The Cassandra Complex: The unforgettable Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick

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My main gripes with this book are to do with how much it does feel very white, cis, and heteronormative—especially given that it’s set in London, which is such a cosmopolitan city, and also given how queer the autistic community tends to be. This also made the book feel initially less like something I’d get into: A novel that on the surface seemed to be about an autistic girl chasing a guy, with some Greek mythology thrown in. But if that impression had made me put the book down, I’d have missed out on a surprising, fun, and very enjoyable read with many thought-provoking depths. So. It's the 2040s~ and people wear smart clothes that keep them safe from germs and they can resist stains and so on. Emortality hasn't been invented yet, biowarfare is happening and people in Britain are trying to live like everything's normal, that the end of the world isn't nigh. This is the cool stuff in this book: the glimpses at this society and how it works, whenever the plot isn't occupied with the bland mechanisms of interviewing suspects and inter-police squabbling and the protagonist trying to piece together the clues. I'm sorry, Stableford, but you can't maintain tension. His writing skills just aren't up for it - he's a thousand times better with other plots and other settings, but this was a whiff. Before the industrial revolution, most of the potential disasters faced by human societies were biological and ecological (plagues and famines). Then technological disasters seemed uppermost in the mind of the public (nuclear war); but now we have a combination of the two. The constant prediction of disaster is what gives the novel its title, the Cassandra complex being what is suffered by those who predict disaster but are ignored, a prime example being those concerned with the problems of overpopulation. So. It's a bizarre book that I have a hard time recommending, because it's slow and boring except when it's doing the most "boring" thing of all: having the characters sit and talk about things. You can tell that the author is a trained biologist who has spent a lot of his life thinking about these concepts. You can tell that he's worried about our future, without getting preachy.

The book begins with her getting fired from her job, getting dumped by her boyfriend, and her living situation with her roommates is pretty well destroyed. So far, it was reminding me very strongly of Penny Reid's Neanderthal Seeks Human just without the huge dose of humor. (One of my top favorite books, btw) Cassandra doesn't care much for her PR job in the first place, considering she just isn't a people person. However, nobody wants to be fired and lose their financial stability, so she is naturally distraught. Even more upsetting is her unexpected break-up with her lovely boyfriend Will of four months. She truly cares for Will, and was completely blindsided by his sudden extraction from their relationship. Will seemed to genuinely admire Cassandra's intelligence and wasn't put off by her differences. What seemed to be a breaking point for him was her issue with opening up to him about her feelings and sharing herself with him. No matter how many times he asked her to share what she was thinking and feeling, she didn't know how to give that to him.

Cassie has never really fitted in. She remembers everything. Understands nothing. And consistently says the wrong thing. If I have a real criticism, it is that the main secret, for which so many people have jumped to the wrong conclusions, is not really well prepared; it isn't likely to be worked out by the reader before it becomes obvious to the main characters. A good detective novel, of any sort, should allow the astute reader to figure out what all the hubbub is about. It's just sort of dropped onto the floor at some point, which was a bit of a let-down. Perhaps I'm just not astute enough. a b c Schapira, Laurie Layton (1988). The Cassandra complex: living with disbelief: a modern perspective on hysteria. Toronto, Canada: Inner City Books. ISBN 091912335X.

if i could choose, i’d roll around in mud and laugh easily and be covered in puppies and take the world in my stride, but i can’t —i have never been able to— and the judgment i feel about that has always been for me.” i’m supposed to see her pain, sweep forward, wrap my arms around her and tell her everything is going to be okay, but i don’t think i can physically do it.” this one means a lot to me because i also struggle with comforting people. it’s hard. The book includes loads of Greek mythology references, which were interesting (to a point) and revealed part of Cassie’s way of processing; but it became a bit much for me. And there are a lot of descriptions of seeing emotions as colors, which is also interesting as it relates to Cassie’s way of processing information; but it’s also overdone. It really is enlightening to get a glimpse behind the curtain to see Cassie’s internal functioning.Self discovery and awareness become the byproduct for Cassandra as she tries to fix her responses to Will in their What the Cassandra woman sees is something dark and painful that may not be apparent on the surface of things or that objective facts do not corroborate. She may envision a negative or unexpected outcome; or something which would be difficult to deal with; or a truth which others, especially authority figures, would not accept. In her frightened, ego-less state, the Cassandra woman may blurt out what she sees, perhaps with the unconscious hope that others might be able to make some sense of it. But to them her words sound meaningless, disconnected and blown out of all proportion. [7] Jean Shinoda Bolen [ edit ] The Cassandra metaphor (variously labeled the Cassandra " syndrome", " complex", " phenomenon", " predicament", " dilemma", " curse") relates to a person whose valid warnings or concerns are disbelieved by others. Laurie Layton Schapira, The Cassandra Complex: Living With Disbelief: A Modern Perspective on Hysteria p.10 (1988) Delamotte, D., Women Imagine Change: A Global Anthology of Women's Resistance From 600 B.C.E. p.86 (1997)

If you give the power of time travel to a woman who eats banana muffins ever day, for three decades, you can’t go expecting her to be someone else with it”There are examples of the Cassandra metaphor being applied in the contexts of medical science, [19] [20] the media, [21] to feminist perspectives on reality, [22] [23] and in politics. [24] There are also examples of the metaphor being used in popular music lyrics, such as the 1982 ABBA song "Cassandra", [25] [26] Emmy the Great's "Cassandra", Florence and the Machine's "Cassandra", and Star One's "Cassandra Complex". The five-part The Mars Volta song "Cassandra Gemini" may reference this syndrome, [27] as well as the film 12 Monkeys or in Dead and Divine's "Cassandra Syndrome". However I feel like this book tried to be too many things for it to work fully. I was confused by the time travel element. It appeared out of nowhere but then I got used to it - however the rules of the travel seemed to change and I was unsure where it was going in terms of the overall plot. Also, the constant reference to Greek mythology and storytelling was super random - it took a long time to understand why Cassandra kept bringing it up. It seemed to come together a bit more when the character of Artemis was introduced - but still it just didn't really work for me. It was shoe-horned in and I don't think it had any relevance to what was really going on. People have applied the metaphor in a variety of contexts, such as psychology, environmentalism, politics, science, cinema, the corporate world, and philosophy; it has been in circulation since at least 1914, when Charles Oman used it in his book A History of the Peninsular War, Volume 5, published in 1914. "both of them agreed to treat the Cassandra-like prophecies which Thiebault kept sending from Salamanca as 'wild and whirling words.'" (The Oxford English Dictionary records use of "Cassandra like" from 1670 and of "Cassandra-like" from 1863. [1]) Later, in 1949, French philosopher Gaston Bachelard coined the term "Cassandra Complex" to refer to a belief that things could be known in advance. [2] Psychology [ edit ]

But that book has the same problem this one does: it's a collection of incredible ideas and questions and setting development bound by a not-very-good thriller plot.What I loved most was the mysterious detour it leads Cassandra on—one with a surprising twist and a much bigger purpose than she intended. The utterly heartfelt, vulnerable moments along the way made my heart so full. Cassandra Penelope Dankworth is not having a good day when she gets to work only to find the cherry on the rotten cake of the day is she’s being fired. Cassie doesn’t know what to think after starting the day off with a break up before it all spiraled out of control and being a creature of habit this is all just too much for her to handle. Holly Smale is an exceptional writer and this book is a treasure. Everyone should read it and everyone will love it' Lindsey Kelk The Cassandra Complex follows a forensic police scientist who is having the worst day of her life. Her apartment is broken into, the mice at the laboratory she works at are blown up, and her mentor and former lover is kidnapped. The Cassandra Complex is a reference to the feeling of knowing disaster is imminent, yet you can't stop it. In this book, set about 50 years in the future, the bio warfare and extremely high population seem to be leading the world into collapse.