Our discussion of Ares Express

The group met last night to discuss Ares Express by Ian McDonald.   I’ll try to hit some of the highlights of our discussion here:

• We began with some general discussion of who has read Desolation Road --- and whether it makes too much difference if you have.  Only a few people had read Desolation Road, as it turned out, and apparently, it doesn’t necessarily impact an understanding of Ares Express.   Hola said that she found Ares Express an easier book to follow, while Theresa mentioned it reminded her of James Michener’s Centennial where there is a focus on one site over generations.
• Not all readers were enthusiastic about the book.  Mike stated he tried reading it twice, and both times, didn’t get past page 31.  He found the author’s writing style unique, which he liked, but felt that overall, “The book didn’t work for me.”    aNon had a similar reaction to the book, and said that while he has read a number of other books about Mars (citing authors Kim Stanley Robinson and Ben Bova as examples), he only got to page 50 in Ares Express.   Unlike Mike, he didn’t care for the author’s writing style, and found the combination of sentence fragments mixed with run-on sentences to be distracting.
• Terry pointed out that she had not been clear that the book was set on Mars, which actually led to some discussion about whether or not the particular planet made a difference to the setting (or whether it could have been set on any planet other than Earth).  Mike mentioned that since he had recently read The Martian by Andy Weir, he would have had an easier time if the book had not been set on Mars (since in Weir’s book, there were a lot of very accurate details about the planet).
• Furry felt this was a legitimate point about the book, and said that there were a lot of things in the book that had no frame of reference.  However, she found aspects of the book to be really interesting: the social structure, and how the book was not only a coming of age story, but had a great older (and active) female character. 
• The character of Grandmother Taal was one that many readers liked, especially because she was an interesting counterpoint to the younger main female character (Sweetness).   The time-vampire encounter that she had was mentioned by a few readers as being pretty cool.  And, in fact, when this was described to readers who had not gotten that far in the story, was stated as “It’s kind of like strip poker with time instead of clothes.”
• We had some discussion of the two main characters (Sweetness and her grandmother).   aNon said he felt that the “runaway bride” was a bit of a tired trope, and wanted something a bit more original.   We had some discussion of this, with one reader weighing in that she was surprised by how old-fashioned the gender roles were in the story, considering it is set so far in the future.  Furry agreed, but said that there are only so many storylines … and at least, Sweetness was no “Mary Sue.”  However, Jen pointed out that it could have been really interesting if McDonald had given us some reversals, like if males weren’t allowed to drive trains (instead of females), or if a man had to marry a man and didn’t want to.    Generally, though, readers felt satisfied by the fact that Sweetness turns out to be smarter than she appears at the beginning. We all agreed that for most of the other characters, we had no real feeling of investment.
• Hola was one of the readers who had read Desolation Road before this book, and said that Ares Express was an easier read.  She liked the cutting magic, and the whole “Wild West on Mars” with trains, parasols and petticoats.  However, she brought up how she noticed how often the author used sexually descriptive imagery (and wondered if this was something other readers noticed). 
  • This led us to some general discussion about this aspect of the book, in particular.  Jen said this was something that she had noticed in the book, and actually did not like. For her, it gave the book a bit of a sleazy feel and was also distracting.  Menolly also made a similar comment, and both readers said that they wondered about this aspect of the author’s writing style.   Theresa pointed out that the author had made a comparison about how Mars was like a female, who, through terraforming/settlement/etc. is assaulted, and thus, the sexually descriptive writing comes into play.   Jen noted that while she could see this side of it, it still didn’t really feel necessary.  For her, sex isn’t the issue – it was how it was used in the descriptive writing that bothered her.
• And speaking of parts of the book that bothered readers, Furry brought up a part of the book that bothered all of us: the furniture people.  She wondered why this was in the book, and if it was really important to the story, especially since there were not other elements like it in the story.
• Hola said that she appreciated the author’s lightheartedness (except for the furniture people) and that this was a book where there was no torture, pain, and generally, “no icky kind of stuff.”  She also liked how she felt that the author played with the meta idea of Sweetness as a story (and also that he included a lot of sly little things that he introduces into the story). 
• A few readers saw similarities between this book and a few others. Theresa mentioned she had read a review that compared it to A Canticle for Leibowitz, and others made a comparison to One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, or the writing of Isabel Allende.
• One reader, who had actually suggested the book to the group, said that he sees this book as being in the tradition of Ray Bradbury with the worldbuilding and storytelling.  He felt McDonald takes on a culture in a totally different view of the world compared to a lot of science fiction.  White people are nowhere to be found, which makes him think of just who it would be emigrating from Earth to a planet like Mars.  He understood the point from some readers about the “sleazy” feel to some of the writing, but said that for him, it’s like a Charles Bukowski kind of thing.  He liked McDonald’s writing because he finds it incredibly immersive and likens it to William Gibson, where it is something beyond his experience of storytelling.   For him, good fiction is something that can force you out of your comfort zone.
  • This last comment led to a bit of commentary from other readers.  Les said that he agreed, and sometimes this works in a book – but here, it didn’t work for him.   Jen also commented on the immersive style of some authors, like McDonald and Mieville (although she finds Mieville to be something she prefers).  The immersive, not-many-explanations aspect of the book wasn’t the issue for her (and instead, she just didn’t feel like the story and writing style really resonated with her).
• Furry commented that she liked the worldbuilding in the book, but felt like she wanted more explanations at times (or sometimes more pedestrian prose).  She liked the story, and the narration, but felt that if the author is going to throw so many things into a story, that there should be a little more detail.   Hola felt the author is trying to put you in “a dream of Mars,” and for her, she let the story wash over her, without worrying about details.   Jen, however, said that she felt that there were almost too many details in the story.  To her, it seemed like a tasting menu, where you get a little bit of something, and then it’s on to something else (which can leave you wanting more of that previous bit).   The reader who suggested the book stated that for him, he likes being dropped into a world that he can explore, without explanation, because that gives him a culture he’s never experienced, which forces him to question his own assumptions. 

As you can see, we had a good discussion (as always).   We do welcome more discussion, so please feel free to leave a comment!

The codes the group gave to this book were: MARS, TER, DRG, LEL, AGE, FEM, HDS and MAG – and the averaged-out rating was a 3.