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The Necessity of Stars
Plagued by the creeping loss of her memory, diplomat Bréone Hemmerli continues to negotiate peace in an increasingly climate-devastated world, ensconced in the UN-owned estate Irislands alongside her longtime friend and companion Delphine.
The appearance of the alien Tura in the shadows of Bréone’s garden raises new questions about the world’s decline. Perhaps, together, Tura and Bréone will find a way forward… if only Bréone can remember it.
The appearance of the alien Tura in the shadows of Bréone’s garden raises new questions about the world’s decline. Perhaps, together, Tura and Bréone will find a way forward… if only Bréone can remember it.
80 pages, Paperback
First published July 20, 2021
About the author
E. Catherine Tobler
211 books119 followersE. Catherine Tobler has written an awful lot of things. Her short fiction has been nominated for the Sturgeon Memorial Award, the Nebula Award, the Utopia Award. Her work on Shimmer Magazine was nominated for the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews
June 5, 2021
The Necessity of Stars is absolutely perfect from the first sentence to the last, filled with lush prose that takes your breath away. Breonne Hemerli is a UN diplomat, living on an estate in France, surrounded by lush gardens full or irises, one of the few properties seemingly untouched by the climate change induced floods plaguing the rest of the world. Her best friend and occasional lover, Delphine, lives next door. While she lives her life in an ideal setting, Breonne is beginning to suffer from memory problems. Sometimes she conflates her own children with the stories Delphine tells of her children, and sometimes bits of time and moments of her life slip away. But there are things she desperately wants to remember, needs to remember, like the fact that there is something wrong in her garden, the trees aren't always trees and the shadows aren't always shadows, and something has feasted on the wildlife in her pond and it might just be an alien. Tobler does an incredible job weaving together multiple themes throughout the novella, in particular the theme of the seeing and perception - the way women of a certain age not being seen by society, deliberately overlooked as no longer "useful", the way people would prefer not to see inconvenient truths like the reality of climate change not being seen, and the way an alien lifeform might perceive life on earth. Breonne is a fantastic character, and it's refreshing to see an older woman at the center of a story, with all the flaws and baggage of her lifetime on display, but also the peace that she's made with her safe and her extreme comfort in her own skin. The story is by turns heartbreaking and hopeful, and at every turn, it is utterly gorgeous and beautifully written - an absolute must-read!
May 12, 2021
You look like you’ve fallen through a nebula, I whispered…
Bréone lives in Normandy on the Irislands, a pocket of garden untouched by advanced climate change. She is losing her memory with age and takes comfort from the green space and her neighbor and companion, Delphine. I could have sunk deep into that alone, but one day Bréone encounters a shadow that she can’t explain. That shadow is starry and strange, and like much promised by the stars, a hope.
A good amount of the story is internal. A narrative of someone trying to hang on to the things, and words, she needs and loves. We don’t often get older protagonists, and Bréone was a delight. As someone getting older myself, I wish for fiction that allows space and time to explore thoughts about aging, and in this way the novella was a pocket garden for me. I even had a dream one night after reading about becoming lost, so lost that I was unable to describe where I was to get help. Isn’t this how climate disaster feels? A remaking of our known reality into something we have trouble grasping?
The other striking theme was one of transformation. We cannot face the new reality without change in ourselves. We cannot live life to its fullest without becoming. Choices are part of this – both for our villains and our heroes – in our fiction and our reality. Who do we choose to grow into as we become our adult selves? Where is there room for our hunger? What can we control and how can we preserve what we love?
Memory tells us not to stray from the path and into the woods, for wolves linger there.
This is gentle writing. Lyrical and heartfelt. A story to read over and over, just as we retrace steps in our mind to keep hold of something we don’t want lost. A worry-stone for comfort. And, like life, it left me wanting more.
How beautiful it was to be necessary.
Bréone lives in Normandy on the Irislands, a pocket of garden untouched by advanced climate change. She is losing her memory with age and takes comfort from the green space and her neighbor and companion, Delphine. I could have sunk deep into that alone, but one day Bréone encounters a shadow that she can’t explain. That shadow is starry and strange, and like much promised by the stars, a hope.
A good amount of the story is internal. A narrative of someone trying to hang on to the things, and words, she needs and loves. We don’t often get older protagonists, and Bréone was a delight. As someone getting older myself, I wish for fiction that allows space and time to explore thoughts about aging, and in this way the novella was a pocket garden for me. I even had a dream one night after reading about becoming lost, so lost that I was unable to describe where I was to get help. Isn’t this how climate disaster feels? A remaking of our known reality into something we have trouble grasping?
The other striking theme was one of transformation. We cannot face the new reality without change in ourselves. We cannot live life to its fullest without becoming. Choices are part of this – both for our villains and our heroes – in our fiction and our reality. Who do we choose to grow into as we become our adult selves? Where is there room for our hunger? What can we control and how can we preserve what we love?
Memory tells us not to stray from the path and into the woods, for wolves linger there.
This is gentle writing. Lyrical and heartfelt. A story to read over and over, just as we retrace steps in our mind to keep hold of something we don’t want lost. A worry-stone for comfort. And, like life, it left me wanting more.
How beautiful it was to be necessary.
September 24, 2021
There is a statement at the beginning of chapter three of this lovely novella that encapsulates how one can look at memory:
Main character Bréone Hemmerli is losing her memories. She sits in her enclosed garden, and enjoys the quiet, safety and beauty with her neighbour Delphine, aware that much of the world is in the grip of big fires or floods. She is a UN diplomat, and her boss wants her to travel to the site of a problem, while she worries that there is something wrong with her garden, as something has eaten the fish in the pond, and her trees may not be trees.
I loved that Bréone is an older woman, a figure not usually featured as a main character in fiction. Also, there are several themes at work here, which author E. Catherine Tobler works beautifully into the narrative:
-the climate is changing rapidly and destructively, and millions are displaced. Governments chose to do nothing in the past, and continue to do little.
-the older one gets, particularly as a woman, the less respect one elicits from others, and Bréone’s boss’ dismissal of hers and other respected professional women’s opinions is emblematic of society’s dismissal of older women’s voices.
-how to hold onto one's self as one's memories fray and disappear
-a planet inimical to humans may be attractive to aliens comfortable with other types of climates.
This is a beautifully written story about loss, on a big and on a personal scale.
Except for me being a wee bit puzzled by part of the resolution to this tale, I liked this story a lot.
Thank you to Netgalley and Neon Hemlock Press for this ARC in exchange for a review.
Memory is a form of fiction—a story that keeps the days threaded together in proper order.
Main character Bréone Hemmerli is losing her memories. She sits in her enclosed garden, and enjoys the quiet, safety and beauty with her neighbour Delphine, aware that much of the world is in the grip of big fires or floods. She is a UN diplomat, and her boss wants her to travel to the site of a problem, while she worries that there is something wrong with her garden, as something has eaten the fish in the pond, and her trees may not be trees.
I loved that Bréone is an older woman, a figure not usually featured as a main character in fiction. Also, there are several themes at work here, which author E. Catherine Tobler works beautifully into the narrative:
-the climate is changing rapidly and destructively, and millions are displaced. Governments chose to do nothing in the past, and continue to do little.
-the older one gets, particularly as a woman, the less respect one elicits from others, and Bréone’s boss’ dismissal of hers and other respected professional women’s opinions is emblematic of society’s dismissal of older women’s voices.
-how to hold onto one's self as one's memories fray and disappear
-a planet inimical to humans may be attractive to aliens comfortable with other types of climates.
This is a beautifully written story about loss, on a big and on a personal scale.
Except for me being a wee bit puzzled by part of the resolution to this tale, I liked this story a lot.
Thank you to Netgalley and Neon Hemlock Press for this ARC in exchange for a review.
May 23, 2024
When I don't remember my name, I will remember this.
The Necessity of Stars is a lush, quiet novella that explores decline in big and small ways. Set in the future, our main character Breone is an elderly UN diplomat who lives in France in a nice house with a nice garden that somehow still flourishes even as the climate crisis has ravaged the world at large. Her best friend Delphine lives next door. She is starting to forget things. And then an alien, a creature, shows up in her garden.
That is about all I can say for a plot. This is a character study at heart, weaving together themes that explore loss of self, loss of the world, how we see the world around us and how or when we choose to look away.
Tobler's writing is beautiful, but at times I felt that the writing overpowered the story a little. I would get a slightly lost in the scene going on, but then remember Breone is also a little lost and maybe it's all on purpose and things felt right again.
It's a lovely little novella, one I would recommend for anyone looking for something a little quieter yet still impactful in the themes its exploring.
The Necessity of Stars is a lush, quiet novella that explores decline in big and small ways. Set in the future, our main character Breone is an elderly UN diplomat who lives in France in a nice house with a nice garden that somehow still flourishes even as the climate crisis has ravaged the world at large. Her best friend Delphine lives next door. She is starting to forget things. And then an alien, a creature, shows up in her garden.
That is about all I can say for a plot. This is a character study at heart, weaving together themes that explore loss of self, loss of the world, how we see the world around us and how or when we choose to look away.
Tobler's writing is beautiful, but at times I felt that the writing overpowered the story a little. I would get a slightly lost in the scene going on, but then remember Breone is also a little lost and maybe it's all on purpose and things felt right again.
It's a lovely little novella, one I would recommend for anyone looking for something a little quieter yet still impactful in the themes its exploring.
July 21, 2021
La Tierra se va a la mierda de una vez por todas y lo único que puede hacer la humanidad es cruzar los dedos para que aguante unos años más. Pero en el planeta sobreviven unos cuantos espacios verdes que casi parecen paraísos. Bréone, una diplomática de sesenta años, tiene la suerte de vivir en uno de ellos cerca de París. Bréone empieza a presentar los primeros síntomas de Alzhéimer, pero, aunque olvida palabras y nombres, tiene claro que, si pudiera, lo dejaría todo para salvar a su planeta. Y, un día, la oportunidad se presenta en forma de una sombra extraña en su jardín paradisíaco.
La narración de The Necessity of Stars es íntima, pausada. Conocemos de primera mano el testimonio de Bréone en esos días clave para salvar a la humanidad y durante el encuentro tan íntimo que tiene con unos alienígenas muy peculiares. Su narración, no obstante, es un tanto fragmentada por el Alzhéimer, pero más creíble si cabe.
En definitiva, The Necessity of Stars, de E. Catherine Tobler, es una lectura sosegada, sin demasiada acción, pero con un mensaje claro y esperanzador. Además, necesitamos más obras con señoras mayores salvando el mundo.
¿Qué encontrarás en The Necessity of Stars?
-Una historia del apocalipsis climático al que va abocada la Tierra.
-Una protagonista bisexual ya mayor y con Alzhéimer.
-Unos alienígenas muy interesantes con sus propios conflictos.
-Una narración pausada, pero con giros interesantes y un final cargado de esperanza.
¡Gracias a Neon Hemlock Press por ofrecerme un ejemplar para reseñar!
We have cursed ourselves to this world, and would never go to the stars, but in the water, I could dream. I hadn’t allowed myself to dream in a long while.
La narración de The Necessity of Stars es íntima, pausada. Conocemos de primera mano el testimonio de Bréone en esos días clave para salvar a la humanidad y durante el encuentro tan íntimo que tiene con unos alienígenas muy peculiares. Su narración, no obstante, es un tanto fragmentada por el Alzhéimer, pero más creíble si cabe.
En definitiva, The Necessity of Stars, de E. Catherine Tobler, es una lectura sosegada, sin demasiada acción, pero con un mensaje claro y esperanzador. Además, necesitamos más obras con señoras mayores salvando el mundo.
¿Qué encontrarás en The Necessity of Stars?
-Una historia del apocalipsis climático al que va abocada la Tierra.
-Una protagonista bisexual ya mayor y con Alzhéimer.
-Unos alienígenas muy interesantes con sus propios conflictos.
-Una narración pausada, pero con giros interesantes y un final cargado de esperanza.
¡Gracias a Neon Hemlock Press por ofrecerme un ejemplar para reseñar!
August 13, 2021
Absolutely stunning! 4.5 stars!
February 8, 2022
Memory is a form of fiction—a story that keeps the days threaded together in proper order. Experts in memory function say your first memory probably never happened, that it is a fiction you've told yourself so many times you've simply come to believe it as truth.
Story—★★★☆☆ (2.5 Stars)
Characters—★★★☆☆
Writing Style—★★★★☆
Themes and Representation—★★★★☆ (3.75 Stars)
Enjoyment—★★☆☆☆ (2.25 Stars)
(Thank you to NetGalley and to Neon Hemlock Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review!)
Interesting and intelligent, but more of an experience than a story, and not one I can say I enjoyed reading.
The Necessity of Stars explores memory as a concept through Bréone, an aging diplomat with dementia. She encounters an alien, Tura, in her garden, and struggles with her memory of the encounter.
Tura has a concept of memory, described it to me as clothing, as armor, as the thing you put on to defend yourself from the world. Memory protects us, Tura says; memory keeps us from burning ourselves on the hot coal we once picked up; memory tells us not to stray from the path and into the woods, for wolves linger there. Stories again, see. Do I remember that from a story, or did a wolf find me in a clearing and did we share the same breath? Memory, Tura says, allows us to become what we like, what we need to be in order to hide what we are.
I loved the concept and many elements within, but struggled with much of the execution. As a narrative, The Necessity of Stars is in a uncomfortable middleground: it's a literary examination of a concept that functions as if it's on the edge of becoming a full story. By this, I mean Tobler mentions things like a possible alien invasion and/or escape in Britain and how Bréone is the most amazing negotiator ever and after years of ignoring her, her boss has called on her again.
But The Necessity of Stars is technically not about any of those things, it's about about Bréone wrangling memory--both her own and the idea of what memory is (word, and so, while most of the book contributes to this higher cause, it's often downright dull to read. Bréone's reflections on her first memory of meeting Tura are an excellent example of this: they contribute perfectly the concept of a memory as what we tell ourselves it is, but it's also just Bréone repeatedly waxing poetic about Tura half a dozen times. Part of this is the distinct lack of clarity on what exactly The Necessity of Stars is from the outset, part of it Tobler's handling of the narrative, and admittedly, part of it is my own expectations being unmet.
The Necessity of Stars is told in first person, something tense from Bréone's point of view. (Bréone is an unreliable narrator.) Tobler's writing is above average and. Tobler's writing is strongest and arguable most poetic when dealing with the passages most directly dealing with the concept of her novella; Bréone's and Tura's discussions of memory were downright brilliant. However, I felt the descriptions of Tura's galaxy body and Bréone's remarkable garden were unmemorable; they functioned more like adjective dumps than anything.
Something easy to appreciated about The Necessity of Stars is the representation: not only is Bréone an elderly protagonist struggling to live with a debilitating health condition, but the novella is strictly about these things. (Bréone is also sapphic; her neighbour and friend Delphine is also her former lover.)
The Necessity of Stars is definitely one of those stories where it's more fun to discuss than to actually read.
Overall—★★★☆☆
Recommended For...
Readers looking for intelligent, thoughtful short fiction; readers looking for works examining memory as a concept; readers who enjoy unreliable narrators; readers looking for older protagonists.
June 19, 2022
When I don’t remember my name, I will remember this.
The last science fiction story I read with an elderly female protagonist was Elizabeth Moon's Remnant Population published in 1996 and nominated for a Hugo. This story is equally thought provoking and wonderful, about an aging UN diplomat, believed by her boss to have outlived her usefulness, who discovers an alien in her garden. Breone's memory is fading, and she provides an unreliable narration that amplifies the devastation of the dying earth and the alien Tura's mimicry of life forms, including trees, foxes, and ultimately, herself. I'm not quite sure that I understand the ending, and I will need to read this again to ponder the deeper meanings.
The last science fiction story I read with an elderly female protagonist was Elizabeth Moon's Remnant Population published in 1996 and nominated for a Hugo. This story is equally thought provoking and wonderful, about an aging UN diplomat, believed by her boss to have outlived her usefulness, who discovers an alien in her garden. Breone's memory is fading, and she provides an unreliable narration that amplifies the devastation of the dying earth and the alien Tura's mimicry of life forms, including trees, foxes, and ultimately, herself. I'm not quite sure that I understand the ending, and I will need to read this again to ponder the deeper meanings.
August 5, 2021
When I forget my name I will remember this book.
The Necessity of Stars claims to be science fiction but it is really a love letter to everyone who has suffered with, or supported someone with dementia. With aliens, of course. The detailed inner voice of a woman forgetting yesterday but remembering decades past is a window into cognitive loss, but it is so personal, so humanizing, it might be the first time you really understand. Bréone is as far from the typical protagonist as you can get. She faces her inner battle head on while trying to handle a world-impacting situation on the outside. She, like all of us really, has to keep reminding herself who she is, what she has done, and what only she can do. You will never root for a protagonist as hard as you root for Bréone. Stories often show tough people, physically hardened people, as being courageous. In her weakness Bréone is a story of courage more pure than any you will likely ever read.
The aliens are just wow. And I'm certain there is so much nuance and parable here and I missed a lot of it on the first read. Shadow, restoration, loss, love - these themes intertwine in a rich mix. This is a master class on how to bring difficult subjects into fiction, make them come alive, weave stories around seemingly unrelated things (climate change and dementia), and show you that loss is loss, on a big scale or small. You just have to figure out which shadows are here to give and which are here to take. Read the book.
The Necessity of Stars claims to be science fiction but it is really a love letter to everyone who has suffered with, or supported someone with dementia. With aliens, of course. The detailed inner voice of a woman forgetting yesterday but remembering decades past is a window into cognitive loss, but it is so personal, so humanizing, it might be the first time you really understand. Bréone is as far from the typical protagonist as you can get. She faces her inner battle head on while trying to handle a world-impacting situation on the outside. She, like all of us really, has to keep reminding herself who she is, what she has done, and what only she can do. You will never root for a protagonist as hard as you root for Bréone. Stories often show tough people, physically hardened people, as being courageous. In her weakness Bréone is a story of courage more pure than any you will likely ever read.
The aliens are just wow. And I'm certain there is so much nuance and parable here and I missed a lot of it on the first read. Shadow, restoration, loss, love - these themes intertwine in a rich mix. This is a master class on how to bring difficult subjects into fiction, make them come alive, weave stories around seemingly unrelated things (climate change and dementia), and show you that loss is loss, on a big scale or small. You just have to figure out which shadows are here to give and which are here to take. Read the book.
June 5, 2022
3.5 A literary SF novella, lyrically written and more concerned with memory, identity and love than it is with intergalactic war. One possisble reading of it would be entirely devoid of any SF elements, although I of course prefer to believe that the aliens are real. Bonus points for an aging female protagonist.
August 11, 2021
Actual rating: 3.5/5
The Necessity of Stars examines a snapshot of diplomat Bréone Hemmerli’s life. A woman in her 60s who has ‘outlived’ her usefulness to her employer, Bréone starts to see strange visions in the shadows but wonders if she can trust her own mind. A thought-provoking near-future examination of dementia, climate change, memory, experience, and love. While some elements of the worldbuilding could have been explored further, the beautiful prose, older queer protagonist, and clever use of structure and narrative callbacks to distort perception made this an enjoyable and reflective read.
Thank you Neon Hemlock Press and NetGalley for an advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.
The Necessity of Stars examines a snapshot of diplomat Bréone Hemmerli’s life. A woman in her 60s who has ‘outlived’ her usefulness to her employer, Bréone starts to see strange visions in the shadows but wonders if she can trust her own mind. A thought-provoking near-future examination of dementia, climate change, memory, experience, and love. While some elements of the worldbuilding could have been explored further, the beautiful prose, older queer protagonist, and clever use of structure and narrative callbacks to distort perception made this an enjoyable and reflective read.
Thank you Neon Hemlock Press and NetGalley for an advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.
August 13, 2021
I was on a fence about reading this novella, but then I noticed I actually read the author before and enjoyed it. That plus my overall love for novellas as a format was enough to end the fence sitting, though having read it, not sure it was quite the right thing for me.
It stands to mention first and foremost that Tobler has a very specific narrative style, it’s very dreamy, very poetic. Normally I don’t care form that sort of thing, but sometimes it gets done just right. In Grand Tour Tobler did it just right. And here it was still good, but to a lesser extent. Or maybe it was just the mood I was in.
Anyway…this is a story of first contact. An older woman with rapidly failing memory meets an alien in her garden. A nice story with lovely descriptions, plus it’s always a bonus to have an elderly female protagonist, two in fact here, but something about it didn’t quite wow. Maybe it was too subtle for its own good.
It worked though, both as a meditation on aging and on…well, aliens. There’s a lot about climate too, this technically can be categorized as a climate science fiction, since science fiction authors and scientists are the only ones seriously talking about the deleterious effects of climate change. The rest either nod along seriously, recycle their $4 water bottles and then get into their SUVs and drive away or outright deny it.
The language is lovely, if you’re into lovely language. The rest wasn’t especially memorable, though this is in no way a pun on the main character’s memory condition. At least it isn’t meant to be one, though puns are kind of irresistible. Thanks Netgalley.
It stands to mention first and foremost that Tobler has a very specific narrative style, it’s very dreamy, very poetic. Normally I don’t care form that sort of thing, but sometimes it gets done just right. In Grand Tour Tobler did it just right. And here it was still good, but to a lesser extent. Or maybe it was just the mood I was in.
Anyway…this is a story of first contact. An older woman with rapidly failing memory meets an alien in her garden. A nice story with lovely descriptions, plus it’s always a bonus to have an elderly female protagonist, two in fact here, but something about it didn’t quite wow. Maybe it was too subtle for its own good.
It worked though, both as a meditation on aging and on…well, aliens. There’s a lot about climate too, this technically can be categorized as a climate science fiction, since science fiction authors and scientists are the only ones seriously talking about the deleterious effects of climate change. The rest either nod along seriously, recycle their $4 water bottles and then get into their SUVs and drive away or outright deny it.
The language is lovely, if you’re into lovely language. The rest wasn’t especially memorable, though this is in no way a pun on the main character’s memory condition. At least it isn’t meant to be one, though puns are kind of irresistible. Thanks Netgalley.
Read
August 19, 2024I love how novellas take beautiful concepts and beautiful writing and give us just a taste of something great. This one lost me a little. I got a vague sense of what was happening, but I could’ve used twenty more pages of explanations. I’m looking forward to reading more from this author. This was enough for me to know that I love their writing.
January 8, 2022
DNF, so one star by definition. I got as far as chapter five, I think, before I just gave up from boredom. It is unusual for me to give up on a novella, since their brevity encourages me to finish, but this one just wasn't worth continuing with.
July 22, 2022
The sentiment was beautiful but the message was heavy handed.
August 22, 2021
(ARC received in exchange for honest review at www.netgalley.com)
E. Catherine Tobler cut her teeth in Sci-Fi and Fantasy in the realm of short stories published by the likes of Apex and Lightspeed. However, ‘The Necessity of Stars’ marks a departure from that trend, instead presented as a novella following elderly diplomat Bréone Hemmerli, as she strives for peace in a fractured world. Whilst she tends her gardens, her haven on a planet beaten down by climate change, her memory fails her, and she finds herself in the presence of a most unusual creature who might help preserve what is almost certainly about to be lost…
‘The Necessity of Stars’ is primarily contemplative, its world a mere backdrop to the deeper thematic issues it tackles. That’s not to say the world isn’t well constructed - on the contrary, Tobler uses delicate, lyrical prose to realise it in full. Truly, Tobler’s exploration of theme is astounding, exploring memory, the importance of shared burdens and the necessity of change. Bréone is evidently a poor narrator, the tapestry of her mind unravelling before the reader’s eyes. Tobler illustrates this by zeroing in on Bréone’s emotions and friendships, given that her memory can no longer shoulder the reader’s burden, and thus her use of literary technique further reinforces Bréone’s degradation of self to devastating effect.
When comparing Bréone’s personal struggle with the ecological collapse of the world she inhabits, Tobler carefully ensures that the interior threat mirrors the exterior threat - both Bréone and the Planet are disintegrating. To emphasise this, she offers Bréone a chance at salvation in her friend and the creature she meets, implying that co-operation and unity must also play a role in healing the world itself. It’s this meta-commentary that earns ‘The Necessity of Stars’ its place at the apex of its genre, its gentle, thoughtful narrative having implications far beyond the boundaries of pen and paper.
With this in mind, I’m struggling to introduce critique here, as I truly have nothing negative to say. ‘The Necessity of Stars’ is art, the condensation of helplessness, struggle and heart into a cohesive narrative that will live with the reader long after they close the book. All things considered, Tobler’s mastery of integrating themes without lecturing or obscuring the plot exemplifies the faith she places in her readers to sense the hidden narrative. In summary, ‘The Necessity of Stars’ is nothing less than a must-read, a rare masterclass in subtlety, and it only leaves me wanting more.
“Memory tells us not to stray from the path and into the woods, for wolves linger there.”
January 31, 2024
It's Lush, it's trippy, a bit cosmic with a touch of Fae.
- Oh yeah it's like a horrorshow about ageing and yet it's something bordering on beautiful.
Is it dimentia or maybe Alzheimers? Is it just the memory loss that comes with being that age? Is it an alien? Is it Eldritch? Is it a chemical in the garden that makes hallucintation come at you in a hazy way and makes you forget yesterday but remember the long lost past vividly?
I was engaged right through to the end.
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
I must admit I was a bit weary in the first few chapters. The UN namedropping didn't have the intended effect or maybe that was exactly the effect the writer wanted? It felt to UNy which would be great 10-15 years ago when the body was reverred, relevant and perceived as a galvanizing entity. Now it's a glorified FiFa except the bribes and money exchanges aren't as brazen or public but under the table and hsrder to untangle. I almost shut the book.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
The main character is 65 years old and lives at the edge of a drowning world. The sea levels have risen and she may or may not be losing her mind regarding her magnificent, thriving riotous, beautiful garden.
Sometimes I felt like the author was using the fear of ageing and confirming aching bones and loss of motivation as a horror tool
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene: :
☆Breone's first memory
☆A grandma and an alien sitting down for a nice spot of tea and cucumber sandwiches
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “All worlds changed; our task was to change with them, not argue with an entire planet. Humanity was too small, too insignificant, to cause the changes we were seeing” (Breone Hemmerli on the rising sea levels)
🖤 “Memory is a form of fiction—a story that keeps the days threaded together in proper order” (And so I wonder about Breone)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts :
■ Irisland
■Tura
■ Ecosystems thriving instead of dying
■Eleanor of Aquitaine
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short Stories by 2025
Is it dimentia or maybe Alzheimers? Is it just the memory loss that comes with being that age? Is it an alien? Is it Eldritch? Is it a chemical in the garden that makes hallucintation come at you in a hazy way and makes you forget yesterday but remember the long lost past vividly?
I was engaged right through to the end.
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
I must admit I was a bit weary in the first few chapters. The UN namedropping didn't have the intended effect or maybe that was exactly the effect the writer wanted? It felt to UNy which would be great 10-15 years ago when the body was reverred, relevant and perceived as a galvanizing entity. Now it's a glorified FiFa except the bribes and money exchanges aren't as brazen or public but under the table and hsrder to untangle. I almost shut the book.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
The main character is 65 years old and lives at the edge of a drowning world. The sea levels have risen and she may or may not be losing her mind regarding her magnificent, thriving riotous, beautiful garden.
Sometimes I felt like the author was using the fear of ageing and confirming aching bones and loss of motivation as a horror tool
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene: :
☆Breone's first memory
☆A grandma and an alien sitting down for a nice spot of tea and cucumber sandwiches
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “All worlds changed; our task was to change with them, not argue with an entire planet. Humanity was too small, too insignificant, to cause the changes we were seeing” (Breone Hemmerli on the rising sea levels)
🖤 “Memory is a form of fiction—a story that keeps the days threaded together in proper order” (And so I wonder about Breone)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts :
■ Irisland
■Tura
■ Ecosystems thriving instead of dying
■Eleanor of Aquitaine
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short Stories by 2025
April 17, 2023
The Necessity of Stars is a literary speculative novella focused on memory, identity, and aging in the context of late-stage human-caused climate catastrophe. I appreciate the representation of aging and the increasing unreliability of memory, the centering of older women as protagonists, and the sensual, descriptive writing. I also appreciate much of the ambiguity here, though I think the ending could've been stronger.
Content warnings: misogyny, ageism, memory loss / dementia
Content warnings: misogyny, ageism, memory loss / dementia
September 10, 2021
Character-driven story following an old diplomat who might be seeing aliens in her garden when the world is falling apart.
Beautifully-written with a dream-like quality to it and it's alwys great to follow an older female character. The ending left me with a LOT of questions though, I would have liked a few more answers at the end!
Beautifully-written with a dream-like quality to it and it's alwys great to follow an older female character. The ending left me with a LOT of questions though, I would have liked a few more answers at the end!
February 10, 2023
this just wasn’t for me. i tried so hard to enjoy it, but i just meh. it explored themes of climate change, an almost apocalyptic future, memory loss, dementia and friendship. but it just wasn’t executed well. as a reader i felt like i was thrown around between time periods and characters & nothing was explained to its full potential
December 25, 2021
Well-written in a different style, similar to memory and how it works. Thought provoking. A little sad and yet hopeful at the same time.
March 6, 2023
I picked this up as part of a sci-fi novella challenge I've set for myself. And, my God, I was expecting this to be a pleasurable read, but not to blow me away like it did.
Tobler's prose style is astonishingly lyrical and very well structured, it feels like you couldn't budge a word from a sentence without undermining its purposefulness.
In other words, every word is a load-bearing pillar.
And, the story at it's center is equally moving and tactfully told. And, features an aged female lead! Something too rare in sci-fi and fiction alike in general.
So, in summary, this was a very nice surprise for me, and I'd highly recommend to anyone looking for a great and succinct sci-fi novella.
I'm glad I checked this one out.
Tobler's prose style is astonishingly lyrical and very well structured, it feels like you couldn't budge a word from a sentence without undermining its purposefulness.
In other words, every word is a load-bearing pillar.
And, the story at it's center is equally moving and tactfully told. And, features an aged female lead! Something too rare in sci-fi and fiction alike in general.
So, in summary, this was a very nice surprise for me, and I'd highly recommend to anyone looking for a great and succinct sci-fi novella.
I'm glad I checked this one out.
October 23, 2021
Another 4.5er. Review forthcoming. I want everything Tobler now.
December 4, 2022
I'm not sure how much I followed so much as I was dragged along by the writing, but I enjoyed it either way.
July 20, 2021
The Necessity of Stars is truly a many-splendored book. Tobler deftly weaves together several story threads into a haunting, rich, and exquisitely crafted science fiction novella that I could not put down while reading, and that still lingers in my mind weeks later.
For one thing, this is a complex, subtly shaded alien invasion story that is not focused on extermination and war, but rather on survival and subterfuge. The Necessity of Stars is also delicately drawn love story, about the deep and life-affirming friendship and romance between Bréone and Delphine. it is also an ecological science fiction story, set in a (maybe not too distant) future where our world has been ravaged and forever altered by climate change, and where much has been, and continues to be, lost. Bréone lives with that sense of loss, with the knowledge of the fragility of the world and the fragility of life, as an ever-present specter.
In short, The Necessity of Stars is a mind-bending, dizzying tale of what happens in the shadows beneath the trees in a garden when the alien Tura meets the human Bréone. Throughout the novella,Tobler’s prose gleams and shimmers like the inside of a mussel shell, pearlescent and beguiling, lustrous with insight and imagination.
For one thing, this is a complex, subtly shaded alien invasion story that is not focused on extermination and war, but rather on survival and subterfuge. The Necessity of Stars is also delicately drawn love story, about the deep and life-affirming friendship and romance between Bréone and Delphine. it is also an ecological science fiction story, set in a (maybe not too distant) future where our world has been ravaged and forever altered by climate change, and where much has been, and continues to be, lost. Bréone lives with that sense of loss, with the knowledge of the fragility of the world and the fragility of life, as an ever-present specter.
In short, The Necessity of Stars is a mind-bending, dizzying tale of what happens in the shadows beneath the trees in a garden when the alien Tura meets the human Bréone. Throughout the novella,Tobler’s prose gleams and shimmers like the inside of a mussel shell, pearlescent and beguiling, lustrous with insight and imagination.
October 25, 2021
really beautiful written, and a devastating glimpse of a future where we allow climate change to run rampant. has a lot to say about age and memory, but i'm still kind of chewing on that. really gorgeous description of the aliens.
July 6, 2021
Diplomat Bréone Hemmerli is slowly losing her memory but continues to negotiate peace. Tura arrives in Bréone’s Normandy garden, and can possibly help her move forward, even without her memories.
We begin this novella with a lyrical and otherworldly description of Tura and the interactions they have with Bréone. The world has undergone near-catastrophic changes, from the sea living rising six meters to land being difficult or impossible to farm. Some ecosystems escaped the global warming, but most could not. Even in this future, there are terrorist acts, an isolated UK from the rest of Europe, and the slow decline of memory, especially for someone living alone. Despite this, Bréone is still needed as a diplomat and still has the yearning to be needed and useful. Gradually, we get a picture of Tura and their species, as well as how they survive on earth.
Because of the memory loss, we have the same sense of timelessness that Bréone does. Which part of her tale is the present? Which is a fragment of memory? Which is a story she’s telling herself? It could be that large changes have to be made in the face of a changing world. It could be that alone, people can’t survive. Whichever your takeaway message, this is a haunting story that will make you ponder the meaning of identity.
We begin this novella with a lyrical and otherworldly description of Tura and the interactions they have with Bréone. The world has undergone near-catastrophic changes, from the sea living rising six meters to land being difficult or impossible to farm. Some ecosystems escaped the global warming, but most could not. Even in this future, there are terrorist acts, an isolated UK from the rest of Europe, and the slow decline of memory, especially for someone living alone. Despite this, Bréone is still needed as a diplomat and still has the yearning to be needed and useful. Gradually, we get a picture of Tura and their species, as well as how they survive on earth.
Because of the memory loss, we have the same sense of timelessness that Bréone does. Which part of her tale is the present? Which is a fragment of memory? Which is a story she’s telling herself? It could be that large changes have to be made in the face of a changing world. It could be that alone, people can’t survive. Whichever your takeaway message, this is a haunting story that will make you ponder the meaning of identity.
September 6, 2021
This was so good I can’t even describe it well. It’s about a 64 year old diplomat who is struggling with her memory and meets an alien. But it’s so much more than that!
June 10, 2022
Just two books away from completing the full set of novels nominated for this year's Hugo and Nebula Awards, I decided to take a two-hour detour. I also plan to read the full set of NOVELLAS nominated for this year's Hugos and Nebulas, and I decided I would choose one of those before forging ahead with the last of the longer works.
I am unfamiliar with author E Catherine Tobler, though it seems she has had an impressive career as a writer and editor of short fiction. Perhaps I will investigate her other work when I am finished with all the Hugo and Nebula nominees.
At first, I found The Necessity of Stars somewhat difficult to understand. The novella's narrator is an older woman whose memory has begun to fail, and her struggles to make sense of experiences past and present make it that much more difficult for the reader to comprehend the narrative in a clear and linear way. Of course, I do enjoy the unclear and the non-linear, so I was up to the challenge of sorting things out.
In the end, it struck me that Tobler's novella is principally concerned with memory and loss. These are my favorite themes: a great deal of the literature I use in my eighth grade English classes is built upon them. Tobler manages things deftly, including a number of clarifying passages that go a long way toward helping the reader make sense of the novella's less transparent scenes.
The narrator has experienced significant loss, and her cognitive challenges suggest she is soon to lose even more. But the transformative experience she has with Tura, a most unusual alien, provides a kind of liberation - from an impending loss of self, and from a darkling sense of futility caused by the destruction of the natural world.
A haunting and powerful read.
I am unfamiliar with author E Catherine Tobler, though it seems she has had an impressive career as a writer and editor of short fiction. Perhaps I will investigate her other work when I am finished with all the Hugo and Nebula nominees.
At first, I found The Necessity of Stars somewhat difficult to understand. The novella's narrator is an older woman whose memory has begun to fail, and her struggles to make sense of experiences past and present make it that much more difficult for the reader to comprehend the narrative in a clear and linear way. Of course, I do enjoy the unclear and the non-linear, so I was up to the challenge of sorting things out.
In the end, it struck me that Tobler's novella is principally concerned with memory and loss. These are my favorite themes: a great deal of the literature I use in my eighth grade English classes is built upon them. Tobler manages things deftly, including a number of clarifying passages that go a long way toward helping the reader make sense of the novella's less transparent scenes.
The narrator has experienced significant loss, and her cognitive challenges suggest she is soon to lose even more. But the transformative experience she has with Tura, a most unusual alien, provides a kind of liberation - from an impending loss of self, and from a darkling sense of futility caused by the destruction of the natural world.
A haunting and powerful read.
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