, how he fits into the world, and how he should go about growing up.
The question of where the human came from, and how he came to be in Duun’s care, is not fully answered until the very end of the book. The answer works, an audaciously simple explanation in keeping with the characters involved, the backstory and recent history only hinted at. A tight focus on a few players keeps the story moving and allows Cherryh to sketch out a vibrant civilization in flux.
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As original as I would expect. Thanks so much.
You’ve been tagged for a meme. See my website for details. Sorry.