Remnant Population

I read Remnant Population from the #SFFBookClub backlog. I had a lot of fun reading this. This is a first contact novel with the main character being an older woman in her seventies. At the start of the book, Ofelia is living with her only remaining adult son and his wife. When the colony she is on loses their contract and evacuates, and she decides to hide and stay. It turns out that the planet had undiscovered intelligent life, and these aliens come to investigate her. In the end, she's caught in the middle between these friendly aliens and returning humans.

I think what I most appreciate about this book is the wry internal perspective and character development of Ofelia. She is an old woman who has put in the work, and whose primary character trait is that she's just tired of putting up with other people's expectations and attitudes. Her daughter-in-law harangues her about how she dresses, and the fact that she will be free and able to live blissfully in solitude is the real motivating factor for her to not leave with the rest of the colonists.

When the aliens show up to curiously investigate her, Ofelia begins by treating them like irresponsible children; when they track mud in her house, she tries to teach them how to mop. The aliens certainly interrupt her solitude, but ultimately give Ofelia the community and respect that she never previously had, even despite the language and species barriers.

When more humans show up, they're a threat to the aliens, but they're just as much as threat to Ofelia's new-found independence. These new humans treat her more or less the same as the previous ones (via an ageist and ableist lens), rudely unable to take Ofelia or her experience seriously or believe that she can communicate in rudimentary ways with the aliens, let alone that she has an accord with them. In the end, it's an opportunity for Ofelia to come into her own and be able to finally ignore the people-pleasing internal voice that tries to keep her small.

Ofelia reminds me in some ways of the aiji-dowager Ilisidi from CJ Cherryh's Foreigner series. Ofelia is not crafty and maneuvering like Ilisidi, and instead leans on her own introverted stubbornness. That said, they're both irritated at all of these condescending youngsters who think they know better, who can't even bother with politeness or sharing some tea. And, when confronted with the unknown, they both treat it with kindness and courtesy.

I have a serious weak spot for Sci-Fi and Fantasy that comment on and make use of linguistics, social structure, and Anthropology. I also know Elizabeth Moon to be a good author, so I grabbed this once I came across someone else describing it, and I am glad I did. I read this book in a single night. This book is really different, and I found that enjoyable. We get a main character in Ofelia that is so not the usual. She's not young, gorgeous, extraordinarily strong, extraordinarily smart, the Chosen One, or any of the tropes we typically see. Her strength is strength of character, determination, and a desire to be respected. Ofelia turns the art of small stubborn moments and the sublime joy of small things into a lifestyle.

This main character is humanly fleshed out as an individual going through an entirely new time of discovering she is more as a person than she thought she was (or has been permitted to be), and then also discovers the planet around her is not what she thought it was. Anyone who has been an introvert will feel some kinship with Ofelia. Everyone who has faced the stereotypes of other humans will feel some kinship with Ofelia. Everyone who has loved a woman and watched her discover new parts of herself after her children were grown (no matter how much she loves them) will feel some kinship with Ofelia. The aliens aren't what you expect, and then they are, and then they aren't what you expect again. So many authors would have felt compelled to take the entire thing in a far darker direction, and I applaud Elizabeth Moon for acknowledging the darkness, showing it to us, and not letting it steal the focus of the story from Ofelia. I think this was an author skillfully choosing not to follow the "typical" narrative path that most authors would have easily slid the premise of this story into.

And finally, to anyone asking the question, "Can you have a book about an individual who spends a substantial stretch of time alone without it being a riff on Robinson Crusoe?" Elizabeth Moon shows us in "Remnant Populations" that you can.