Seveneves
question
Only halfway but this question is bothering me! Major spoilers
Ben
Jan 28, 2021 01:38PM
So I’m about halfway through the book where the ark has been split into different camps. And while the drama getting to this point was exciting one missing plot best has really been bothering me and breaking my suspension of disbelief (MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD):
After JBF illegally makes her way to the ark we never have a moment of reckoning beyond Markus dismissing her from the following meeting and making it clear she’s not needed. Didn’t she explicitly break the Crater Lake accords by coming into orbit? Why wouldn’t there be some kind of trial or punishment for her breaking her own commitment.
And even ignoring that, the book has (so far) not explored how that might impact how the Arkies perceive JBF. I expected at least one brief scene along the lines of the Arkies saying “yeah she broke her word to get here but we need/trust her because of X.” It just seems completely unbelievable to me that everyone has completely ignored JBF’s transgression outside of Ivy chewing her out after they first find her.
Is this covered later in the book? Cause as is I don’t see why or how any survivor with a brain would trust or listen to JBF at all, though she should’ve been thrown into a brig upon arrival!
After JBF illegally makes her way to the ark we never have a moment of reckoning beyond Markus dismissing her from the following meeting and making it clear she’s not needed. Didn’t she explicitly break the Crater Lake accords by coming into orbit? Why wouldn’t there be some kind of trial or punishment for her breaking her own commitment.
And even ignoring that, the book has (so far) not explored how that might impact how the Arkies perceive JBF. I expected at least one brief scene along the lines of the Arkies saying “yeah she broke her word to get here but we need/trust her because of X.” It just seems completely unbelievable to me that everyone has completely ignored JBF’s transgression outside of Ivy chewing her out after they first find her.
Is this covered later in the book? Cause as is I don’t see why or how any survivor with a brain would trust or listen to JBF at all, though she should’ve been thrown into a brig upon arrival!
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Well got to the next section and answered my own question: kinda but not really. JBF gets a bit of a comeuppance from Aida’s revolution, seeming to have at least learned a bit from it...or it just exhausted her.
Ultimately the character motivations and general behavior in this novel feel underdeveloped, especially in certain characters. Doob, Dinah, Tekla, and Ivy all feel pretty well fleshed out but the rest of the cast, and specifically the way others react to them, seems inconsistent at best.
Ultimately the character motivations and general behavior in this novel feel underdeveloped, especially in certain characters. Doob, Dinah, Tekla, and Ivy all feel pretty well fleshed out but the rest of the cast, and specifically the way others react to them, seems inconsistent at best.
One thing about this is that it is specifically intended to point out the blind spots of Markus and allies -- as technocrats they were there to "get the job done" and any worry about peoples' feelings, or the social impact of the decisions they made, were secondary at best. Devising and executing the local equivalent of Nuremburg trials was even farther down on the priority list.
That's why they basically squirrelled Julia away and ignored her while she used her social/emotional IQ skills to dominate her own faction.
This also comes out in the way Stephenson hints that a large part of the Ark population is horrified, shocked, and in mourning when the Hard Rain actually occurs, even though they knew it was coming -- the screams emanating from the "Woo Woo pod" -- itself derisively nicknamed by Doob -- but there is no acknowledgement or any sharing in this by the technocratic main team.
That's why they basically squirrelled Julia away and ignored her while she used her social/emotional IQ skills to dominate her own faction.
This also comes out in the way Stephenson hints that a large part of the Ark population is horrified, shocked, and in mourning when the Hard Rain actually occurs, even though they knew it was coming -- the screams emanating from the "Woo Woo pod" -- itself derisively nicknamed by Doob -- but there is no acknowledgement or any sharing in this by the technocratic main team.
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