From the depths of the sea to neighboring planets, no destination is off limits in Anneliese Mackintosh’s thrilling feminist adventure novel ... Bright and Dangerous Objects plays with contrasts: its language is wispy and alluring, while its possibilities are sobering and sharp. Solvig, who defies death in a needful way, butts against social limitations on a near constant basis, learning that modern womanhood may offer more, but it is still subject to constraints. She loves, but she longs for freedom; she can imagine herself as a mother, but she needs to believe that adventures are still possible postpartum ... In the resplendent novel Bright and Dangerous Objects, a heroine longs for a one-way ticket to space.
... an intimate portrayal of a woman at a crossroads ... It will appeal to readers who appreciate realistic portraits and asking the question: 'What if I just ran away to Mars?'
Mackintosh’s engagement with science fiction offers fruitful possibilities for writing a contemporary female character who overtly rejects the type of nurturing, earthy motherhood we still seem to want ... There are brief moments when Mackintosh’s depiction of Solvig as mechanical offers new aesthetic possibilities for the domestic novel ... The subtlety with which Mackintosh reclaims the automatic and the digital as comforting and motherly is to be applauded ... But on the large scale, Mackintosh’s depiction of Solvig as a kind of automaton undoes the narrative premise she so carefully sets up...The narrative, overall, seems wildly unmotivated. It never provides a satisfactory stimulus for either of Solvig’s initial choices...Mackintosh seems to shy away from the big events in her characters’ lives which might impel them...Perhaps some will read it asdaring and rebellious for Mackintosh to consistently let Solvig off the hook, and maybe it is. But I’m not sure that it resonates with the importance of choice for contemporary women. Or maybe this: it just doesn’t make for a compelling novel ... Like its central relationship, Mackintosh’s novel suffers from a problem of scale: What works on the small scale seems to sabotage the novel’s larger project. Mackintosh’s writing can be beautiful; her metaphors are weird and thought-provoking. But I walk away from the novel wondering if anything carried any weight at all.
British writer Mackintosh’s powerful U.S. debut explores a woman’s struggle between her desire to join a Mars resettlement program and stay on Earth to start a family ... With graceful prose and elegant metaphors, Mackintosh connects Solvig’s search for herself and desire for balance with her process of coming to terms with the loss of her mother. Solvig’s difficult choice is further informed by Mackintosh’s brilliant weaving in of a history of women in space. When Solvig finally makes her choice, the reader is left breathless, astounded by her courage. This is a deeply moving story about love, loss, and the strength it takes for women to realize their dreams.
Mackintosh’s detailed prose sensitively animates the worlds of the novel—from the tough commercial diving industry to the quirky community of Mars-colonist hopefuls—as well as the internal complexities of navigating middle age while torn between the contending desires for belonging and freedom. A perceptive and nuanced study of a woman’s search for self-fulfillment, reaching from the ocean floor to outer space.
