Asteroidea
by Stephanie A. Smith
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
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Pub Date Nov 10 2020 | Archive Date Dec 15 2020
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Description
ASTEROIDEA is about regeneration: personal, professional, cellular. Marine biologist Claire Holt is at a frustrating crossroads. Having spent her career experimenting on asteroidea, commonly called star-fish, and trying, without success, to transfer their regenerative capabilities to mammals, she’s grown frustrated and depressed. With her grants running dry, time running out, and her two grown daughters facing their own life changes, Claire feels defeated. To cope, she takes a journey back to her childhood home, only to discover several startling and destabilizing facts about her past. As she tries to handle the resulting intergenerational and emotional fall-out, a graduate student arrives at her lab with a newly discovered, promising species of asteroidea. Juggling emotional and familial upheaval, as well as this fresh direction for her research challenges Claire to re-engage in both her work and in life.
Available Editions
| ISBN | 9781953510761 |
| PRICE | |
Links
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Linda F, Reviewer
I saw a request made by Destiny Brown for reviewers of Asteroidea by Stephanie A. Smith on Goodreads. The description interested me. So I then downloaded a copy from Net Galley and recently finished reading it.
I got the impression from the description of Asteroidea that scientific research on sea stars would be a prominent element in the book. I'd say that protagonist Claire Holt's work with sea stars was mentioned a few times, but it wasn't really described. The main focus was on Claire's personal life and relationships. So I felt somewhat misled by that summary.
That being said, there was some interesting interaction that dealt with the racial identity of various characters. It drew my attention to individuals who were born into the African American community, but could "pass" for White. As a result, they were able to choose their racial identity. These decisions impacted relationships.
I was delighted by Claire's first meeting with a character named Dan Starbuck. He said that his surname had no relationship to the coffee shops or to the character in Moby Dick. Claire's reaction led me to suspect that she had never read this classic novel. This means that I have something in common with Claire. I also haven't read Moby Dick. I find this Herman Melville book's focus on an obsession with hunting and killing a whale very repellent. I wanted to high five Claire for choosing to skip that particular piece of the literary canon.
Asteroidea wasn't what I expected, but it did enlighten me at a number of points, and there were moments when I was entertained by these characters. I can't say that Asteroidea was one of my top reads of 2020, but I did think it was worthwhile.
