The Falling Woman in Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library

Jan 13, 2009 Mir rated it really liked it

Shelves: the-americas, mythology

Narrated in alternating first-person narratives by archaeologist Elizabeth Butler and her adult daughter Diane, Falling Woman explores relationships between individuals, between past and present, between theory abstract and reality, between physical environment and culture.

Elizabeth, a long-divorced expert on Mayan archaeology, is in the process of excavating at Dzibilichaltun when her daughter arrives unannounced. Diane lost her father, her job, and her boyfriend (who turned out to be married) Narrated in alternating first-person narratives by archaeologist Elizabeth Butler and her adult daughter Diane, Falling Woman explores relationships between individuals, between past and present, between theory abstract and reality, between physical environment and culture.

Elizabeth, a long-divorced expert on Mayan archaeology, is in the process of excavating at Dzibilichaltun when her daughter arrives unannounced. Diane lost her father, her job, and her boyfriend (who turned out to be married) in the span of two weeks. Suffering from insomnia and emotional distress, she decides to seek out the mother whom she has seen increasingly little of over the years since her parents divorced.

Neither mother or daughter are good at expressing their feelings, and the reunion is an awkward one, although both are pleased to see one another again. Making their reconciliation more fraught are hidden fears of insanity which both suffer and neither vocalizes. Elizabeth is able to see and hear shadows of the past (these seem to be real and not delusions). She does not believe herself to be mad but was once institutionalized by her husband for her non-conformist behavior and was released only on condition of giving up custody of Diane. Diane's father brought her up to idealize conformity and emotional control, and she fears that letting her feelings out will show that she is insane. When she begins to see the past as well, she fears that she is losing her mind.

Adding to the difficulties is the ghost of a Mayan priestess, one of the last servants of the Moon Goddess who was displaced by the Toltec invaders' religion. Able to communicate with Elizabeth, she urges her to make sacrifices that will restore the goddess.

One of the themes I found most interesting in this book was the contrast between Elizabeth's respect for ancient cultures and extreme cultural relativism and the reality of practices as they affect individual lives. The story is partly set in the Bay Area of the 1980s, which is when and where I grew up, and Elizabeth's defense of Mayan cultic practices such as human sacrifice as being fine because "that was their culture" is precisely what I was taught in school and what most of my peers seemed to profess. Yet when the Mayan priestess wants to enact her cultural beliefs by sacrificing those that Elizabeth cares about, does she respectfully cooperate? Of course not.

When I used to bother arguing about this issue with other San Franciscans, most of them fell back on the position that whatever a culture practiced was right for members of that culture as long as they didn't hurt anyone. I think this is a cop-out. First of all, not hurting others is as much of an imposed moral absolute as any other moral dictum. Plenty of cultures don't think it is wrong to hurt other groups with different religions, races, practices, etc. Secondly, this denies the volition of individuals to reject a culture or moral system that they are born into. I cannot reconcile this with feminism. Many cultures think it is all right -- in some cases even a positive moral good -- for a man to beat his wife, for women to be denied equal rights, for unwanted female children to be killed or sold. Moral relativism is a luxury for those born into cultures which protect their rights and do not allow them to be victimized. ...more

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Sep 27, 2010 NebulousGloom (FK) rated it liked it

While the writing and setting were good, this book wasn't my thing. It was not exciting and the only character I really liked died. Also, the book jacket sucks, as it gives away most of the small amount of plot that was there. ...more

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