Kaethe

1999

January 18, 2015

The library didn't have The Garden of Iden in, but after a dinner conversation in which the Spouse and I commented on the Company premise, I was hankering for a re-read. So, I started with the second book.

Okay, a little backstory: there is time travel, but only to the past and returning, never to the future. The Company controls the technology and is using it to rescue lost artifacts from the past, make canny investments, etc., and for the copious work it is much easier to rescue orphans, cyborg them up to perfect health and immortality, and simply let them live forward, working all the while.

As in Iden, this story features Mendoza (a botanist) and Joseph (a fixer). This mission is to Alta California before the missions arrive, where an entire village of 300 or so people are interviewed, recorded, and finally, transported out, culture and all. Joseph has been fixed up with some clever special effects so that he appears as The Coyote. There is much bawdiness and humor and humanity. Baker never condescends to her made-up tribe, never depicts their speech as pidgin English. When Joseph tries to pass off an earthquake as angry gods, the people are rather taken aback: they figured it was a purely natural phenomena.

I loved it, particularly the respect for a non-European culture. Funny thing though, I don't think it would pass the Bechdel test, since the leaders of the village are all men, and we don't meet many of the women.

Library copy.