Mutatis-Mutandis
02-02-2010, 10:11 AM
Has anyone else read this book by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough? It won the 1989 (I think 89) Nebula award. I just did and really enjoyed it. Good, not great, kind of loses its way in the second half in my opinion. The story follows a nurse serving in Vietnam. It has a bit of a fantasy twist using one of the genre's favorite objects: the amulet. I won't say any more (I feel plot summaries usually given on book and website descriptions way too revealing) in case someone ends up reading it.
Where this book really shines is the believability of the environment Scarborough creates--she was an actual Vietnam nurse, and that experience shines through in the vividness and poignancy of her descriptions. In this respect, it can be a rough book, as it can be "gory," but not in the Stephen King way where it feels like it's going for shock value. The explicitness feels real and completely un-obscene. Scarborough also is great with character development, not only with the main character, but all the side characters as well.
Like I said, when the fantasy element takes more of a hold in the second half of the book, it feels like the plot loses a bit of its way and meanders (others disagree), but even with this flaw, the realistic prose and characters makes this a highly recommended read.
Where this book really shines is the believability of the environment Scarborough creates--she was an actual Vietnam nurse, and that experience shines through in the vividness and poignancy of her descriptions. In this respect, it can be a rough book, as it can be "gory," but not in the Stephen King way where it feels like it's going for shock value. The explicitness feels real and completely un-obscene. Scarborough also is great with character development, not only with the main character, but all the side characters as well.
Like I said, when the fantasy element takes more of a hold in the second half of the book, it feels like the plot loses a bit of its way and meanders (others disagree), but even with this flaw, the realistic prose and characters makes this a highly recommended read.