Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

For an explanation of why I read this book, click here.

I cannot for the life of me remember why I was so excited to get this book twenty years ago. Seriously. I remember being astonished at coming across this early edition, and then... yeah, it's a blank. I hadn't ever read anything by the author, so that's a mystery, too.

And now, having read the first two stories in the fix-up novel, I'm even more mystified. The concept is clever enough: aliens, having come across humanity and been unimpressed, have shunted most of our solar system into a pocket dimension until we can prove we're mature enough to join the grownups in the rest of the universe, but at least we still have Mallworld--a giant shopping mall that serves up everything from religious experiences to suicide parlors. Somtow Sucharitkul/S.P. Somtow has a frenetic style that suits the decadent concept, and this future history setting feels wild and Blade Runner-ish.

The thing is, I'm just not connecting with the stories. Maybe it's that I'm reading them too late, and I've seen all this done many times before--challenges to culture and morality, challenges to religion, etc. It's obviously not the author's fault I didn't read these when they were first published to maybe be more impressed by their mildly transgressive nature. Still, it is what it is, and I'm going to mark this unfinished and move on.