Spoilers for anyone who hasn't read Fox Woman (although if you know the premise of the story, I'm not really ruining anything except that I mention what I think are the themes of the book)
I've tried to read Kij Johnson's work before, the Fox Woman. The main reason I read it was that Lloyd Alexander had written a blurb commending it. Back to the point, I got through about half of the book before I set it down and never picked it back up to make progress. It explored interesting themes of depression, a mid-life crisis, and isolation from one's own family on the part of one of two main characters (at least as far as I read), but the story just sort of floated on without any sort of clear direction and often times apparent purpose. I got to the point where the fox family had finally used fox magic to cast an illusion that they were human so that the fox could pursue her forbidden romantic interest in the man (hence fox woman). For whatever reason (mainly boredom I think), I couldn't keep going past this. I could understand the author wanting to explore the themes of isolation and depression in an adult man, but I really couldn't figure out her fascination with the fox woman. Yes, her themes of a woman wanting to escape the bonds and limitations placed on her by society may be relevant (can anybody who read the book tell me if I'm getting this right?), but often times I found she was boring me with meaningless musings on what it is like to be a fox. But the biggest I had was that the story really wasn't going anywhere. It's been two years since I took a stab at it, but as I remember it, to get to the part of casting of the fox magic to make the fox appear as a woman took nearly half the book. I felt guilty at not finishing the book if only because I felt that there might be some statement about the above mentioned themes of the book. So, I'd promised myself that I'd eventually finish it someday (no way would I reread it). I feel that her story was trying to explore the human condition through fantasy as all exceptional/literary fantasy should.
So, I was pretty surprised and happy to see that she'd written a short story and that I'd get to listen to it on podcastle (it's easier to stick with a story and pay attention when you're listening to a story rather than reading it). I'd finally get to see what she was all about. Much to my dismay, I had exactly the same problems with this story. Not only was it boring, but I couldn't figure out why she'd even written it. What was the point? Again, her fascination with animals and animal perspectives is apparent, but quite frankly such a premise is boring to me unless it serves some larger purpose, asks a more important question.
Maybe all she's interested in is the relationships between man and domesticated animal, but as person who's never owned a pet, this did not interest me. I did not understand her idea that people would reject animals that could think and speak for seeing them as they really are. Are other people incapable of seeing them as they really are? What I don't understand is why the animals do not reject us as soon as they become intelligent? It's more like they come to reject us because we rejected them (as the trickster dog shows).
I've been waiting on this post for almost a month, but I figure it's about time I posted it. I'm interested in finding out what you guys think is the reason the author wrote this story (what she was trying to say).