Eugenio Negro

Zosime has been occupationally displaced by the collapse of the skyladder in Quito Equador. She has taken a job beneath her training and abilities in Nigeria working as a load specialist on a private industrial venture to place a colony on Mars. She has immediate negative feelings toward the project mostly because the owners are unwilling to spend the necessary money to do it right and because her co-workers are bastards prone to the abuse and disrespect of women. But it is when the company decides to send sixteen breeding pairs of yearling pigs to Mars on their aging ‘piece of junk’ space shuttle without adequate protection and life support that she decides to take action.

Meat Ladder to Mars is a satire directed at everything up to and including private space ventures, animal rights issues, employee relations, corporate management, the American attitude in foreign countries and dissenting opinions about the importance of industrial priorities. The author is gifted in descriptive, detailed writing to the point where the story bogs down in unnecessary detail and leaves the reader praying for relief. The book could have been half as long without the excessive description. Despite his love of detail, the author writes English well and has an excellent command of vocabulary. Because he uses the ‘quotation dash’ or ‘em’ dash common in Spanish I suspect that English is not his native language. This makes reading Meat Ladder To Mars a different experience for most readers for whom English is native and one that I found confusing.
However, once past those issues, the story becomes entertaining. The Zosime’s character is likeable and torn between her family and her job initially, and between her job and what she felt to be to be right in the end. Zosime’s big battle is with herself and her values. Although she could be endangered by the company, her fear of them is largely paranoia due her own subversive activities.

The ‘boss’ is essentially undefined and represents the hidden face of corporate America. Dr. Chesky is the local manager charged with responsibility for making non-productive reality into productive reality. Feelings about him are ambivalent at best. Gopman is a chauvinistic egotist that everyone would love to hate, but every workplace has their share of Gopmans. Clayton is just trying to skate by doing as little as possible to survive.

In the end, I expected a massive explosion with many dead and massive international repercussions, but the story ended far differently. How differently, you’ll have to see by reading it. This story should be loved by anyone who loves tongue-in-cheek satire. 3-Stars Clabe Polk… (mehr)