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The Rainbow Cadenza: A Novel in Vistata Form
Two hundred years from now, in a world of exploitation and brutality, a young woman of remarkable strength and intelligence fights for her mother's life, her own freedom, and possession of her own body and soul
419 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
April 1, 2009
The point of this book seems to be that any taxation at all is wrong, that any rules by any government are wrong, that all government wants to do is take your money and send you to war, and that everything would be all hunky dory if the government just got out of the way. While the utopian ideal of a society where everyone is equal and gets along well with everyone else and everything works perfectly without any government interference is very nice, it's not practical or realistic. Utopia isn't possible. I forced myself to finish this book despite frustrating propagandizing. Some scenes appeared to be designed just to espouse Libertarian philosophy.
The reason I gave it two stars as opposed to one is the interesting use of laser art as a new art form. Schulman does a great job of describing the way the art is performed and the complex culture that develops around it, from high society performances in auditoriums (much like classical music and symphonies) to pop culture gigs in bars (much like pop music and garage bands).
I also felt that Schulman didn't understand women very well, and his protagonist was two dimensional and unbelievable. Her views are sexist while pretending to be feminist (in that very Heinlein way) and she was completely annoying.
If you're a Libertarian, you probably would like this book, but I don't like books that are thinly veiled propaganda, even when I agree with their point of view. It detracts from the story and is bad literature in my opinion. The award this book won was the Prometheus award solely to acknoweldge Libertarian science fiction. Interestingly, of the 50 or so award winners over the years, only one has been a woman.
The reason I gave it two stars as opposed to one is the interesting use of laser art as a new art form. Schulman does a great job of describing the way the art is performed and the complex culture that develops around it, from high society performances in auditoriums (much like classical music and symphonies) to pop culture gigs in bars (much like pop music and garage bands).
I also felt that Schulman didn't understand women very well, and his protagonist was two dimensional and unbelievable. Her views are sexist while pretending to be feminist (in that very Heinlein way) and she was completely annoying.
If you're a Libertarian, you probably would like this book, but I don't like books that are thinly veiled propaganda, even when I agree with their point of view. It detracts from the story and is bad literature in my opinion. The award this book won was the Prometheus award solely to acknoweldge Libertarian science fiction. Interestingly, of the 50 or so award winners over the years, only one has been a woman.
March 10, 2010
Laboured, slightly sick, misogynistic toss from start to lame finish. Absolutely not recommended.
December 19, 2010
I highly recommend reading a novel about sexist dystopia, but please make it a book that's actually good, like Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (which is AMAZING).
Here, however, painfully poor writing elaborates the author's disturbed, misogynistic libertarian fantasies of a glamorous future where women are forced into prostitution (in the name of preventing war, incredibly enough) and soil themselves at the slightest provocation. Though presuming to be the focus of the story, laser art fails to be a fraction as interesting as it should be, very much taking a backseat to Randroid drivel.
As for that smarmy line opening The Rainbow Cadenza's blurb, a Smithsonian official during the museum's Hiroshima controversy of 1994-95 said it best that, "[a]ttacking 'political correctness' is a kind of neo-McCarthyism." Unfortunately, there's no lower rating option than a single star, thus I invoke the Videohound's "WOOF!".
Here, however, painfully poor writing elaborates the author's disturbed, misogynistic libertarian fantasies of a glamorous future where women are forced into prostitution (in the name of preventing war, incredibly enough) and soil themselves at the slightest provocation. Though presuming to be the focus of the story, laser art fails to be a fraction as interesting as it should be, very much taking a backseat to Randroid drivel.
As for that smarmy line opening The Rainbow Cadenza's blurb, a Smithsonian official during the museum's Hiroshima controversy of 1994-95 said it best that, "[a]ttacking 'political correctness' is a kind of neo-McCarthyism." Unfortunately, there's no lower rating option than a single star, thus I invoke the Videohound's "WOOF!".
June 1, 2014
The textbook for the California Killer. All men have a right to sex; all women are slaves who have to service many men per day. After that, the rest of the plot is a hangnail. The author does not seem to think this is a bad arrangement. A memorable scene: the brother wonders if his own sister might be assigned as his sex slave, and she asks if he would use her just like any stranger; he says 'yes'. Thoroughly ugly. Also, the plot point of a simple rainbow for a light sculpture is absolutely without intelligence or imagination, showing it was tacked on, not thought out.
September 7, 2008
How many times can one book be read by one person who has only a finite amount of time?
Answer: a fuckofalot.
Yep that's a bunch. I got this book off of a used shelf in a comic book store when i was just a wee girl of seventeen. It is one that i reintroduce myself to at least once a year and medicinally as needed. Like, the book titled, The Last Dancer by Daniel Keys Moran, this book shaped my thinking in many ways as I grew up and I'm grateful for it's influence.
It's not unfair to say that it's painful to read and sometimes I got so angry at one or the other of the characters that I wished I could reach into the story and twat them one.
But that just demonstrates that Schulman made it real.
Very good stuff.
Answer: a fuckofalot.
Yep that's a bunch. I got this book off of a used shelf in a comic book store when i was just a wee girl of seventeen. It is one that i reintroduce myself to at least once a year and medicinally as needed. Like, the book titled, The Last Dancer by Daniel Keys Moran, this book shaped my thinking in many ways as I grew up and I'm grateful for it's influence.
It's not unfair to say that it's painful to read and sometimes I got so angry at one or the other of the characters that I wished I could reach into the story and twat them one.
But that just demonstrates that Schulman made it real.
Very good stuff.
April 18, 2009
I really wanted to like this book, and after Alongside Night I had fairly high expectations. I knew that I agreed with most of his political views as I understood them, so all should have been well.
Unfortunately, it reads as if Schulman had a political point to make and wrote the story around it. The world and the plot are just pasted onto the soapbox. The rationale given for why the population has gotten so skewed so that there are too few women doesn't ring true.
Unfortunately, it reads as if Schulman had a political point to make and wrote the story around it. The world and the plot are just pasted onto the soapbox. The rationale given for why the population has gotten so skewed so that there are too few women doesn't ring true.
November 17, 2007
I won't go into what I learned from this book because this is a family site. I will say that I read The Rainbow Cadenza at least biannually for most of my adolescence and it's a rare day that something from it doesn't float into my thoughts.
April 21, 2010
I rather agree with the criticism of one reviewer that this reads as if Schulman having a point to make wrote the novel around it. I think that's the reason for the novel's flaws, but also I think getting that from the beginning helped. I never saw this as a plausible projection of the future--or as meant to be. In his acceptance of the Promethean Award, Schulman remarked that the book started as an argument reducto absurdum taking "the sixties slogan, 'Make Love, Not War' at face value." In a world that takes the military draft for granted, it perhaps takes this kind of reversal to convey what a violation of the person it is to force a man to go to war. So in Schulman's future society, women are drafted into a "Peace Corp" where they're forced into prostitution. And believe me, some of the graphic sexual details in this novel are nauseating. They're meant to be, I think, the equivalent of the gruesome carnage of combat.
And because war is connected with a warrior culture seen to be deeply associated with patriarchy, Schulman gives us a matriarchy, with Wicca the state religion and where judges are women who take "ovimony" rather than "testimony." Never mind, as one Amazon reviewer pointed out, that contemporary Wicca is feminist and tends to be pacifistic. That reversal is rather the point. It's not as if Christianity ("Those Who Live by the Sword...") is fundamentally martial. The unequal gender ratio that was the catalyst for this transformation? Not quite as absurd as it might seem. Communist Romania and Nazi Germany outlawed abortion and promoted big families, just as Communist China today has forced abortions. And the future gender imbalance caused by sex selective abortions has been the subject of at least one serious, mainstream book examining concerns about it creating a hyperaggressive society.
Mind you, all three of the above examples are police states, as is the dystopia The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood with which Rainbow Cadenza shares several themes. I admit part of what I find hard to fathom in this imagined society is how what seems a fairly free, democratic society could ever evolve or accept women being treated the way they are in this novel, particularly one where women seem politically dominant. Schulman might respond the same could be asked about the military draft for men in democracies. Except that has never been accepted very quietly and easily--at least in America. There were draft riots when the draft was instituted in the American Civil War and considerable civil unrest over it during the Vietnam war. So I can't understand quite how people came to accept, and continue to accept, this institutionalized conscripted prostitution.
But yes, this is self-consciously libertarian science fiction, so that means this is going to scrape at sensibilities left and right. Traditional conservatives will not be happy with the anti-war message. Those on the left, given the reviews, are no less happy. They probably don't like how Schulman turns the sixties counterculture to his purposes. And because, yes, Schulman does have a point wider than the immorality of the draft, a message against the coercion of any kind of the individual in the name of the greatest good for the greatest number. And while I wouldn't say you have to be a libertarian to like the book--it does help. A lot. Who but a libertarian would be so interested in trying to reconcile the world view of C.S. Lewis and Ayn Rand?
I did find this novel written well enough, and thought-provoking enough, to give it the three stars. Because it did hold me from beginning to end. I also liked how Schulman used laseography as an art of the future. And goodness, it's nothing if not memorable. How many books do I remember the outlines of the plot, particular discussions between characters and scenes years after I first read it? I'd be a bit hesitant recommending the novel to a general reader nevertheless. This is not, unlike The Handmaid's Tale, destined to be a classic, with incredible prose and a credible dystopia. Frankly, I think this would have done better as a broad, satiric parody with a touch of zaniness to it. It's too serious, but not quite plausible enough of a world to take seriously.
And because war is connected with a warrior culture seen to be deeply associated with patriarchy, Schulman gives us a matriarchy, with Wicca the state religion and where judges are women who take "ovimony" rather than "testimony." Never mind, as one Amazon reviewer pointed out, that contemporary Wicca is feminist and tends to be pacifistic. That reversal is rather the point. It's not as if Christianity ("Those Who Live by the Sword...") is fundamentally martial. The unequal gender ratio that was the catalyst for this transformation? Not quite as absurd as it might seem. Communist Romania and Nazi Germany outlawed abortion and promoted big families, just as Communist China today has forced abortions. And the future gender imbalance caused by sex selective abortions has been the subject of at least one serious, mainstream book examining concerns about it creating a hyperaggressive society.
Mind you, all three of the above examples are police states, as is the dystopia The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood with which Rainbow Cadenza shares several themes. I admit part of what I find hard to fathom in this imagined society is how what seems a fairly free, democratic society could ever evolve or accept women being treated the way they are in this novel, particularly one where women seem politically dominant. Schulman might respond the same could be asked about the military draft for men in democracies. Except that has never been accepted very quietly and easily--at least in America. There were draft riots when the draft was instituted in the American Civil War and considerable civil unrest over it during the Vietnam war. So I can't understand quite how people came to accept, and continue to accept, this institutionalized conscripted prostitution.
But yes, this is self-consciously libertarian science fiction, so that means this is going to scrape at sensibilities left and right. Traditional conservatives will not be happy with the anti-war message. Those on the left, given the reviews, are no less happy. They probably don't like how Schulman turns the sixties counterculture to his purposes. And because, yes, Schulman does have a point wider than the immorality of the draft, a message against the coercion of any kind of the individual in the name of the greatest good for the greatest number. And while I wouldn't say you have to be a libertarian to like the book--it does help. A lot. Who but a libertarian would be so interested in trying to reconcile the world view of C.S. Lewis and Ayn Rand?
I did find this novel written well enough, and thought-provoking enough, to give it the three stars. Because it did hold me from beginning to end. I also liked how Schulman used laseography as an art of the future. And goodness, it's nothing if not memorable. How many books do I remember the outlines of the plot, particular discussions between characters and scenes years after I first read it? I'd be a bit hesitant recommending the novel to a general reader nevertheless. This is not, unlike The Handmaid's Tale, destined to be a classic, with incredible prose and a credible dystopia. Frankly, I think this would have done better as a broad, satiric parody with a touch of zaniness to it. It's too serious, but not quite plausible enough of a world to take seriously.
March 24, 2019
One word: implausible.
For example, one of the main premises detailed in this book is that young women are "drafted" into federal sexual service because of the disparity in gender that pervades society, but I don't buy it.. at all. And I'll tell you why: one of the main characters in this book is basically a clone of her mother (and this is fairly common); the technology is present for space colonization, belts that make people fly, etc.., BUT i'm supposed to believe that instead of simply cloning sex workers OR building sexbots or a thousand other solutions that could be arrived at through the astounding technological ability present in this world, it was instead decided to enlist women to what is essentially sexual slavery AND that it actually worked and people just do that.
I'm not offended by this plot line for any reason. It's just too implausible.
For example, one of the main premises detailed in this book is that young women are "drafted" into federal sexual service because of the disparity in gender that pervades society, but I don't buy it.. at all. And I'll tell you why: one of the main characters in this book is basically a clone of her mother (and this is fairly common); the technology is present for space colonization, belts that make people fly, etc.., BUT i'm supposed to believe that instead of simply cloning sex workers OR building sexbots or a thousand other solutions that could be arrived at through the astounding technological ability present in this world, it was instead decided to enlist women to what is essentially sexual slavery AND that it actually worked and people just do that.
I'm not offended by this plot line for any reason. It's just too implausible.
January 1, 2017
Rarely do I come across books that I dislike so much, and this is definitely one of them.
It's not the fault of the writing (or the plot) but that the world-building just has too many flaws for me to successfully suspend my disbelief. And the whole focus on laser shows really just demonstrated how dated the whole concept was.
In short, it wanted to be 1984 or Brave New World, and didn't even come close.
It's not the fault of the writing (or the plot) but that the world-building just has too many flaws for me to successfully suspend my disbelief. And the whole focus on laser shows really just demonstrated how dated the whole concept was.
In short, it wanted to be 1984 or Brave New World, and didn't even come close.
August 15, 2015
Very chilling future for women, and the libertarian 'utopia' is just as chilling as the one the protagonist eventually escapes from. The scene where the dude says 'the world is controlled through access to sex' - Unfortunately I find this idea, ie. of gay men ruling the world through controlling and regulating access to the mass sexual exploitation of women (and of 'touchables') all too likely with the recent policy statement of Amnesty International in relation to prostitution.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 7, 2017
This book is sick and a manifesto of torturous ideology. At several points in this book I wanted to tear it in half, and came incredibly close to using it as kindling in the fireplace. I won't be recommending this book to anyone, unless as a study of 'authors who shouldn't have access to a pen'.
March 30, 2011
Good book. Liked the potential future scenario. Seemed like the libertarian politician in teh book was one of the bad guys. Moral: don't ever trust a politician, even if he is libertarian.
February 14, 2020
Still Fascinating Even After 30 Years
I first read Rainbow Cadenza in my Freshman year in college and loved it! I was stunned to find out Schulman was a man because his female main character was so well done. Proceed to over 30 years later and I pull the Rainbow Cadenza out of memory and read it again. As a single mother of teenagers who has seen war, rape, etc. I find myself horrified by the events of the book, but that it still accurately portrays a young woman. Reading this book under the current politics as we head into 2020 I can see it speaks to certain truths and maybe it should be recommended reading for all, if not required since Schulman has specifically asked that to never happen.
I first read Rainbow Cadenza in my Freshman year in college and loved it! I was stunned to find out Schulman was a man because his female main character was so well done. Proceed to over 30 years later and I pull the Rainbow Cadenza out of memory and read it again. As a single mother of teenagers who has seen war, rape, etc. I find myself horrified by the events of the book, but that it still accurately portrays a young woman. Reading this book under the current politics as we head into 2020 I can see it speaks to certain truths and maybe it should be recommended reading for all, if not required since Schulman has specifically asked that to never happen.
July 16, 2019
As a teenager in the 80’s, this was one of the first truly awful books I encountered.
The genre is called “Dystopia”.
The Libertarian Party runs the Government.
The “setup” is that men outnumber women 7 to 1, and women are subject to be drafted as Prostitutes...or go to jail.
A woman who refuses to become a sex worker is assigned a Government Rapist.
And it’s submit or go to jail.
Like the sick writings of Ayn Rand, this author creates a twisted, political screed.
Why?
To justify his bizarre fantasies?
I’m sure you’ll find people claiming it’s an “allegory” for choices women make today in a free Society.
I’m not buying it.
The genre is called “Dystopia”.
The Libertarian Party runs the Government.
The “setup” is that men outnumber women 7 to 1, and women are subject to be drafted as Prostitutes...or go to jail.
A woman who refuses to become a sex worker is assigned a Government Rapist.
And it’s submit or go to jail.
Like the sick writings of Ayn Rand, this author creates a twisted, political screed.
Why?
To justify his bizarre fantasies?
I’m sure you’ll find people claiming it’s an “allegory” for choices women make today in a free Society.
I’m not buying it.
November 13, 2020
I like different versions of the future. I like different ways of imaging sex, genders and families. This one falls a little short for most on that. In a world where there are seven males to one female... girls must serve three years as sexual companions before moving onto careers and families of their own. So, maybe appealing to some readers but for myself, this part was hard to take. If the service is mandatory, can the sex be truly consensual? Our heroine Joan, does her best to rebel in a broken system. Will she succeed?
Oh, as an interesting tidbit, the main religion was Wiccan. There are few token xtians and Jews but not very many.
Oh, as an interesting tidbit, the main religion was Wiccan. There are few token xtians and Jews but not very many.
March 10, 2018
Maybe this is a philosophy turned into a novel, but I don't care, I always thought it was well constructed. Except for some gross sex stuff. I liked the main character and I reread it several times some years ago.
I was happy when I found that the book was available in Kindle because I had forgotten both the name and the book and the author. Thank you GoodReads, you helped me find it.
I was happy when I found that the book was available in Kindle because I had forgotten both the name and the book and the author. Thank you GoodReads, you helped me find it.
June 16, 2018
Boring as heeeeck
July 17, 2019
4 minus.
June 16, 2025
J. Neil, you little freak you
November 17, 2013
looking at a new perspective of the same utopian problem as a distopia
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews