nna Senoz begins her voyage in Life as an innocent and ambitious undergraduate, a fledgling scientist eager to bioengineer world-saving new crops. Pretty—but unaware of it—and so emotionally controlled that her school friends call her Spock, Anna develops a crush on a fellow student, one who's unavailable. Hiding the infatuation behind her calm exterior, Anna decides to distract herself by having an affair with an American exchange student named Spence.
As Gwyneth Jones's newest novel unfolds, the alliance between Spence and Anna becomes a lifelong arrangement. They marry, have a child and travel the world, together facing a variety of triumphs and setbacks. Perfectly suited in many ways, their relationship is nevertheless unequal: Spence is madly in love with Anna, but her affections are cooler. Her research interests (which shift from agricultural genetics to human reproduction) always come first.
Whenever the balance tips between Anna's work and family life, it is because of a phenomenon called "Transferred Y." Early in her career, Anna discovers this peculiar shift taking place in the human genome, a small alteration within male DNA whose implications are immensely threatening to her colleagues. At times, the Transferred Y research takes a back burner to more prosaic needs: earning an income, having a family. But whenever Anna gets to fully concentrate on the mystery, Spence fades to insignificance ... and that neglect has serious consequences.
Ironically, Transferred Y is a singularly unrewarding pursuit. It is unpopular with scientists and Anna's mentors, getting her fired on more than one occasion. The reason is plain enough, too—if her results prove correct, the human concept of gender is undergoing a fundamental change, not just in liberal Western societies but on the genetic level too.
Genes shift and gender rebels
In Life, author Gwyneth Jones manages a delicate balancing act, showing the massive implications of a slight shift in the genes that control human gender while, at the same time, reminding readers that life goes on. Anna's pursuit of Transferred Y happens against a backdrop of personal minutiae and career moves. She is a wife, a mother, an employee—and the years go by. She may be making a fantastic discovery, but that doesn't render her immune to marital discord, tragedy or the aging process.
Jones' prose is deeply engaging, drawing readers fully into her near-future setting. Anna is a well-drawn protagonist, one who inhabits a role usually reserved for male characters in SF: the obsessed scientist, willing to make big sacrifices to unlock the mysteries of life. It is an intriguing portrayal, but also an alienating one: Anna is hard to like. Some of her personal difficulties create reader sympathy, making her harsher choices somewhat forgivable, but these also make the book—which is quiet and thoughtful in tone—quite bleak.
Compounding this challenge, Jones has placed her unsympathetic heroine in a resolutely unromantic marriage. It is always refreshing when an author tries to move beyond the standard romantic story arc, where two characters meet early in a book and are firmly in love by its end. But this formula is popular for a reason; it is inherently satisfying. The hyper-realism of Anna
and Spence's marital troubles, on the other hand, is uncomfortable and sordid. Similarly, the institutionalized sexism Anna faces in her work is believably portrayed—and utterly depressing.
Life is, however, as elegantly structured as the DNA it examines, and in it Jones has tackled a number of tough subjects with depth and subtlety: gender roles, environmental issues, the successes and failures of feminism in addressing women's real-life problems. It offers a potential great read for anyone who likes hard SF, grim themes and graceful, thought-provoking prose.
