Rhetorical Question

How in a dozen green universes did this story win a Nebula?

Honestly, I couldn't get past the line "I caught a whiff of her perfume, something that reminded me of strawberries" when introducing the stock hard-nosed female anthropologist character. So I missed all the fun of the space whale rape thing, apparently. But even up to that point, the prose lumbered like sea lions on land. I was already reading every sentence in slack-jawed disbelief.

And then I made the mistake of reading the author's remarks in the comments. Hint: they invoke Lamarck. I despair.