Ender's Game

Many people* (men) have recommended this to me as their favorite book — emphatically, as it shaped their worldview — so even though I typically don't like science fiction, I thought I might enjoy this one. Wrong!In fact, I struggled to finish and skimmed most of the last 50 pages. I know this is a young adult book from the ‘70s but my god is it sexist. Only a precious few girls (only one mentioned) make it into this school, presumably because they aren't good at strategy and math. And the most fleshed-out female character of the book, Valentine, is of course portrayed as beautiful and selfless and ultimately powerless, the way every man would imagine a perfect woman to be. *vomit Also anyone else feel like Ender's relationship with his sister was a sub for a romantic plot line and maybe just a little messed up? Maybe?

Not only that, but I'm supposed to buy into the fact that this kid has these kind of mature, nuanced thoughts as a 6-10 year old? I get the whole precocious kid thing, but that's been done in fantasy books a million times over and far more believably. Just because it's sci-fi or fantasy shouldn't mean I have to suspend belief. If kids in this world (presumably ours, in the future) are that fucking smart, you need to make me REALLY believe that. Whereas to me it felt ridiculous.

That and the plot just dragged on through tons of dumb battles. It was like reading a play-by-play of action scenes, or watching different levels of a video game. Which I truly don't give a shit about. I'm just not compelled by battle/action scenes. Not in movies, not in books. They have no substance for me. And the characters were just as flat — no growth, no development (which maybe makes sense if you have the internal life of a 50 year old man as an elementary school child? Like what the heck!).

Oh and lest I forget the dialogue! Just terrible.

Anyways I can see how a middle school boy would eat this up but as a grown woman, I think this is a pretty terrible book.