PC145: Hart and Boot

[Rain]

I was a bit confused at the end, apparantly the story has a message about how women are treated? I think the fact that Pearl was a horrible human being kinda took away any chance of that message getting through, when she got a mild punishment because she was a woman, i didnt think "oh no, she is being regarded as less important than a man" i just thought "I wish they would have locked her up for the rest of her life, i really hate her".

[iamafish]

I think that was the point. It would be easy to write a story in which a woman gets treated poorly because of her sex, but the interesting thing about this story was that Hart was treated better than she deserved because she was a woman, and she actually resented the fact. Interesting twist on a fairly common trope

[tinygaia]

I think that was the point. It would be easy to write a story in which a woman gets treated poorly because of her sex, but the interesting thing about this story was that Hart was treated better than she deserved because she was a woman, and she actually resented the fact. Interesting twist on a fairly common trope

Spot on, Fish! I hadn't thought of it that way, but you're right. When you look at it like that, remembering how women were regarded back then, Hart is almost reacting like a disabled person who doesn't want special treatment. Her behavior makes sense in that case.

[stePH]

I think that was the point. It would be easy to write a story in which a woman gets treated poorly because of her sex, but the interesting thing about this story was that Hart was treated better than she deserved because she was a woman, and she actually resented the fact. Interesting twist on a fairly common trope

Spot on, Fish! I hadn't thought of it that way, but you're right. When you look at it like that, remembering how women were regarded back then, Hart is almost reacting like a disabled person who doesn't want special treatment. Her behavior makes sense in that case.

But she was fine with using her woman-ness to trick coach drivers into stopping for her to rob them. A bit inconsistent there. Admittedly, she had tried it "the guy way" first. But still.

[Unblinking]

I think that was the point. It would be easy to write a story in which a woman gets treated poorly because of her sex, but the interesting thing about this story was that Hart was treated better than she deserved because she was a woman, and she actually resented the fact. Interesting twist on a fairly common trope

Spot on, Fish! I hadn't thought of it that way, but you're right. When you look at it like that, remembering how women were regarded back then, Hart is almost reacting like a disabled person who doesn't want special treatment. Her behavior makes sense in that case.

But she was fine with using her woman-ness to trick coach drivers into stopping for her to rob them. A bit inconsistent there. Admittedly, she had tried it "the guy way" first. But still.

True, but I think that inconsistency was fitting with her character.  That is, I don't think the character was badly written, I just think that she's a hypocrite.

[Hobbes]

wow that was cool

i couldn't tell how long this took place in but i still liked it.

[Obleo21]

Oddly enough, I pictured this in my head as rather cartoonish, I mean, as an actual cartoon.  It's weird, it hasn't happened before.  And not only that, but they were animals.  Like coyotes or something.  Awesome. (I was working on my dissertation so maybe I was looking for some extreme escapism.)

[try harder]

I thought that this story was a really fun, surprisingly deep, romp in alternate history. I don't usually like Tim Pratt stories--don't kill me!--but this one was smart and dark and a little sad, while being fun. I liked that Hart was very flawed--mostly through her inability to love and destructive boredom--but through her extreme energy was able to create something anyway. I liked that Boot was beautiful and exhausted, seeming to live only through Hart's insistence. He sort of reminded me of some really depressed people I knew when I was a teenager.

[jjtraw]

I first read this story in the Hart and Boot anthology. I liked it ok.

Now I've heard it here. And I *loved* it. I'm so glad the Escape Artist crew plays as many Tim Pratt stories as they do, because the tales work So Well in audio!

I'm also fascinated to learn that Hart and Boot were based on real people. Thanks for the research tip - and, I'm off on the internet rabbit trail!

[LaShawn]

I found this story immensely satisfying in the way Hart was portrayed. During the first part of the story, in a weird way, I was rooting for things to fall apart for her because, well, she was pretty stupid. To me, she acted like a spoiled brat who used the excuse of "they treat me this way because I'm a woman" to justify the mayhem she caused. It wasn't until the govenor visits her in the cell and she *really* experienced sexism enough to start thinking about her situation and using her brains, not just reacting to it, that I finally started rooting for her.

Now I'm going to have to read up on the real Hart.

[Unblinking]

I was back in South Dakota a few months ago to visit family, and while I was there we went to Keystone, one of the little tourist trap towns out in the Black Hills.  I wasn't looking for anything in particular, just wandering in the general direction that the family was wandering, looking at anything that caught my eye.  One of the things that caught my eye was a book dedicated to the subject of female outlaws of the Old West.  And sure enough there was a section on Hart (and Boot) there.  Was fun to see that.