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Menachem's Seed
In Menachem's Seed , Carl Djerassi , world-renowned scientist and inventor of the birth-control pill, brings us a new novel that explores the human--and passionate--side of science. Melanie Laidlaw and Menachem Dvir meet at a series of international conferences where jet-setting scientists come together to discuss the global implications of their discoveries. Melanie runs a foundation that awards grants for innovations in reproductive technology; Menachem is an infertile nuclear engineer and a married man. Naturally, they fall in love. What follows is a story of sexual steam, stolen seed, and religious conversion--a very modern romance that hinges on a cutting-edge scientific breakthrough. As Melanie and Menachem discover, what science makes possible, only two hearts can make right.
- GenresFiction
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 26, 2014
I love science. I love when scientists write novels. I love when scientists write novels about science. I picked up Menachem's Seed at a library book sale and, after a quick skim, was excited. A science-based love story! Fun!
No. Not this one.
What a choppy, convoluted mess of a book.
It starts off fine -- international science conference, girl meets guy, illicit affair begins, yadda, no major complaints. Interested to see where Djerassi takes his story.
Well, he takes it right into the garbage. I'm shocked that Djerassi has written as many fiction books as he has ---- judging from this one, I'd have said he has no literary background whatsoever. He can't sustain a decent story, nor create interesting or rounded characters, nor follow any form of plot structure.
Now, I don't usually care about plot structure -- but this was just so all-over-the-place I kept rolling my eyes in frustration. The first half of the book covers a few days, the rest -- with out-of-left-field jumps -- a few years. We go from almost embarrassingly graphic sexual detail to long yet somehow dismissive descriptions of Jewish conversion to an intensely weird and not really dealt with subplot on the Israeli-Palestine conflict?? What?! ...why?? This book is less than 200 pages, D; why the hell did you feel the need to shove literally every thought that crossed your mind into it? Who the eff is your editor?!
Set aside the undertones of misogyny that try to be passed off as feminine empowerment. The main female character, Melanie, is insipid, selfish, narcissistic, and completely flat. There is no reason for anyone, let alone the clear authorial stand-in male lead Menachem, to fall for her as hard as all those men seem to. I can't decide if Djerassi was trying to paint her as an unlikeable character, in which case fuck you, or if he failed at making her in any way sympathetic --- in which case you suck. Her final decision, to steal Menachem's sperm without his knowledge and use her own foundation's research to impregnate herself with it, was never really discussed or dealt with DESPITE BEING THE CENTRAL MORAL DILEMMA OF THE BOOK. D'you think her call was okay, Djerassi? Trying to strike a blow against the mean men who control reproductive tech? Well, Melanie is so unlikeable -- largely due to your lack of skill -- that any attempted point fails.
This is another one of those books where I write the review and am not sure why I'm sticking with two stars -- I think because I genuinely enjoyed the first half of the book (though it is irreparably tarnished by the rotten latter half). But overall: caricatures for characters, sloppy plot jumps and twists, and nothing new or interesting. Add a dash of sexism, a hint of creepy erotica, a big scoop of nonsense subplots, and you get this mess. Don't bother taking it out of the oven.
No. Not this one.
What a choppy, convoluted mess of a book.
It starts off fine -- international science conference, girl meets guy, illicit affair begins, yadda, no major complaints. Interested to see where Djerassi takes his story.
Well, he takes it right into the garbage. I'm shocked that Djerassi has written as many fiction books as he has ---- judging from this one, I'd have said he has no literary background whatsoever. He can't sustain a decent story, nor create interesting or rounded characters, nor follow any form of plot structure.
Now, I don't usually care about plot structure -- but this was just so all-over-the-place I kept rolling my eyes in frustration. The first half of the book covers a few days, the rest -- with out-of-left-field jumps -- a few years. We go from almost embarrassingly graphic sexual detail to long yet somehow dismissive descriptions of Jewish conversion to an intensely weird and not really dealt with subplot on the Israeli-Palestine conflict?? What?! ...why?? This book is less than 200 pages, D; why the hell did you feel the need to shove literally every thought that crossed your mind into it? Who the eff is your editor?!
Set aside the undertones of misogyny that try to be passed off as feminine empowerment. The main female character, Melanie, is insipid, selfish, narcissistic, and completely flat. There is no reason for anyone, let alone the clear authorial stand-in male lead Menachem, to fall for her as hard as all those men seem to. I can't decide if Djerassi was trying to paint her as an unlikeable character, in which case fuck you, or if he failed at making her in any way sympathetic --- in which case you suck. Her final decision, to steal Menachem's sperm without his knowledge and use her own foundation's research to impregnate herself with it, was never really discussed or dealt with DESPITE BEING THE CENTRAL MORAL DILEMMA OF THE BOOK. D'you think her call was okay, Djerassi? Trying to strike a blow against the mean men who control reproductive tech? Well, Melanie is so unlikeable -- largely due to your lack of skill -- that any attempted point fails.
This is another one of those books where I write the review and am not sure why I'm sticking with two stars -- I think because I genuinely enjoyed the first half of the book (though it is irreparably tarnished by the rotten latter half). But overall: caricatures for characters, sloppy plot jumps and twists, and nothing new or interesting. Add a dash of sexism, a hint of creepy erotica, a big scoop of nonsense subplots, and you get this mess. Don't bother taking it out of the oven.
June 28, 2023
What a ride.
If you like world events, chemistry, reproductive theory, and "characters who think they're good but actually have skewed morals," then this is your book.
Unfortunately, it suffers from "men writing women" syndrome in several places. Melanie can have her kink; nothing wrong with that. It's the obsession with her breasts and biological clock that does it for me.
Djerassi is obviously a scientist first, author second... or maybe not at all. The writing is awkward, full of jargon, and the character's dialogue is so often interrupted with movement. Also, I never want to see a sex scene from Djerassi ever again. Ever. If part of your plot is an affair and a chick stealing sperm, learn how to write a sex scene. Pretty sure I had nightmares...
If you like world events, chemistry, reproductive theory, and "characters who think they're good but actually have skewed morals," then this is your book.
Unfortunately, it suffers from "men writing women" syndrome in several places. Melanie can have her kink; nothing wrong with that. It's the obsession with her breasts and biological clock that does it for me.
Djerassi is obviously a scientist first, author second... or maybe not at all. The writing is awkward, full of jargon, and the character's dialogue is so often interrupted with movement. Also, I never want to see a sex scene from Djerassi ever again. Ever. If part of your plot is an affair and a chick stealing sperm, learn how to write a sex scene. Pretty sure I had nightmares...
May 10, 2016
What a mess.
I entered my reading of Djerassi's Menachem's Seed with high expectations, and finished with a sour taste in my mouth. Don't get me wrong -- I don't believe by any means that scientists cannot or should not tread into the territory of literature. But this is ultimately a novel, goddamit, so why shouldn't it behave like one? My tongue-in-cheek reaction to reading Djerassi's work is aware of what this book attempts to do -- to combine ethics, politics, history, religion and love, against a backdrop of science -- but nevertheless rejects the insipid characterization, severe lack in plot development, and the awfully dominant commentary on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Where is the "exploration of the human" that the blurb on the back promises? Nowhere. Nowhere! Melanie Laidlaw is a desperate, lonesome woman who becomes infatuated with a man whom she deems ideal to serve as a father to her child. The catch is, he is married, and not very interested in the idea (which he knows nothing about). So Melanie, with her twisted mind reacting to the biological clock that apparently is just RAGING inside her, devises a plan. But an even greater catch is that none of what I just said takes place in the first two-thirds of the book because Djerassi was too concerned with not fleshing out his characters, with not producing plot development, with not preventing world politics from completely eclipsing the potentially beautiful observance of science and literature's union. Bleurgh.
I entered my reading of Djerassi's Menachem's Seed with high expectations, and finished with a sour taste in my mouth. Don't get me wrong -- I don't believe by any means that scientists cannot or should not tread into the territory of literature. But this is ultimately a novel, goddamit, so why shouldn't it behave like one? My tongue-in-cheek reaction to reading Djerassi's work is aware of what this book attempts to do -- to combine ethics, politics, history, religion and love, against a backdrop of science -- but nevertheless rejects the insipid characterization, severe lack in plot development, and the awfully dominant commentary on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Where is the "exploration of the human" that the blurb on the back promises? Nowhere. Nowhere! Melanie Laidlaw is a desperate, lonesome woman who becomes infatuated with a man whom she deems ideal to serve as a father to her child. The catch is, he is married, and not very interested in the idea (which he knows nothing about). So Melanie, with her twisted mind reacting to the biological clock that apparently is just RAGING inside her, devises a plan. But an even greater catch is that none of what I just said takes place in the first two-thirds of the book because Djerassi was too concerned with not fleshing out his characters, with not producing plot development, with not preventing world politics from completely eclipsing the potentially beautiful observance of science and literature's union. Bleurgh.
May 2, 2010
I liked it, just not enough for 4 stars. The plot moves along at a decent pace. Djerassi has a clear, easily accessible writing style for the most part. Some of the scientific stuff was a bit much, and he quoted operas too often for my liking.
I enjoyed the first half more than the second half. The romance, sex, and international policy debates gave way to the science. But to be fair, I knew there would be science when I bought the book.
I enjoyed the first half more than the second half. The romance, sex, and international policy debates gave way to the science. But to be fair, I knew there would be science when I bought the book.
November 2, 2008
Like all his books it focuses on moral dilemmas, though not in this case the "morality" of becoming an SMC but the morality of stealing a sperm.
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December 3, 2011It turns out that male reproductive science doesn't interest me in the least. I might still check out this guy's first two books. About scientists too, and subject matter is more to my liking.
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April 30, 2019I have the german edition: Mebachems Same
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews