Jo Walton's Among Others

I've read so many positive reviews about the book that I finally got myself a copy.

However, I'm not nearly as steeped in the classics of SF/F as I'd like to be. I'm wondering, then, if someone without that frame of reference would appreciate the book. I think I'd still empathize with the narrator and her love of spec fic; maybe I'm wrong in this.

Also, are there many (any?) spoilers for said classics? Or are the references less direct?

Thanks!

I liked it. But no, I think the book doesn't stand on its own nearly as well without the SF references. They are a major source of the pleasure in it.

I am pretty steeped in the classics of SF/F, but I'm afraid I couldn't appreciate the book, and stopped reading after 80 pages or so. Since most of the positive comments I've heard are about how great it was to "re-visit" the familiar works, I'm guessing it works even less without that background.

There are no real spoilers (well... nothing I would consider a spoiler) but if you haven't heard of at least half of the books, then it is probably not the time to read it - the narrative depends on the references and the familiarity with the books to actually work. Trying to get the book to work without them is like trying to have LOTR without the Middle Earth.

I agree with the others. It is kind of like watching "Scary Movie" when you have never seen any of the horror films that it sends up. Pretty thin gruel.

Sort of like watching the new version of "21 Jump Street" without ever having seen the original series or "Breaking Bad".

I don't think it necessarily requires having read them all. I think it requires having been a voracious, passionate SF reader; the exact titles aren't as critical.

I agree with Lorax. However, you may find yourself adding some of the titles mentioned to your wishlist!

>7 lorax: No, but if you happen yourself to remember the discovery of that same general body of work as a teen, the experience is something more like reading one's own literary autobiography than fiction alone.

I'd think it probably works for anyone who has been an enthusiastic reader in their youth - it does not have to be that particular set of books, but you certainly should be able to relate to the narrator's passion for books, otherwise the novel will likely just pass you by and leave you shrugging.
Having said that, the pleasure you may derive from Among Others (and I for one loved the novel) will certainly be enhanced if you know the books she is talking about - but then, you can always look them up on

It doesn't work for everyone who was an enthusiastic reader in their youth. I was definitely such, and it didn't work for me -- and I'm familiar with the books she's talking about.

I do understand that it's just a matter of taste, and a lot of people loved it. But I also have heard a number of people say they stopped reading it. I just found it boring, to be honest.

I find the ratings distribution to be pretty interesting. Of 221 raters, only 4 are below 3 stars. I wonder if most people who didn't like it just stopped reading it and didn't feel they could justifiably rate it.

It also seems kind of unusual that a book with 655 members has 60 reviews. I can point you to plenty of books that have thousands of copies and fewer reviews. Of course, looking at the "Hot this Month" stats, I can find plenty of others with the same pattern.

I'd love to get my hands on the LT data to delve into stuff like this.

^12 That could well be it -- I stopped reading it, and I almost never review books that I stop reading. (I made an exception once for an Early Reviewers book that I couldn't get through, but I felt guilty about it -- although not enough to keep reading.)