Sheri Tepper would have to be my favourite multi-published author overall. A prolific writer, her imaginative and diverse books cover ethical, environmental, social and even metaphysical issues. These themes can address anything from race, feminist/sexist power plays, ethics, virtues and archetypes / symbols, consciousness,and many more!
Tepper shines in the realm of fantasy/sci-fi. Her books, to a large degree, are fairly predictable in that you know you will be drawn in and lose yourself totally in the worlds and their dramas that she so eloquently and vividly creates.
'The Family Tree' (1997) stands out to me as her most surprising work. It is almost on par with her "Marianne" trilogy, which I consider the pinnacle of her work (to date, I have read maybe 50-60% of her books.) 'The Family Tree'
'The Family Tree' is a startling book. The separate character's groups and locations (modern day earth, and another, totally different world) are initially confusing, but knowing Tepper has the ability to join loose threads, I perservered with curiosity as to HOW she would do this. This in itself makes this particular novel stand out from her other work. There sure is a huge surprise within it's pages, totally unpredictable and shocking in its whole repercussions. It causes one to pause, review the story line, see the pieces slotting in more coherantly, then continue reading with piqued curiosity.
Tepper's books often contain life wisdom, little pearls of "self-help" which leave me wishing I was brave enough to get a pen and mark them out. There were several in this book. Finishing "The Family Tree" leaves me awed at Tepper's uniqueness and "out of the box" thinking. She would be someone I would dearly love enjoying an armakfatidi concoction with, discussing geneticism and repercussions of "what if's..." I highly recommend this book for many reasons - the surprise twist, the concepts and ethical issues it raises, as well as a remarkably good storyline....
No comments:
Post a Comment