From reading the intro, I thought the book was just an expanded version of the novella, but it seems that it's a continuation (from reading the Wikipedia article).

The main reason I read the story was because I have a "how to" book by Nancy Kress called Characters, Emotion, & Viewpoints.

Though I liked the story, the writing seemed a little clunky in parts - not what I would have expected from a published work that won both the Hugo and Nebula awards.

I don't have it in front of me at the moment, but was wondering if anyone else had read it and found the same awkwardness in some of the writing as I did.