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Question 6: Setting
I thought this was an interesting setting for the book, and of course was a key point that Geoff Ryman was trying to discuss with technology and culture. Would this book be much different if it was set in an entirely different culture? Small town North America perhaps, or a little village in Europe? Any other settings that might make the main story take a different angle?
Comments
I thought this was a really strong point. I don't know enough about that region to know if the culture was accurately presented, but it was convincing to . I think it would be difficult in either Europe or America to find a group that had remained sufficiently isolated for the story to develop, but for me this worked well.
I don't see why the book couldn't have worked in, say, a native community in the Americas or in eastern Europe. Or even a Mennonite community. Except that had the author chose those, he would have had to be a lot more careful about understanding the people being represented and portraying them well. That reason alone could explain making an imaginary central Asian country.
One aspect I was most curious about was the concept of 'unrolling one's mat' which came up again and again. Unfortunately by the time I clued in this was going to be a theme, I had already forgotten the original in-text explanation around the idea, and had no way of going back to find it.
But it immediately put me in mind of Kai Lung Unrolls his Mat by Ernest Bramah https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kai_Lung_Unrolls_His_Mat and that got me wondering if there was any greater significance to the term. In Kai Lung, the mat is unrolled so Kai Lung can sit and tell a story.
Maybe @BarnerCobblewood can shed some light on this.
early on we get
I guess we might say 'set out your pitch' as a western alternative?