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juushikaTitle: Who is Julia?
Author: Barbara S. Harris
Published: New York: Popular Library, 1972
Page Count: 317
Total Page Count: 34,670
Text Number: 99
Read For: my own enjoyment
Short review: Julia North darts in front a moving streetcar to rescue Mary Frances Beaudine's son. Julia is fatally injured by the streetcar, and Mary Frances dies of a brain hemorrhage on the spot. When the two women are bought in to the local university hospital, the doctors decide to perform a new, experimental surgery in the attempt to save Julia's life: they remove her brain from her dying body and insert it into the whole body of the deceased Mary Frances. The operation sparks nation-wide controversy. Meanwhile, Julie recovers slowly from the surgery, and she and her family learn to cope with what it means to be yourself inside a stranger's body. Capably, even thoughtfully plotted but drying written with almost no emotional appeal, this book is based on an interesting concept but is a dull, predictable read. I don't recommend it.
Who is Julia? has all the prospective trappings of a sci-fi novel, but is so dry and so predictable that it rather feels like a "women's" made-for-TV movie. The novel's failure is not in the amount of science, nor in the social implications of the scientific technique. Those aspects are both present and detailed. The author has thought out every detail, every implication; has discussed the popular and educated reactions to the transplant; has described the course of healing, both mental and physical, for Julia as well as her husband and family. In fact, these aspects are considered in so much premeditated detail that they seem predictable, and they are covered so thoroughly that they seem to have no impact outside of the realm of the novel. In other words: the writing is so detailed that it is dry and lacks authentic emotional and scientific impact, despite the attempt to include both aspects within the text.
The second problem with this novel is the ending climax, which is paced very rapidly in comparison to the rest of the book and has an artificial, exaggerated drama. In comparison to the dry detail of the rest of the novel, the rapid, overblown drama is out of place and makes too much of a contrast, drawing attention to the failings of both sections. For the all the drama, the conclusion too is painfully predictable, fulfilling the author's intended emotional goals of the protagonist but doing so so quickly that the end is simplistic and unsatisfying.
The novel is a quick, complete read, but I don't recommend it. The underlying idea is interesting, but the novel fails the promise that idea holds. Nothing, from the science to the fiction, manages to be compelling. As a result, I don't recommend it. But as it appears the book is out of print and only available used, that shouldn't be much of an issue. (I picked up my copy at a book sale for about 50 cents, and it was barely worth that.)
Review posted here at Amazon.com.
Author: Barbara S. Harris
Published: New York: Popular Library, 1972
Page Count: 317
Total Page Count: 34,670
Text Number: 99
Read For: my own enjoyment
Short review: Julia North darts in front a moving streetcar to rescue Mary Frances Beaudine's son. Julia is fatally injured by the streetcar, and Mary Frances dies of a brain hemorrhage on the spot. When the two women are bought in to the local university hospital, the doctors decide to perform a new, experimental surgery in the attempt to save Julia's life: they remove her brain from her dying body and insert it into the whole body of the deceased Mary Frances. The operation sparks nation-wide controversy. Meanwhile, Julie recovers slowly from the surgery, and she and her family learn to cope with what it means to be yourself inside a stranger's body. Capably, even thoughtfully plotted but drying written with almost no emotional appeal, this book is based on an interesting concept but is a dull, predictable read. I don't recommend it.
Who is Julia? has all the prospective trappings of a sci-fi novel, but is so dry and so predictable that it rather feels like a "women's" made-for-TV movie. The novel's failure is not in the amount of science, nor in the social implications of the scientific technique. Those aspects are both present and detailed. The author has thought out every detail, every implication; has discussed the popular and educated reactions to the transplant; has described the course of healing, both mental and physical, for Julia as well as her husband and family. In fact, these aspects are considered in so much premeditated detail that they seem predictable, and they are covered so thoroughly that they seem to have no impact outside of the realm of the novel. In other words: the writing is so detailed that it is dry and lacks authentic emotional and scientific impact, despite the attempt to include both aspects within the text.
The second problem with this novel is the ending climax, which is paced very rapidly in comparison to the rest of the book and has an artificial, exaggerated drama. In comparison to the dry detail of the rest of the novel, the rapid, overblown drama is out of place and makes too much of a contrast, drawing attention to the failings of both sections. For the all the drama, the conclusion too is painfully predictable, fulfilling the author's intended emotional goals of the protagonist but doing so so quickly that the end is simplistic and unsatisfying.
The novel is a quick, complete read, but I don't recommend it. The underlying idea is interesting, but the novel fails the promise that idea holds. Nothing, from the science to the fiction, manages to be compelling. As a result, I don't recommend it. But as it appears the book is out of print and only available used, that shouldn't be much of an issue. (I picked up my copy at a book sale for about 50 cents, and it was barely worth that.)
Review posted here at Amazon.com.
