Singer from the Sea

This is one of my favorite stories from a favorite author of mine. A young woman is raised on a planet where the upper class society is very traditional, and somewhat mysterious. The women tend to die very young, but the men tend to live to a great old age. That's how this story begins, but the further you get into it, the more you realize that something is not right. In fact, there are some very disturbing things going on. I won't reveal the secrets, but I will tell you that Ms Tepper has woven into her yarn some very thought-provoking statements about the social impact of wealth, the dangers of having a resource that everyone else wants (think, Arabian oil), the cost of unintended consequences, and how there's often more going on than show more there appears to be at first glance. Have I got you curious? Read this review again after you've read the book, and you may find yourself contemplating the story and its ending for years to come. show less

This was the second Tepper book I read, and it remains in my head as one of her more solid achievements. The story is engaging and like in all of her other books, there are commentaries on religion, society, and what not (which is not surprising to a Tepper fan) but I like this one best, along with Sideshow and Fresco. This book has a more coherent plot and style, and while not without its plot twists, made more sense than some of her other work like 'Gibbon's Decline and Fall' and 'The Visitor'.

While this book was not as good as Grass or The Companions, it did have a strong, dark-skinned female protagonist. Science fiction and fantasy novels with intelligent women who have opinions and speak their mind--Tepper's Genevieve calls it "spouting"--are what made me into the reader and writer I am today.

I began with books like the Ordinary Princess and Changeling and later progressed to Madeline L'Engle's novels and The Dragonriders of Pern, eventually arriving at the Avalon series by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Tepper's Singer from the Sea is part of this inspiration; even today, my bibliophilia and my writing is nurtured by characters like Genevieve.

There are moments of lyric prose that can be compared to Grass and The Companions, and show more Singer from the Sea has a compelling story. I would recommend it to people who also love strong female characters in fantasy/sci-fi settings. show less

Genevieve is an aristocrat on a planet where aristocratic women marry later and die early, usually in childbirth or while nursing a baby, although common women often live to eighty. Over the course of the book, she rebels against this fate and together with the commoner she loves manages to piece together the terrible truth, and discovers the role she is destined to play in saving the planet.

I never really warmed to Genevieve and didn't think her words and actions always rang true. It was interesting but I didn't like the ending and overall I preferred "Grass" by the same author.

Another compelling Tepper novel - she delights me to no end with the breadth and depth of her imaginings, and each of her novels is so unlike any of the others. Fantastically engaging story, believably terrible and inhumane characters, multidimensional and developed protagonists, a beautiful and optimistic resolution.

I didn't recognize the title, but love what I've read by Tepper, so ordered this from the library. Surprise--I'd already read it, but figured it was good for another read-through even tho I rarely re-read novels. Now I see that I am much more picky about the writing when I'm not focused on keeping up with the plot. I can't remember my quibbles now. It is still a good book. And I love the ecological basis: each world has a song which all creatures are a part of, & when the song is forgotten, the spirit departs, the world dies.
Maori as the original colonizers. 2nd wave of colonizers are greedy, rigid patriarchs, where women are subservient.
2012 review.

The classic horror tale, "Good Lady Ducayne" meets "Whale Rider." On an alien planet.
Yep, that about sums it up!

This was a re-read - I couldn't remember if I'd read it before, but it'd been long enough that it was still very enjoyable. This is Sheri Tepper, so, as one might expect, planets have sentient spirits, women are oppressed in creepy and disturbing ways by evil and powerful men, and a heroine fights for social justice and the environment.

If you enjoy stories that have vampires and mermaids, you will probably like this book. Not that it HAS vampires or mermaids, technically... but, sorta.