The contest between men and women escalates to a new battlefield — genetics. Legislators mandate a testosterone- lowering food supplement to reduce violence and make gun control unnecessary. The blowback assumes epic proportions. Nadia Holkam — a pawn in the battle — desperately seeks her true identity.
Diana Holkam discovers companies are using her twin sister as a template for the perfect … the perfect subordinate female in an experiment aimed at turning all women into pets. With help from a one-eyed Muslim Bible salesman, an African American woman promoting a testosterone-reducing food supplement, and an Indian geneticist fleeing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, they fight against a misogynistic CEO, a would-be prophet of male supremacy, and the mob. Neither side realizes the AI system developing the genetic “cure” has a different plan for human evolution — a plan that has something to do with fish.
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An entertaining satirical sci-fi story filled with tragi-comic figures. In a not-distant future, an unbalanced, rich scientist and a cult leader in search of a cult find each other and pursue a plan to genetically engineer women to return to being submissive to males. I found myself a bit disoriented at the beginning (may just be me), a little impatient about two-thirds of the way through, but the ending was quite satisfying.
Sci-Fi/fantasy books are not usually a genre I read, or at least not often. However, I was intrigued by the description of this book and decided to give it a whirl. What I found was a very bizarre book that featured gender wars, talking fish and multi-faceted characters.
There is a battle between the sexes and women currently hold the upper hand and food is doused with Testrial that seems to calm men down and they act more like servants than men. Not all men are like this, there are those that avoid any food that contains this ingredient and several are on course to create the “perfect” woman and return things to a time of the past where women were more like “pets” for the men. Obviously, most women (and some men) don’t want to see that happen. So a small band of protestors seeks to shut down Berky and Candor’s quest for this new lifestyle.
I found the characters to be quite interesting and the interactions between all kept the story flowing. There is some scientific discussion but nothing to drawn out to lose a reader. There is humor that I didn’t expect and was darker than you might expect. I was surprised by a few twists at the end regarding the twins, Nadia and Diana. There was also some graphic violence that was unexpected and it made me uncomfortable considering the level.
This book is definitely a journey for the reader and while sometimes it felt like I was trudging through, other sections were brilliant. Overall, we give this 3 1/2 paws.
An intricate plot carried by fast-paced dialogue, bursts of laughter from the reader, and suspense to the last page – this is a story you do not want to end! It is a wild and engrossing tale of the discord and chaos generated by people intimately connected, but living in more than one reality, in mid-21st century America – from Assurance, North Carolina to New Orleans, to Chicago and New York City. The story is presented in a succession of moments, leaving the reader to connect the parts to a stunning whole. This includes the questions of religion, the biological developments due to technology, the relationship of men and women, and the power of memory and imagination.
The characters are delightful. We have on the one hand, the believers in the divine biological preference as recorded in Eph. 5:22, and all major religions. They have realized the benefits of technology to their persuasion, and with the support of their investors, progress is being made on products for genetic perfection. A genetic lab in Assurance, owned by true believer Berky, is developing a template for their behavior gene in the person of Nadia, Berky’s old science teacher. His abuse of her should come as no surprise. On the other hand, there are those who do not recognize the existence of the female gender for the sole pleasure of those possessing the male gender. They have successfully lobbied the US Congress to pass legislation mandating that Testrial, a testosterone-reducing food supplement, be added to pizza, beer, and bar snacks. Enforcement is somewhat of a problem, but gun violence has dropped remarkably.
A vaccine against the effects of Testrial has been developed by male supremacy fellow believer Canduka Cantor from Savannah, thanks to his cloning tech-company. Cantor has also developed the power of religion for capitalists. He and Berky join forces at an investor’s meeting in the Swamp Room. Berky will invest his endless funds, inherited from his great-grandfather, the founder of Assurance, if Cantor can bring Berky’s precious Ichthy back to life.
While Nadia succumbs to increasing agoraphobia, able only to write the history of Assurance (made great by the culture of the frontier, a culture based on honor and respect), a quartet of guerillas is convinced the technological progress of the increasingly powerful misogynists led by Cantor and Berky must be stopped. On board and willing to risk it all are: feminist African American beauty Marcy, incidentally the ex-wife of Cantor, one-eyed Ali on the run from the ICE, Nadia’s twin sister Diana, who has surprisingly returned home to help her sister, and Dr. Sundar Rao, an expired H-1B visa holder geneticist working for Berky. Support comes in the form of a mountain woman who serves up Gumption Soup and Grits, the Cherokee Nation, the voodooists of Bourbon Street and a Hasidic food vendor for Cantor’s Inception Event, which features red, white, and blue genetic perfection malt balls dropping from the ceiling of Madison Square Garden on an adoring crowd. A drunk Russian, and Kublai Khan, the AI, do their part to bring this thought-provoking saga to its surprising conclusion.
Overall Rating = 4.5
Storyline & Concept = 4.25
Writing & Delivery = 4.5
Editorial = 4.75
Two factions on opposing sides of the gender divide battle it out with the help of genetics in this near-futuristic novel. Government-mandated food supplements to reduce testosterone and violence incites a group of misogynists to come up with their own plan to turn women into subordinate pets.
The Perfection of Fish takes quirkiness to the next level with characters that range from a sexist CEO with a toe fetish to a one-eyed Muslim, and everything in between. The technologies, both the everyday communication devices and those created for genetic engineering, are amazingly believable, even though they are the product of the extraordinary imagination of the author. Messages and themes are woven into the plot, and while the delivery is not subtle, it is humorous and satiric, making the story resonate all the more. The reader can easily envision such a world only decades in the future, although whether with joy or trepidation would depend upon one’s core values.
Sublime Line: “Provocative themes are conveyed in this highly imaginative, entertaining, and satirical work of speculative fiction.”