Review of Silently and Very Fast by Catherynne M. Valente

I recently listened to a podcast in which Catherynne Valente was a guest speaker.  I agreed with many of her opinions about books we have read, but was not impressed by the attitude on display, and when looking into some of her review work, found it often unbalanced and reactionary rather than considered.  I've since discovered her fiction is anything but.  I could not have been more wrong.  On my knees in penitence, I am now seeking more of her work.  What grabbed me?  The 2012 novella Silently and Very Fast.

Indefinable taxonomically, Silently and Very Fast is mytho-biblio-fairy tale of science fiction—and that only begins to blur matters.  Further details are a kaleidoscope.  Multi-layered, multi-textured and featuring three sections in dialogue with themselves, the story is digested with pleasure: meaning and substance appears and reappears at a variety of depths and levels.  One of characters in the novella has the following to say, and I think it sums up the direction and structure of the narrative:

“I will explain it in language, and then I will explain it in symbols, and then you will make a symbol showing me what you think I mean, and we will understand each other better than anyone ever has.”

That the prose is poetically lyrical only enhances the experience.  Words and sentences roll off the mind’s tongue.  The diction is a Faberge egg floating in a wine sea of electrodes at sunset—a truly beautiful read.  See the following:

“A woman who was with child once sat at her window embroidering in winter. Her stitches tugged fine and even, but as she finished the edge of a spray of threaded delphinium, she pricked her finger with her silver needle. She looked out onto the snow and said: I wish for my child to have a mind as stark and wild as the winter, a spirit as clear and fine as my window, and a heart as red and open as my wounded hand.”

Given the jeweled façade of Silently and Very Fast, describing the story is a mercurial task.  It's light refracts in many directions.  At the heart of the story is the birth of an AI.  But it is more: life, death, beauty, family, and a variety of other subjects.  Shifting temporally, the allegorical, symbolic, and expository formats present the coming-to-life of a young girl’s technical creation, and the life it gives her in return.  Developing in the real world, a virtual world, and in a land of myth, how the characters flow and shift through the scenes and settings is breathtaking, a truly magical ride.

Silently and Very Fast is a superb novella that stands a chance of being remembered.  This is due to the timelessness it exudes, as well as the lush imagery conjured.  Exquisitely written in fluid prose, the story has value and meaning beyond its beautiful facade, setting it close to the top of what 21st century fiction can be.  For reasons not wholly explainable, the story's salience is reminiscent of James Tiptree Jr.’s The Girl Who Was Plugged In.  Maybe you can explain?