Who gets to chat, when, and for whom is a conversation I can’t obtain enough of. For me this is just one of the vital aspects of feminism (besides, you know, equivalent rights and control over one’s very own body). It’s a conversation we don’t have enough in literature, though I rejoice we’re having it more frequently than we utilized to. And it’s something I started meditating about this previous week as I was ending up checking out I Am Cleopatra by Natasha Solomons and Cyborg Fever by Laurie Sheck.
Feminist Retellings of History in I Am Cleopatra
I Am Cleopatra beginnings solid, with the title character addressing us directly, “I desire you to see me as I am. You can dislike me, love me or despise me, but recognize me very first. I was birthed a girl and a siren. A future queen, if I must live that lengthy.” It’s a compelling start for a personality we have actually most often recognized via the men she enjoyed or bedded (or both), and we absolutely are familiar with Cleopatra much more intimately than ever.
The personality Solomons depicts is smart and tactical. She’s additionally young and afraid. I delighted in getting inside her motivations as her papa courts the support of the Romans, she marries her brother to end up being queen, she’s betrayed by that sibling, and Caesar enters her life. She’s also human: menstruating and unblemished when she initially satisfies Caesar, having bulged of the washing bag she was smuggled into her own palace inside. We see her acknowledge her own concerns and work to overcome them in the name of her people. It’s a beguiling representation, even if (and maybe because) she is much less the seductress than we’ve previously seen her be.
Via Cleopatra we learn more about Charmian, the lady that has been her servant because they were both birthed. There is a class difference right here as Charmian is never ever a narrator in the tale, though this Cleopatra does see the circumstances of the typical people around her more than we may expect. That per se is a good change, though I wouldn’t say this queen is fully “woke.”
The various other character who gets to tell her own predicament is Servilia, lover of Caesar (in Rome) and mother of Brutus. Servilia counsels the young princess on her initial check out to Rome and afterwards vanishes from the book for awhile as Caesar sticks himself in Egypt and Egyptian politics. We satisfy her once more and in earnest when Caesar brings Cleopatra to Rome.
The lack of Servilia from much of the center of guide is a flaw as I see it, since Servilia has a rich viewpoint of her very own, and I was taking pleasure in learning more about Rome via her eyes. It’s likewise the essence of what makes me think of feminism and voice in this book. I like that (for when) this story is told in the voices of the females. I did not love that the action after that rotates completely around the guys (especially Caesar). I recognize why guide is structured in this manner, it follows the action and Background as we understand it, yet I intended to extend into something new, something that might have passed the Bechdel Examination (and I wondered just how far from history a writer would certainly need to endeavor to make that occur).
Myriad Voices in Cyborg High Temperature
In sharp comparison, Cyborg High temperature by Laurie Sheck is a hybrid text that took me all sort of areas I never ever believed I would go. The voices in this book include Erwin (the narrator), a religious woman and a cyborg that talk to him, and Deadpool (that talks with the cyborg). Do not allow the ridiculous sound of that last sentence fool you, this publication is smart and amusing and I’m still considering its significances and ramifications.
“Maybe meaning hinge on the not-understanding, in the means points closed us out. Right that we stay unknowing.”– Laurie Sheck, Cyborg Fever
I’m not going to lie, in some cases I got shed as Erwin’s musings covered decline, Borges, orphan worlds, Tesla, Einstein, the exploration of black holes, a nun that can not affix to an infant, Professor Xavier (of the X-Men), musings on solitude, the chemical roots of compassion, engineering human beings for war, Laika, therefore, a lot a lot more. There were thousands of historical tidbits and tangents I wished to find, reality check, or follow. Sheck weaves them with each other skillfully right into a tantalizing expedition of what it suggests to be human and what comes next. But, regarding I can tell, she’s offering as numerous concerns as solutions (which makes guide much more interesting to check out).
“To be experienced is to understand you can not recognize.”– Laurie Sheck, Cyborg Fever
I was specifically excited to review this publication in this minute as I’ve been collaborating with AI in my day work. It’s been explanatory to see how details is collated, where errors obtain introduced into a system, and just how much it appears like the engines favor to be wrong than to admit not knowing. To me that is the achilles’ heel, where growth stops, because the makers can not after that wonder. This limitation makes me wonder about the people who made the systems, what their restrictions are.
“A map is a collection of agreed-upon errors.”– Laurie Sheck, Cyborg High Temperature
It was likewise intriguing to ponder algorithms and just how Erwin is obtaining presented to his info. I invest a great deal of time modifying guides related to seo, so I get to see behind at the very least among the curtains of exactly how choices are made for us online. It’s something I assume a lot regarding as my child learns to browse around the walled garden we have actually tried to create for him online.
“I really did not recognize algorithms can lead you from one topic to another without your thinking you’re being lead-you just think you’re making choices.”– Laurie Sheck, Cyborg High Temperature
As high as this book introduced me to all type of fantastic and fascinating ideas, it truly struck home for me with the Deadpool look. Not because I’m a Marvel superfan, however since I cope with one; and nothing beats telling your 10 -year-old at the breakfast table that the deep book you have actually read actually featured the star of the motion picture he had everyone watch recently ( Once Upon a Deadpool -very advise if you are not a super hero follower yet need something to see with somebody that is, due to the fact that it works with lots of levels, such as this book). Guide also attached to Unusual Planet (extremely recommend this due to the fact that no one does layered storytelling on TV like Noah Hawley) with the concept that “new sort of bodies cause brand-new ideas” and I was left wondering just how close we are to a future of firm towns in space and individuals who offer their entire lives (and in many cases bodies) over to corporations. Shudder.
Although reviewing while exhausted was either the very best means to encounter this story or the most awful (absolutely not in between), I valued how many voices came with and what a broad area of inquiry Sheck provided. It’s a book I will check out again.
If you want to listen to the voices of either of these publications on your own, I Am Cleopatra appears on October 21 (however you can pre-order it now) and Cyborg Fever is readily available now from Bookshop.org. If you make use of those web links to acquire, you’re maintaining indie book shops in service and I obtain a commission.
Originally released at https://islamcketta.com on October 9, 2025