The Dazzle of Day by Molly Gloss

"What began as an intriguing piece of speculative fiction about finding a new world and attempting to inhabit it, soon turned into a long, drawn out, cycle of characters refusing to confide in one another, holding onto secrets, which inevitably led to hurt feelings, dishonesty and resentment. The end left me feeling unfulfilled and wanting, since, everything that happened is kind of skipped over and left unanswered." 

2 Stars

Pros: Gloss has a subtle but straightforward voice that was a little jarring at first but it kind of grew on me. 

Cons: Since the Dusty Miller is basically a Quaker ship, there are long passages of Meetings and many thoughts about God and what it means to see God, be in his presence and understand him, this grew a bit tiresome after awhile/The few glimpses of real depth that we see in the characters are short and fleeting/There didn't feel like there was any resolution between the characters at the end.  

Full Review

People are leaving the toxic wasteland that is Earth and are heading towards hopefully, another habitable planet in a large generational ship called the Dusty Miller. The story follows Juko, a sail mender, her husband, Bjoro, who's left on the Lark, a scouting ship to explore the new world, Bjoro's mother, Kristina, a shrewd, sometimes harsh old woman and Juko's grown son, Cejo, from her first marriage. Also Juko's first husband, Humberto.   

The Lark, the scouting ship that Bjoro is on, crashes. News of the crash reaches the Dusty Miller and everyone hopes for a rescue. When the two remaining survivors of the Lark return, Bjoro being one of them, he's a changed man, haunted by what he saw down on the planet. Instead of confiding in his wife and mother, Bjoro instead becomes distant, irrational and even violent, thus creating a schism in his marriage with Juko.  

Humberto suffers a stroke and is found by his son Cejo. Though he's paralyzed, he eventually manages to speak at a Meeting and offers profound wisdom about what it means to be on this ship and have this planet there, at their fingertips. A Committee comes to Juko and Bjoro's house to try and mend their relationship but there doesn't seem to be much hope in patching things up. 

By the end, generations have passed and they've inhabited the world and life goes on, as it always does. 

This was an interesting piece of speculative fiction but at the same time it was lost in the quagmire of distant family relations and how the Dusty Miller was setup. I wanted to know more about the characters but what I got were fleeting glimpses and I was left feeling unfulfilled. By the end, Gloss' long, sweeping passages about nature and God became tiresome and I was glad to be done with the book.