The Broken Land

by Ian McDonald

Hardcover, 1992

Status

Available

Call number

F Mcd

Call number

F Mcd

Barcode

7082

Publication

New York : Bantam Books, c1992.

Description

In an instant, Mathembe Fileli's life was burned away . . . Now, in search of answers, she must traverse a divided nation Life in the village of Chepsenyt is idyllic. Despite the empire's growing religious tensions, the people of Chepsenyt live together peacefully and ply their trades, growing useful objects through the manipulation of DNA. It was here that Mathembe Fileli grew up, with her father creating tools used in construction and her mother spinning clothes and food. That all changed in an instant. The Broken Land mirrors Belfast resident Ian McDonald's upbringing in Northern Ireland by depicting a nation cut in two by a violent religious divide. On one side are the Proclaimers, the ruling group that doesn't believe in life after death, and on the other side are the Confessors, the opposing group whose thoughts are uploaded in the afterlife. When two Confessors take shelter in Chepsenyt, the Emperor's soldiers burn the village to the ground, throwing the whole country into civil war. In this newly perilous world, Mathembe must draw on her resourcefulness and inner strength to find her family and bridge the nation's gaping rift.… (more)

Original publication date

1992

User reviews

LibraryThing member RobertDay
This densely-written book, published as 'Hearts, Hands and Voices' in the UK (a quote from the old hymn 'Now thank we all our God'), and as 'The Broken Land' in the USA, is not your average science fiction novel. In an exotic setting where biotechnology has replaced nuts-and-bolts metal-bashing, a
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teenage girl, Mathembe, has her life disrupted when someone in her village shelters two insurgents, refugees from the Emperor-across-the-River, and troops arrive to make an example of the whole village. From here on, we are plunged into McDonald's vibrant, exotic world, and follow Mathembe and her family as they trudge off into exile, and suffer the fate of refugees everywhere.

The language is remarkable; this is not a book that you can plunge into and it is not a quick read (at least, not unless and until you can get your head around what it is telling you). And do not be misled by the exoticism; although names suggest Africa or Asia, it quickly becomes clear that we are looking at an allegorical Ireland. The transplantation of clues is skilful; early on, there is a quotation from an Irish Republican song that flagged this up to me, but as conflict breaks out between two political and religious factions, supported by an overseas power, the parallels become impossible to ignore. Yet the reader isn't browbeaten by McDonald; he neither takes sides nor forgets that he is weaving a science fictional tale of a world where biotechnology and the ability of some of the characters to manipulate it can produce wonders.

Mathembe's journey exposes her to dangers as well as those wonders; she becomes separated from her family and spends much of the novel looking for them. Some she finds; others are lost. Those she finds are changed in one way or another. And eventually she also finds a way to resolve not just her own story, but that of her land, though redemption comes at a price, and cannot be instant. Peace and reconciliation can come, but only one step at a time. And what we have in common is more important than what separates us.

Along the way, we see exploitation, the plight of refugees, the grinding drudgery of relocation camps and the realities and dangers that imposing borders can bring to a place.

The messages in this book are timely, and timeless; unfortunately, those who most need to read it most likely won't (and if they did, they might struggle with it). It reinforces my view that Ian McDonald is probably one of the finest writers in any genre that these islands have produced.
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LibraryThing member dbsovereign
A testament to McDonald's many talents. This juicy nugget from page 20: "In solitude with the greater congregation of the forest, she passed into a spiritual grace of self-loss where, for brief numinous moments, she became aware of herself as a tiny, transient, lightning flicker of consciousness
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moving with incomprehensible speed through the colossal, slow sentience of the trees." And another from page 291: "Worship as you can, not as you cannot. Therefore, a couple of hours of paperwork in the out-moiety offices settling the affairs of the community in the outside world, a few minutes on the satellite link and accessing information from the Dreaming matrix, a morning or so picking fruit in the gardens and closed orchards, a little sleep, a little beer, a little lying back to watch television were the steps by which he made his way to salvation." The only irritating part about this book is the way it drifts between the microcosmic to the macrocosmic in a rather pretentious way...
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Rating

½ (39 ratings; 3.8)

Pages

322
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