Fuzzy Nation
Jun. 1st, 2012 12:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerLast day of school! My desk’s clean, as is my computer, but I still need the hours so I’m here, reading John Scalzi’s Fuzzy Nation. Someone should consider making that book a movie, because adorable fuzzy sentient creatures.
The sentient and potentially-sentient creatures of earth are depressing un-fuzzy. Humans, of course, totally not fuzzy. Elephants: not fuzzy. Also, too big to cuddle. Dolphins: not fuzzy, and too aquatic to cuddle, as are squid. (Yes, squid. Squid are apparently super smart. Teach me to hang onto my mammalian prejudices.) Chimps, admittedly, are fuzzy, but still distinctly unadorable. Why couldn’t chincillas be sentient? Or bunnies? Or cats?
There are a number of reasons why Fuzzy Nation is worth reading. I’s funny, fast-paced, satisfyingly twisty, and it’s clear Scalzi had a ball writing it. It’s good enough that I want to read the book it’s based on, H. Beam Piper’s Little Fuzzy.
But for my money, the fuzzies are worth the price of admission alone. They’re really smart bipedal cats with hands or astonishingly dextrous raccoons. They’re supremely adorable - the scenes where the fuzzies explore Jack Holloway’s house are so, so cute - but Scalzi doesn’t rest content with mere cuteness. The fuzzies electrify every scene they’re in; by the end of the book, there’s a scene where the fuzzies actually made me tear up.
I won’t say more, because this is a plotty book and the twists are part of the fun. But I do recommend it: it’s a quick, fun, funny read, but it’s got more heart and sinew than most books that match that description.
The sentient and potentially-sentient creatures of earth are depressing un-fuzzy. Humans, of course, totally not fuzzy. Elephants: not fuzzy. Also, too big to cuddle. Dolphins: not fuzzy, and too aquatic to cuddle, as are squid. (Yes, squid. Squid are apparently super smart. Teach me to hang onto my mammalian prejudices.) Chimps, admittedly, are fuzzy, but still distinctly unadorable. Why couldn’t chincillas be sentient? Or bunnies? Or cats?
There are a number of reasons why Fuzzy Nation is worth reading. I’s funny, fast-paced, satisfyingly twisty, and it’s clear Scalzi had a ball writing it. It’s good enough that I want to read the book it’s based on, H. Beam Piper’s Little Fuzzy.
But for my money, the fuzzies are worth the price of admission alone. They’re really smart bipedal cats with hands or astonishingly dextrous raccoons. They’re supremely adorable - the scenes where the fuzzies explore Jack Holloway’s house are so, so cute - but Scalzi doesn’t rest content with mere cuteness. The fuzzies electrify every scene they’re in; by the end of the book, there’s a scene where the fuzzies actually made me tear up.
I won’t say more, because this is a plotty book and the twists are part of the fun. But I do recommend it: it’s a quick, fun, funny read, but it’s got more heart and sinew than most books that match that description.
