What do you think?
Rate this book
Bulldozer Rising
Book by Livia, Anna
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
32 people want to read
About the author
Anna Livia
20 books10 followersAnna Livia was a lesbian feminist writer and linguistic theorist. Born in Ireland, she grew up in London, England and Swaziland. As a professor, she taught at the University of Illinois and the University of California, Berkeley.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 3, 2022
I picked this book up in a secondhand bookstore in my friend’s college town. I thought the cover was funny because I immediately associated it with jokes about zodiac signs:
“Oh, what is your sign?”
“I’m a Pisces Sun and a Bulldozer Rising!”
I kept picking it up and putting it back down in the store because I thought that joke alone was funny enough. Nobody else that accompanied me thought it was funny, but that didn’t matter. I just kept going back to it. So, I bought it-- thinking it could be worth the $3.50.
I have finished reading this book. I am now one of two reviewers on Goodreads. I have searched high and low for reviews from sci-fi magazines written in the 90s, to random blurbs strewn throughout the internet. I am desperate for somebody, ANYBODY to share their reading experience with me. I am genuinely afraid that I am stupid for thinking that this is nearly incomprehensible.
To be fair, it’s not terribly written— in fact, I would say a lot of the prose is beautiful. Anna Livia has a way with figurative language! That being said, I had to go through most of this novel half a bottle of wine deep because that’s the only way I could bear it. I just want to know that SOMEBODY out there feels the same way I do and has articulated it infinitely better than I am about to.
It might have been the fact that there are several key characters in a >200 page novel that are barely distinguishable from one another. It might be that I honestly don’t know who has had sex with who (but honestly, isn’t that the true lesbian experience? Brownie points for that, maybe). It might have been the fact that I was not fully familiar with the terminology and it wound up leaving me confused the entire time. Either way, I feel completely alone in saying I am too apathetic (or maybe too dumb) to care about the universe this is set in, and to try to understand what the plot even IS.
The scenes are also not rooted enough for it to flow completely. There is not enough context for me to know where characters are at any given time. You thought these characters were underground in their secret base? Absolutely not, they’re actually in the woods. Maybe I’m stupid (or maybe I’m just gaslighting myself), but I feel like there are no transitions to indicate that we are changing scenes at all. Additionally, there are some parts that are missing key dialogue tags while there are several characters at the scene. I literally do not know who is talking sometimes. That, combined with the fact that every single character seemed the same, made for a difficult read.
I think I am just not the type of person to want to do more work than I need to to read for pleasure. Yes, I am an ELA teacher. Yes, I got my degree because I did more work than I needed to as I was reading. Yes, I force my students to do the same. But I did my time!!! I don’t need to do it any more unless I want to!!!!
There are several books that do NOT hold your hand as they build the world around them. I just finished A Clockwork Orange, which does an EXCELLENT job of guiding you through unfamiliar vocabulary without spelling it out to you. In more of the sci-fi genre,Dune does the same (though I've never attempted to read Dune and I most likely never will because I value my mental health). However, there is a certain consistency and rhythm associated with the vocabulary. I did not find that in Bulldozer Rising, which was frustrating.
At a certain point, I figured out what a “Tramontane” was, but then I forgot because I kept taking breaks because I kept reading books that I liked better. They alluded to what it was in one teeny section of the book, then didn't dive deeper into it and just expected you to know exactly what they were talking about from that point forward. I just dreaded the idea of picking up this book as a result. I read every single page and I don’t remember a damn thing. I am bored to tears. I no longer wish to be a lesbian.
Long story short, not all lesbian science fiction can be winners. This Is How You Lose the Time War toes the line of convolution and moving plot along in an understandable way PERFECTLY. Bulldozer Rising does not. If somebody could make a PowerPoint for my dumb ass of the plot and world building for this novel, it would be greatly appreciated.
TLDR: I cannot tell you HALF of what happened in this novel because it was so convoluted in its writing that it bored me. By the time I was halfway through, it was too late for me to absorb anything. At that point I just skimmed it. If it were any longer, I would probably dnf, but it was under 200 pages, so I just powered through it. If you like that sort of stuff, absolutely give this a try!!! Anna Livia definitely is not a bad writer. I just did not have a fun time reading this book because I'm dumb.
“Oh, what is your sign?”
“I’m a Pisces Sun and a Bulldozer Rising!”
I kept picking it up and putting it back down in the store because I thought that joke alone was funny enough. Nobody else that accompanied me thought it was funny, but that didn’t matter. I just kept going back to it. So, I bought it-- thinking it could be worth the $3.50.
I have finished reading this book. I am now one of two reviewers on Goodreads. I have searched high and low for reviews from sci-fi magazines written in the 90s, to random blurbs strewn throughout the internet. I am desperate for somebody, ANYBODY to share their reading experience with me. I am genuinely afraid that I am stupid for thinking that this is nearly incomprehensible.
To be fair, it’s not terribly written— in fact, I would say a lot of the prose is beautiful. Anna Livia has a way with figurative language! That being said, I had to go through most of this novel half a bottle of wine deep because that’s the only way I could bear it. I just want to know that SOMEBODY out there feels the same way I do and has articulated it infinitely better than I am about to.
It might have been the fact that there are several key characters in a >200 page novel that are barely distinguishable from one another. It might be that I honestly don’t know who has had sex with who (but honestly, isn’t that the true lesbian experience? Brownie points for that, maybe). It might have been the fact that I was not fully familiar with the terminology and it wound up leaving me confused the entire time. Either way, I feel completely alone in saying I am too apathetic (or maybe too dumb) to care about the universe this is set in, and to try to understand what the plot even IS.
The scenes are also not rooted enough for it to flow completely. There is not enough context for me to know where characters are at any given time. You thought these characters were underground in their secret base? Absolutely not, they’re actually in the woods. Maybe I’m stupid (or maybe I’m just gaslighting myself), but I feel like there are no transitions to indicate that we are changing scenes at all. Additionally, there are some parts that are missing key dialogue tags while there are several characters at the scene. I literally do not know who is talking sometimes. That, combined with the fact that every single character seemed the same, made for a difficult read.
I think I am just not the type of person to want to do more work than I need to to read for pleasure. Yes, I am an ELA teacher. Yes, I got my degree because I did more work than I needed to as I was reading. Yes, I force my students to do the same. But I did my time!!! I don’t need to do it any more unless I want to!!!!
There are several books that do NOT hold your hand as they build the world around them. I just finished A Clockwork Orange, which does an EXCELLENT job of guiding you through unfamiliar vocabulary without spelling it out to you. In more of the sci-fi genre,Dune does the same (though I've never attempted to read Dune and I most likely never will because I value my mental health). However, there is a certain consistency and rhythm associated with the vocabulary. I did not find that in Bulldozer Rising, which was frustrating.
At a certain point, I figured out what a “Tramontane” was, but then I forgot because I kept taking breaks because I kept reading books that I liked better. They alluded to what it was in one teeny section of the book, then didn't dive deeper into it and just expected you to know exactly what they were talking about from that point forward. I just dreaded the idea of picking up this book as a result. I read every single page and I don’t remember a damn thing. I am bored to tears. I no longer wish to be a lesbian.
Long story short, not all lesbian science fiction can be winners. This Is How You Lose the Time War toes the line of convolution and moving plot along in an understandable way PERFECTLY. Bulldozer Rising does not. If somebody could make a PowerPoint for my dumb ass of the plot and world building for this novel, it would be greatly appreciated.
TLDR: I cannot tell you HALF of what happened in this novel because it was so convoluted in its writing that it bored me. By the time I was halfway through, it was too late for me to absorb anything. At that point I just skimmed it. If it were any longer, I would probably dnf, but it was under 200 pages, so I just powered through it. If you like that sort of stuff, absolutely give this a try!!! Anna Livia definitely is not a bad writer. I just did not have a fun time reading this book because I'm dumb.
September 1, 2010
Having been ploughing through books for the Read The World challenge lately, I fancied a change, and when I saw this on one of the second hand book stalls on the south bank, I thought it might fit the bill.
It's a science fiction novel published in the 80s by Onlywomen Press, a 'radical feminist & lesbian publishers' and written by the editor of a journal of lesbian feminist ethics. Which I thought at the very least would be interesting and might potentially be very bad or otherwise worthy of amusing mockery.
Not that either feminism or lesbianism is particularly ludicrous… but there's something about that piling up of adjectives. Like 'this is the publisher you go to when all the other feminist lesbian publishers are just too mainstream'. And of course it's not just feminism: I suspect that politically radical science fiction is a genre that might produce a few unintentional comic gems from all parts of the political map.
Actually, though, it's not bad at all. So now I feel guilty for being so mean-spirited. It's rather Brave-New-Worldy — in its portrayal of a very hierarchical society obsessed with youth, beauty and instant gratification, but also in its use of a lot of invented language.
The feminism comes in with the rigidly enforced gender roles — enforced to the extent of young girls being hobbled to make them walk in feminine manner — and the body fascism, the dominance of the patriarchy and so on.
Which does make it sound like hard work. But actually it was handled in such a way that it wasn't too intrusive. It didn't involve pages and pages of political lectures masquerading as dialogue, for a start. And satirical dystopian sci-fi is a good way of presenting this material to the unconverted; it is after all *supposed* to be exaggerated.
It's a science fiction novel published in the 80s by Onlywomen Press, a 'radical feminist & lesbian publishers' and written by the editor of a journal of lesbian feminist ethics. Which I thought at the very least would be interesting and might potentially be very bad or otherwise worthy of amusing mockery.
Not that either feminism or lesbianism is particularly ludicrous… but there's something about that piling up of adjectives. Like 'this is the publisher you go to when all the other feminist lesbian publishers are just too mainstream'. And of course it's not just feminism: I suspect that politically radical science fiction is a genre that might produce a few unintentional comic gems from all parts of the political map.
Actually, though, it's not bad at all. So now I feel guilty for being so mean-spirited. It's rather Brave-New-Worldy — in its portrayal of a very hierarchical society obsessed with youth, beauty and instant gratification, but also in its use of a lot of invented language.
Three youngwomen in a public toilet. Standard issue: lined with silver mirrors, trays of lurid lipgloss, eyestars, blusher, bloomer and blurrer in case of misplacement of cosmetic brainwave. The slats across each stall began a foot and a half from the floor and were only three feet high to prevent an illicit elixir drinking, resting or life-preserving. To prevent? To discourage, at least, all but the permitted defecation, micturition and such sexual combinations as were the fashion of the day, by the simple expedient of making all public. How, indeed, could the Citizens' Ordinances be enforced without total publicity?
The feminism comes in with the rigidly enforced gender roles — enforced to the extent of young girls being hobbled to make them walk in feminine manner — and the body fascism, the dominance of the patriarchy and so on.
Which does make it sound like hard work. But actually it was handled in such a way that it wasn't too intrusive. It didn't involve pages and pages of political lectures masquerading as dialogue, for a start. And satirical dystopian sci-fi is a good way of presenting this material to the unconverted; it is after all *supposed* to be exaggerated.
June 22, 2024
Very interesting concept, promising worldbuilding, near-incomprehensibly executed.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews