When We Have Wings Claire Corbett 9781459624771 Books
Download As PDF : When We Have Wings Claire Corbett 9781459624771 Books
In a world divided into fliers and non - fliers, how far would you go to be able to fly? How much would you sacrifice - your own child?
When We Have Wings Claire Corbett 9781459624771 Books
Fearful and haunting. A great commentary on class structure and how much should we tamper with the human genome. Really enjoyed the dilemma of the main protagonists, Peri and the Chessyres. Those who don't have money versus those who do. Complex, involving. A great read as always from Claire Corbett.Product details
|
Tags : When We Have Wings [Claire Corbett] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. In a world divided into fliers and non - fliers, how far would you go to be able to fly? How much would you sacrifice - your own child?,Claire Corbett,When We Have Wings,ReadHowYouWant,1459624777,Fiction General,General & Literary Fiction,Modern & contemporary fiction,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)
People also read other books :
- Wisdom Blue Moon Rising Trilogy Book 1 eBook Bonnie Watson
- The Kids on the Block eBook Mario C Chavez Ray Arroyo Zarco Guerrero Joan R Neubauer
- The Museum Heist A Tale of Art and Obsession edition by Kameel Nasr Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks
- The Playboy Billionaire The Romero Brothers Book 3 edition by Shadonna Richards Literature Fiction eBooks
- British Enfield Rifles Vol 1 SMLE No1 Mk I and Mk III Internet Workshop Series Charles R Stratton
When We Have Wings Claire Corbett 9781459624771 Books Reviews
Beautiful book. Near future with increasing contrasts between the utopia of the haves and the dystopia of the have-nots, certainly a familiar trend. Corbett has produced an immensely thought provoking book making us look at the implications of genetic modification, germline engineering, environmental enhancement and degradation and the loss of the middle ground. The passages describing flight makes it very clear why someone would sacrifice almost anything for the opportunity, both for themselves and for their offspring, and the consequences for those left behind by technology.
I do wonder about the pricing policy of having it at $17 initially and then dropping to less than $3. Surely starting and staying at $9 would sell more books and make more money in the long run? Maybe it's just me, but over $10 is a bit of a psychological barrier for an eBook, especially since I intend to buy the paper copy for friends to borrow.
Right from the first few pages I was intensely interested in When We Have Wings Claire Corbett's first science-fiction novel.
The protagonist, Peri, is flying, carrying baby Hugo and searching for her missing friend Luisa. The scene is frightening and real and somehow I know that this isn't a caricature world but something much closer to home. It's clear that Peri is in mortal danger and has brought Hugo into that danger with her. A baby who doesn't belong to her; a baby recklessly exposed to the elements.
When Peri and Hugo disappear, a private detective named Zeke Fowler is called in by Peter Chesshyre, Hugo's father. Zeke is a flightless man, a man who is a failure at aspiring to better things, but Chesshyre and his wife Avis Katon would rather accept Zeke's help than deal with the police. The question is are these winged and glamorous parents just protecting their privacy or do they have something else to hide?
Corbett's Australian future is one of haves and have nots, familiar people in a just-around-the-corner future. In Corbett's world you have the feeling that everyone has rubbed along together in a socially mobile past but wings have created a seismic shift in human society. Zeke, Zeke's son Thomas, Peri, Hugo, Avis, Peter and all the other characters face live in a world where wings can only be acquired with great wealth, youth and good health.
"And who are the rest of us, us non-fliers? The five Rs, we're called Retarded, Retired, Religious, Rationed and Regional. In other words, anyone to poor or two old or too disabled for Flight. What these contemptuous words disguise is that we ordinary humans are still, by far, the majority. Too old means anyone over about twenty-five and too poor covers almost everyone else, including those from Rural and Regional Areas--RaRA-land, which is anywhere outside the City. Too disabled is anyone too fat or too stupid or suffering from any other condition contraindicated to handle the treatments and then to keep up the ferocious regimen of physical perfection needed to get you up into the sky and keep you from falling out of it screaming. Believe me, there is no equality of opportunity in the world of Flight."
There are many reasons to love this book. I've always been interested in thought provoking representations of pregnancy and childcare and this book has both. Pregnancy seems to get none of the speculation it surely deserves and childcare is often depicted as dull fare undertaken by stereotypical female characters.
Corbett clearly draws on her personal and working background, which includes a childhood in a politically active family and a professional life that includes working in a sexual assault counselling agency and policy writing for Bob Carr on issues such as health, water, genetically modified organisms and a later period working at New South Wales Health on child and family issues.
When We Have Wings has all the pace, action, interesting characters and tension you need in a mystery science-fiction crossover novel. It also has a very sophisticated approach to its complex subject, which includes child protection, religious and political corruption, social advantage and disadvantage and the divide between rural, regional and city-dwellers.
If I have any criticism of the book it's a very small one. There's a romantic relationship and a love scene towards the end of the novel, involving a male character I disliked. It all felt a little traditional for my taste. It's only a tiny criticism and you should not be put off by my quibbling reaction.
If you've dreamed of flying, then When We Have Wings is going to open up a whole new world for you a world where the sky's topography is every bit as detailed as the land's.
Peri, a beautiful young girl from the disenfranchised and underprivileged fringes of an unnamed country, has escaped to The City where she realises her dream of becoming a "Flyer"- one of the few humans with the resources to be genetically and physically altered and become winged. Set in a Dystopian future city which seems to share more than a few features with Sydney Australia, this story finds Peri working as a nanny for a rich Flyer family with a baby (Hugo). Peri has wings- which we learn is highly unusual for a girl of her status, and when she chooses to flee the city taking the baby with her, a series of events unfolds via her pursuit by a private detective. Has Peri's choice to become a Flyer, with all the written and unwritten clauses which bind her, taken more than what is fair from her?
This book has many features to recommend it it is an original concept, clearly very well researched, and passionately written.
As the story unfolds, several subplots unfurl, which follow the reasons for Peri's escape, why she was granted wings, and the true relationship between her and her employers, the often sinister motives of big Pharma, medicine, and government agencies.
I enjoyed the pace of this story and the narrative was engaging and the prose flowing, descriptive, and thoughtful. I think my main criticism would be that the competing plot lines occasionally (for me) overly and unnecessarily complicated the main story- i.e what happens to Peri and baby Hugo. I think Peri's motivations and feelings become buried in the political subtexts to the point where I became occasionally bored and skipped ahead to "find" her.
Overall, this is an imaginative, highly original and well-wrought tale which I read at a cracking pace because I quickly became completely immersed. I wanted to be a flyer too... Well worth a read.
Fascinating story about what would happen if people really were able to gain wings, how it could affect those with and those without. Very fun read as well.
Fearful and haunting. A great commentary on class structure and how much should we tamper with the human genome. Really enjoyed the dilemma of the main protagonists, Peri and the Chessyres. Those who don't have money versus those who do. Complex, involving. A great read as always from Claire Corbett.
0 Response to "≡ Download Free When We Have Wings Claire Corbett 9781459624771 Books"
Post a Comment