The Long Way... To a Common Orbit flash group discussion

"Toum, second guard of the New Mother, sat by a window in the feeding garden, watching the ships of the Commons species."

One of two places where Chambers missteps and it jarred me out of the flow of the book, although it's just a little thing - on p. 225 an Anglo-centrism that I don't think would evolve in the Esperanto-esque single language humans seem to be using:

'Rosemary's hand went to her mouth. "I'm sorry," she said. Such a quintessentially Human thing to do, to express sorrow through apology.'

English speakers do this, but it's sympathy for another's pain, not sorrow; other cultures use words meaning 'your grief is mine' (like the Irish mó bhron).

I think the Human Diaspora would've developed more & better emotional connection phrases than current modern English uses, since they're either cooped up together on ships or in colonies on hostile environments.

Hmm, very interesting. Didn't really think about that at all. It is funny, I run into that in healthcare. Occasionally I'll say "I'm sorry" in sympathy/empathy, and a couple of occasions people say, "it's not your fault." :)

I was a little jarred out because of transitions. We see Toum leave the gathering and then take off as readers. Then as readers we go back to our main view from the Wayfarer's general perspective and are blindsided along with them when their ship is suddenly damaged.

Narratively, this didn't work for me. I wanted to know what Toum did. I sort of thought I understood what he was thinking; something about bringing harmony to the group (eventually) through exercising the strongest opinion and taking the action that would help that. But why he wouldn't just fire on the Revered Mother then, as his culture expects?

I'm not sure why we bothered with Toum's perspective at all, now that I think about it, except as perhaps a suspense cheat? If we are going to stay with the Wayfarer perspective and not understand but just try and deal with the consequences, fair enough. But then let's leave the omnipotent view out of it. As we'll see in the next chapters, I'm not sure we ever do get clarity. And truly, does it matter? The ship crew has to deal with the consequences to Lovey and that is the devastating part.

For language, I have a vague theory that current-era English speakers are between words for expressing sympathy. The tail end of using 'alas' as a less clinical way of saying 'you have my sympathy' was almost gone during my childhood and then 'bummer' came in vogue & has stuck around as a sympathy phrase for (non-tragic) situations. Wish I could peek ahead 100 years to see what evolves!

For the Toremi, yeah, jarring! The whole situation (the Nib-to-Rosemary note she pointedly doesn't see but do, and the Toum scenes) is the only non-Wayfarer perspective we get & it feels clunky, like Chambers had a hard time filling in the actual attack scene. You're right, it makes much more sense that Toum would attack the Mother, in person or from the ship where, presumably, he's joined the splinter group, although the emphasis on Toremi violence & unpredictability might explain it.

Her writing is very strong in characterization & personal interaction in this book; I think her skill with big penultimate drama will come with more experience. Also makes me wonder if she may be setting up a next book that might have more Toremi in it? I wouldn't mind revisiting this crew! :)

Did you ever read the Sector General series? Really reminds me of that. They started as story installments in a weekly/monthly. This is kind of like that with little mini adventures or solving an issue. Agree characterization is a strength more than plotting.

I haven't read SG, but put it on the list - it's been released as collections and one reviewer called it 'pacifist SF comfort food' which sounds good to me. I like the dark side but sometimes I just want some happy, which desire Long Way certainly fulfilled. Sometimes I need Socks Match My Hat! :)

Socks! Match My Hat! Step on sweet toast!

Later Sector General is a great deal like this. I just read a three volume of the first three... much less streamlined/cohesive. But I do really love them. I periodically search one down and add it to the library--just because I don't want it to disappear.

This was a bit jarring for me too. Or maybe not jarring- I was totally ready to go with the Toremi Ka perspective. I was prepared for the book to take that twist and give me 300 pages of Hedra Ka/Toremi Ka politics and interaction. I was ready for Toum and the New Mother and a brewing political shift from the other side to be a plot point. I could go with the first 300 pages being our crew getting there/establishing character and world.

So when they got there, flashed us some Toremi, and then boom, turned around, had it fall to pieces, and they were back in GC space in a span of about 20 pages and then wrap up, end of book was... kind of surprising. That was jarring. Was I the only one ready for it to go into this direction?

I could have, Amelia. I feel like what Chambers was doing all along is getting to a concept of community and humanity, whatever that may mean. I was starting to buy into this concept of philosophical disagreement backed up by violence (now that I think about it, isn't that kind of the essence of all war-violence? 'you think different so I will kill you into thinking like me?'). Then we go into the diplomatic function, jump around a lot, and then deal with the crew's consequences, but without really knowing what it meant to that particular tribe's Revered Mother.

I also think the Toremi could have stood for some more time in the spotlight before the Big Event: whether some insight into their culture, the particular tribe, or both, and I agree that the bounced e-mail and the "Toremi Ka" chapter aren't among the stronger parts of the book. They do show that the Wayfarer's crew isn't the center of political events in the larger universe, or even close to it. But that idea could have been handled more elegantly.

I didn't get a solid sense of an entire galactic-standard year having passed from the beginning of their voyage. It felt more like a few weeks.

"Seven Hours," on the other hand, was nice and suspenseful and, again, shows the crew working well together under duress, setting their differences aside.

Oh dear, what's going on with Lovey? What will happen with Ohan?

I agree with all of this. I found the Toremi sections and the ending...very unfulfilling.

While there was some type of closure, I didn't get real closure so...

I wondered if it was poorly done sequel bait?

Somewhere in these threads – maybe the next one – someone relates that the author ended up doing a kick starter to enable her to finish the book.