Nomansland (edition 2010)

Dystopian ( )

I'm a sucker for dystopian lit, even though stand-outs are few and far between. At some level, so many of them are the same. As I read through this one, I was mentally ticking off boxes: "vague future setting? check. Strict governmental oversight--check--of an isolated people? check. Inability to travel beyond that town's borders? check again." In an odd bit of synchronicity, the Boston Bibliophile's husband posted a review today of Justin Cronin's The Passage, a review that included his checklist of elements found in nearly every dystopian novel. When he says "when reading a novel set in a certain type of post-apocalyptic future, there are things that a genre-savvy audience might expect to see," he's absolutely right, because that's exactly what I was doing the whole time I was reading this.

Nomansland is an engrossing story, but still predictable if you're familiar with the genre. Keller is a teenage Tracker-in-training in a society where frivolities and friendships are forbidden. When a fellow patrol-member invites Keller to check out a hidden house from the Time Before, stuffed with Found Objects, Keller is excited but also nervous. When the group starts making more regular trips, Keller enjoys the experiences but can't shake the bad feeling. Anyone who's ever read a book can see that this isn't going to end well.

My biggest complaint is how precious the descriptions and interpretations of current-world artifacts are--couches are "long chairs" and these "long chairs" are arranged around "a box with a gray window in it," etc. It's kind of interesting from an anthropological perspective, and it makes sense that the girls in the book don't know what, say, a computer looks like or what it would be used for, but the constant stream of coy, almost coquette-ish description is just too .... well, there's no better word than precious.

My biggest disappointment, however, is that in a book about this gynocentric civilization in which men are literally called "the enemy," there was surprisingly little discussion of gender politics. When I picked this up I was at least expecting something more similar to Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland, but at the very least hoping for some explanation of why the genders had split the way they had.

Engrossing, but not something I'm likely to buy for the collection--while dystopias circulate pretty well in my library, I don't think this one will really grab my teens. ( )

Warning - I gave away some spoilers while ranting

Well, um, I have no idea why this book was written. And this is just one of those books that definitely requires an explanation, it is quite clearly not for basic entertainment value... there's a message in there somewhere, I'm sure of it, a message that's all about women and men and feminism, the way we live now and the way we could live. I'm just not sure what that is. In fact, "not sure" seems too mild a phrase, to say I haven't got a clue would be more appropriate.

Furthermore, [b:Nomansland|7162142|Nomansland|Lesley Hauge|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1331929231s/7162142.jpg|7494921] read like a short story that someone had desperately tried to stretch into a full-length novel and failed miserably at it. There is only one important chapter in the whole book - the one where the girls find the house from "the time before" - and the rest appears to be just filler, shock tactics, and some of the worst world-building I've ever read. This novel could be set at any time, even in our present time, it could be set anywhere in this world or another. The world is there to form a weak backdrop against some sketchy feminist discussions ramblings.

I admit I read this because I thought [b:The Gate to Women's Country|104344|The Gate to Women's Country|Sheri S. Tepper|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171511056s/104344.jpg|879718] would be too hardcore for a sci-fi wuss like me and saw this as the young adult alternative. So there's this land (somewhere, at some time) whose population is made up entirely of women, I would tell you how this happened and where the men went if only I knew the answer to that myself. But anyway, they are trained warriors, an idea I would very much like to comment on but risk giving away spoilers so I will restrain myself. They are also taught to accept that the lives they live, no matter how stressful, are better than the way things were "before". Before what, one can only imagine.

The big event of this book is when a group of girls stumble across some objects from "before". These objects include magazines, barbie dolls and make-up. They are astounded at the shiny images of women, some unbelievably skinny, when they are muscular and hairy. The clothes and shoes they find seem ridiculous. It is noted how the barbie dolls prove that the women of "the time before" walked permanently on tiptoe. Whether you agree with the ideas portrayed or not, it seems rather clear what the author's intention is with this, right? Basically, poke fun at modern society with it's stick-thin models and obsession with beauty to the point of having painful "spiked" shoes. Uh, no, not quite...

Because this novel's evil bitch character is determined to never return to these ways of the past, she sees these women as weak and submissive to the patriarchal society, the story of genesis as a way for men to hide their fear of their own lust behind the forced subservience of women, and she sees that those who disagree are punished in a variety of disgusting ways. So... confusing. And underneath it all there is an uprising brewing, girls who have not fallen for her lies and wish to escape Nomansland to the world outside. So is the message that the society we live in is actually good? That we should stick with the skinny models and make-up and beauty pageants?

Who the hell knows? [a:Lesley Hauge|3176545|Lesley Hauge|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1288269483p2/3176545.jpg], just what is your point?

I admire any author who tries to incorporate feminist philosophy into their writing, it doesn't get enough publicity, but I can't figure out what this wishy-washy message is trying to say to me. I almost miss [a:Kristin Cashore|1373880|Kristin Cashore|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1273894652p2/1373880.jpg], at least I knew what she was going on about, even if her message was scarily radical most of the time and not what I agree with. I won't give away the ending to [b:Nomansland|7162142|Nomansland|Lesley Hauge|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1331929231s/7162142.jpg|7494921], but I will say that it only confuses me even more and I wonder if Ms Hauge even knew herself what she wanted to say with this novel.
( )

The entire premise of the novel is intriguing. A world without men, depending on my mood, sounds both horrifying and amazing. As I was reading I just kept thinking, imagine if were were a country run by a dictatorial female leader who just happened to be completely fed up with men and she decided to move us all to a secluded island, banishing men and threatening any who tried to approach. It would be insane.

One of the things that I didn't like about this novel was the lack of explanation. I felt like the reader never really got the whole background story, which is often my favorite part of dystopian novels. Finally discovering what cataclysmic error occured that caused this dystopian environment is often the moment that brings the entire novel full circle.

Fortunately, there were many aspects of the novel that I loved. First and foremost, the discussion of pop culture by the girls of Nomansland. There confusion over models and present day fashion drove home many interesting points, causing me to look at many modern day practices and ideas in a new light. Even things like birthday cards are foreign to these future girls, especially thing like the signature Love, Dad.

Overall, NOMANSLAND was a quick, interesting read, but I have read better YA dystopian novels. If you love dystopian novels, I think this novel is worth a read, but I would wait to buy it. ( )

Review posted here: http://offbeatvagabond.blogspot.com/2011/10/book-review-nomansland-by-lesley-hau...

Nomansland is a book set in post-apocalyptic world where men are the enemy. They have been diseased and many have died out. On an island known as Foundland, there are only women who run the island. They protect their island from the men. The trackers, teenage girls who protect the shores of the island, end up in a hidden house that is full of things they were told are forbidden. They must pretend as though they don’t know there is more out there and must continue to hide their emotions before they are all punished.

Another perfect example of a deceitful book cover. When I first saw this book, I immediately thought it was some modern take on Amazon women or even cooler, Xena Warrior Princess (HELLS YEAH!). But sadly, that was not the case. In fact, I am not entirely sure what the case was. This book was a little contradicting to me and sort of left me unsatisfied.

We have lots of characters, but given their society, they don’t have personalities. Women aren’t supposed to have friendships. They can’t have names that end in an “A” or a “Y”. They are not supposed to show emotions. All these things and more are pitfalls. Women are supposed to be self-sufficient, not worrying with silly things like friendship. Why? I am still not sure. And that is the real story of this book. The one characters, Ling (who started it all), found all those magazines, shoes and clothes; things forbidden in their world. Through this, she is becoming her own person and she is trying to help Keller (the main character) open her eyes and see there is more out there. Keller goes throughout this book questioning everything because she as well as the other girls is left in the dark.

The biggest problem with this book is the plot. It starts off okay and just keeps staying at okay. There is no real climax until close to the end which I can’t spoil. But then it was over so quickly. I didn’t appreciate it at all. I honestly thought it was incomplete. Nothing is really explained, they just are. I understand they are creating a world where no one is allowed to think for themselves, but how did it get that bad? You don’t really know how or why things got to where they are. You don’t know why they are fighting the men so much. As a matter of fact, I don’t understand how the girls don’t catch on at all. They get impregnated when the population is going low. Ummm, hello? That means they might be freezing sperm (don’t know how since there doesn’t seem to be electricity) or there are men around somewhere. But I guess I can’t complain too much because most of the girls seem brainwashed and can’t really think outside of the box.

Overall, with the setting of this dystopian world, this almost totalitarian society, I expected there to be an uprising of some sort. Some rebelling, some fight, some change. There wasn’t any of that. This book pretty much ends where it started with a couple of exceptions; lies being revealed, death and Keller escaping. What was the point? Where is the fight, the conflict? It just fell short for me. As much as I enjoyed the worldbuilding, not much was done in this world. I pray Hauge makes a sequel to this because there is so much more to explain. We have an interesting world, now we need more story and character. ( )