continuing to read Altered Carbon (i had the book on my shelf long before i learned anything about its author, unfortunately) and i cannot stress enough the absurdity of writing a story like this that explores the themes it does (the way our physical bodies correlate to our identity etcetc) and also being a super TERF LMAO. writers who can handle transhumanism but transgenderism being a bit too far? very funny!!
in seriousness i'm enjoying it and hooked in by it narratively (outside of some very goofy r/menwritingwomen shit here and there) but you can definitely tell espec with that given context that despite the themes and how it does touch on them in a fairly adequate and enjoyable way, he still thinks more like a dumb cis guy with a narrow POV of ideas he's actually willing to engage with and be challenged by. it really does seems like the kind of story that would be deeply enhanced if the author was a trans person with dysphoria, you know? just seems like a no-brainer to write a transhumanism story with the perspective of someone with body dysphoria and the way that correlates; I Identify As An Attack Helicopter (the short story) was excellent for that particular reason too, and I'm still astounded that people really harassed that poor author and swore it was a transphobic dogwhistle until she had to out herself. no justice
i myself dont consider myself to be someone who experiences dysphoria profoundly but i have enough of a personal grasp on my sentiments and self and the levels of comfort i operate at to understand that this story (at least so far) kind of just only scratches the surface of what it really means for your sense of self and comfort to take your soul and slot it into a bunch of bodies that have nothing to do with you. that shit squirms me just to read about, though the protag and the other characters seem to adjust very quickly. you could make the case that this just proves how normalized that sort of thing is, but given the author's views, i'm going to just make the case that he's a goober who can't truly get to the bottom of the very sentiments that drive the story's concept because that would require actually validating the trans experience. this story is my jam otherwise, so it's pretty unfortunate!!
the more i read this the more i'm just baffled like how do you genuinely write something like this and also decide to be a TERF. why doesn't the MC suddenly refer to himself as a woman the moment his consciousness gets slotted into a female body? because he knows, internally, that his existence is that of being a man, right? regardless of the current physical form?
guy who wrote a book exploring and acknowledging gender as distinct from sex thinks gender is in fact not distinct from sex. i'm just baffled
it's a shame too outside of some spotty bits i'm having a genuinely good time with this book. im just Wow !!!! the disconnect
Heartbreaking: Coolest Book You've Ever Read Was Written By Some Annoying TERF
there's this whole passage about how human beings are in a constant state of flux and really even without the ability to hop between bodies, no one is ever "the same" as how you met them
our identity is constantly and perpetually changing in a way that is inevitable, in a way that can only be escaped through death, and the person we meet and learn to love a year from now could have the same appearance and name, and yet not truly be the same person as before
and i found that super resonant
but even more than ever it's compounding on me: how do you write this sentiment and not believe in trans identities. when i get this dude
anyway it was a gripping detective mystery that converged nicely towards the end and an excellent read overall, outside of two horrible sex scenes. easy 9/10 minimum for me. dont give that guy ur money though i didnt know until it was too late
