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yelisiei's review against another edition
5.0
First of two Alfred Bester’s gems. It’s so pity, that there is no third great book in a row. In that one, which was the first Hugo award winner, we have the clash of two great characters. A murderer and an investigator. Bester’s style is very economical, but every sentence just nails! He is a great stylist. He creates interesting environments in just few sentences.
sarahsg's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was a lot. Don’t get me wrong, I love it. There was so much potential in this world but it was a little hard to follow at times. I was almost disappointed when he was caught. I would love to read more from this author and more in this universe.
aeryn_sun's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
liviajelliot's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Demolished Man is a thriller/murder detective story set in an undisclosed future, and relying on several speculative elements. While on many points it is a product of its era (it was written in 1953), there are also some points worth discussing—and I think the book as a whole is worth reading and thinking about (especially with a reading group), but I'll get to that later in this essay review.
Let's begin with the basics, and that's prose and PoV. In terms of prose, it is a simple and easy read that does not spend time in flourished descriptions. It is entertaining, and the style fits very well with the nonchalant, force-the-world-to-follow mindset of the protagonist, Ben Reich. The prose is not clunky at all (compared to other sci-fi books of this period), but engaging and fast-paced as the plot.
The PoV is more like an implicit multi-PoV; of course, this was written before naming chapters with the PoV's name was a custom, but it's roughly that—every chapter picks a character and follows them. There are, overall, two main PoVs: Reich and Powell.
In terms of setting/events, there are some similarities to Bester's well-known The Stars My Destination—Bester picked one thing to change about society and thoroughly explored it. In this case, it is the existence of people known as "Espers", who are classified in three levels, and can read minds (sort of, there is more to it). The other similarity is a male protagonist with an obsession for murder and a position of power they can abuse and misuse.
Let me start with the praise about the setting—the speculation is thorough. Just like with The Stars My Destination (and its jaunting ability), Bester truly took the time to evaluate how the introduction of the Espers would alter everything within the society. The have Espers have a Pledge (similar to the Hippocratic Oath) regarding how to use their abilities, they are educated and trained, professions have changed to accomodate this, schools have changed, justice and the evidence that police takes has been considered, and he also evaluated how not being near peers can leave Espers unfulfilled (e.g., "normal" chats and words are not "communicative" enough for them). There are even some hints at some cunning tech—like when Powell (a powerful Esper 1) opens his door by sending a specific thought... but there is also extremely outdated tech (e.g., punch-card machines).
There is also some magnificent styling of the words on the page. Namely, they are printed in patterns and weird shapes (not as weird as they got in The Stars My Destination)... and there is an actual reason to do this. Espers perceive TP (namely, Thought Patterns) and the TPs apparently have shapes or waves. Therefore, there are sections in which Espers are mind-talking and their TP-ed conversations are printed weirdly to reflect how they perceive it. It is very cunning and amusing to read, especially since Bester did it magnificently in a way that's both engaging and unique. It fits the narrative to be the epitome of a show-don't-tell that's actually clever and accessible.
Now, the bad thing about the setting? It baffles me beyond sense that Bester could imagine just so much (to the verge that this is almost social scifi), yet he couldn't imagine that women would be anything else than secretaries, lovers, or whores. Literally every single female character is sexualised, infantilised (oh, that's a whole Pandora box, wait for it), and fondled/kissed with utter disregard for consent. Of course, every person in power is a caucasian male, and the few, extremely secondary persons of colour are referred to with the n-word.
Likewise, there are some references to mental health and, given that the book was written in 1953 they are woefully outdated as well. For example, this is a murder-mystery type of story, so there is a sexy damsel-in-distress called Barbara who witnesses the unfortunate eventshe witnesses the murder of her father. There is more to it, I'll discuss it later. You can imagine that Barbara was traumatised. After a while, the detective (Powell, the Esper 1) finds her in a continuous state of shock. The in-book doctors refer to this as "hysterical recall" that slumps her into "catatonia"... which leaves Barbara "doll-like" (as the author described her) and there are a few male characters who fondle her while she's in this state . Soon enough, Powell realises that saying "Help, Barbara!" triggers her to relive the event.
Now, the outdated psychology here is just one of the many problems this book has... and Barbara seems to be at the centre of it.
My main problem—which is also multi-layered and too complex to discuss in a review—is what Powell does to Barbara. The in-book doctors decide that the only way to "heal" Barbara is by basically reverting her mind to a baby state, and letting her "grow" back at an accelerated rate (basically, a couple weeks?). While she's in this vulnerable state, Powell (the detective) takes her to his home (!), and uses his Esper abilities to repeatedly trigger Barbara to relive her trauma, while scavenging her mind in search for answers (!!) To clarify, Barbara saw the murder, Powell is trying to prove Reich was the murderer, and since Barbara actually saw Reich, Powell is trying to use her memories to find his missing clues. Note that at this point, Barbara has no ability to consent and has the mental maturity of a baby/toddler.
While this is happening, baby-Barbara both calls Powell as "papa" or "dada", associating him with a father-like figure... while "deep in her subconscious" the adult-Barbara falls in love with Powell!!! Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot. There are so many layers of problems piled up here. From the Freudian association of lovers-and-fathers, Barbara's constant infantilisation (she's described as an extremely sexy woman, but at the same time Powell describes her as having "urchin"-like gestures and behaviours), her dependence on Powell to explain even the most basic things (e.g., how to pronounce words)...Worse off, after Barbara and Powell agree to "date" he also has a mixed image of her, seeing her as both a daughter/kid to be protected, and a sexy lover he has the hots for! It is disgusting.
To top that, the other female characters are also quite stereotyped, and the same problematic issues repeat over and over.
There are a few other points worth discussing. This may be a bit spoilery about the end and the resolution of the murder mystery, so I'll have to put it within spoiler tags. Again, it is a mix of interesting elements with eyebrow-raising stuff that is just a product of its era and of an author who--despite writing speculative fiction—was unable to think beyond the social frameworks of his era. Be warned, though, it is a long spoiler block.
The murder mystery ends up having a whole filial relationship—namely, Reich murders Barbara's father, D'Courtney... and then it turns out that Ben Reich was actually D'Courtney's bastard son, and thus Barbara's sibling... which makes the murder not being profit-motivated (as was presented in the beginning) but filial/passion. Again, it feels Freudian because of how the link is discovered. In the second-to-last chapter, Powell does some hardcore dive into Reich's mind, and through his subconscious, Powell discovers that Reich always knew D'Courtney was his father and was sour at being abandoned; Powell also finds out that this abandonment caused the murderous intent... it's strange, to say the least.
Now, that whole scene also has something praise worthy and interesting—and that's the concept behind it. Reich is considered to be a one-in-a-century person, who is incredibly powerful, almost above the law, but also clever. Thus, the Espers consider him a threat to society, and decide to collect their Esper powers for Powell to kill or invalidate Reich. The whole idea is far more complex, but this is a review and not a summary. This "attack" (for a lack of a better word) basically destroys Reich's perception of reality, breaking down elements until Reich feels completely isolated and misunderstood; Powell is meticulous, and he does this by destroying the concepts as soon as Reich focuses on them—for example, the stars are there until Reich looks at the sky and they vanish; the sun vanishes after Reich goes out to the street to see it, and so on.
There is a whole discussion to be had regarding how dependent are humans on sharing perceptions, and how the lack of sharing one's view can lead to questioning one's self. Reality as a concept shared across humanity is implied, and certainly open for readers to discuss. Likewise, the whole scene could be seen as how concepts construct reality (e.g., is reality just a construct of our minds? What is real? How important are concepts and words to perceptions? How important is a shared language? What happens if you lack a shared language?), and how—if those concepts cannot be shared—we can not, therefore, share our reality. It is an incredible section, with so many avenues for philosophical consideration... yet, agh! So many other issues!
The ending itself also brings both a problem and an interesting concept. After Reich is invalidated by Powell's mind-attack, he's taken to a hospital—and that's what Demolition means. It is not about jailing Reich or destroying his economic empire. It is about putting him through a mind-reversal and reeducation, just like they did to Barbara. The book ends up leaving this point up for debate (I'll quote the book):
Let's begin with the basics, and that's prose and PoV. In terms of prose, it is a simple and easy read that does not spend time in flourished descriptions. It is entertaining, and the style fits very well with the nonchalant, force-the-world-to-follow mindset of the protagonist, Ben Reich. The prose is not clunky at all (compared to other sci-fi books of this period), but engaging and fast-paced as the plot.
The PoV is more like an implicit multi-PoV; of course, this was written before naming chapters with the PoV's name was a custom, but it's roughly that—every chapter picks a character and follows them. There are, overall, two main PoVs: Reich and Powell.
In terms of setting/events, there are some similarities to Bester's well-known The Stars My Destination—Bester picked one thing to change about society and thoroughly explored it. In this case, it is the existence of people known as "Espers", who are classified in three levels, and can read minds (sort of, there is more to it). The other similarity is a male protagonist with an obsession for murder and a position of power they can abuse and misuse.
Let me start with the praise about the setting—the speculation is thorough. Just like with The Stars My Destination (and its jaunting ability), Bester truly took the time to evaluate how the introduction of the Espers would alter everything within the society. The have Espers have a Pledge (similar to the Hippocratic Oath) regarding how to use their abilities, they are educated and trained, professions have changed to accomodate this, schools have changed, justice and the evidence that police takes has been considered, and he also evaluated how not being near peers can leave Espers unfulfilled (e.g., "normal" chats and words are not "communicative" enough for them). There are even some hints at some cunning tech—like when Powell (a powerful Esper 1) opens his door by sending a specific thought... but there is also extremely outdated tech (e.g., punch-card machines).
There is also some magnificent styling of the words on the page. Namely, they are printed in patterns and weird shapes (not as weird as they got in The Stars My Destination)... and there is an actual reason to do this. Espers perceive TP (namely, Thought Patterns) and the TPs apparently have shapes or waves. Therefore, there are sections in which Espers are mind-talking and their TP-ed conversations are printed weirdly to reflect how they perceive it. It is very cunning and amusing to read, especially since Bester did it magnificently in a way that's both engaging and unique. It fits the narrative to be the epitome of a show-don't-tell that's actually clever and accessible.
Now, the bad thing about the setting? It baffles me beyond sense that Bester could imagine just so much (to the verge that this is almost social scifi), yet he couldn't imagine that women would be anything else than secretaries, lovers, or whores. Literally every single female character is sexualised, infantilised (oh, that's a whole Pandora box, wait for it), and fondled/kissed with utter disregard for consent. Of course, every person in power is a caucasian male, and the few, extremely secondary persons of colour are referred to with the n-word.
Likewise, there are some references to mental health and, given that the book was written in 1953 they are woefully outdated as well. For example, this is a murder-mystery type of story, so there is a sexy damsel-in-distress called Barbara who witnesses the unfortunate event
Now, the outdated psychology here is just one of the many problems this book has... and Barbara seems to be at the centre of it.
My main problem—which is also multi-layered and too complex to discuss in a review—is what Powell does to Barbara. The in-book doctors decide that the only way to "heal" Barbara is by basically reverting her mind to a baby state, and letting her "grow" back at an accelerated rate (basically, a couple weeks?). While she's in this vulnerable state, Powell (the detective) takes her to his home (!), and uses his Esper abilities to repeatedly trigger Barbara to relive her trauma, while scavenging her mind in search for answers (!!)
While this is happening, baby-Barbara both calls Powell as "papa" or "dada", associating him with a father-like figure... while "deep in her subconscious" the adult-Barbara falls in love with Powell!!! Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot. There are so many layers of problems piled up here. From the Freudian association of lovers-and-fathers, Barbara's constant infantilisation (she's described as an extremely sexy woman, but at the same time Powell describes her as having "urchin"-like gestures and behaviours), her dependence on Powell to explain even the most basic things (e.g., how to pronounce words)...
To top that, the other female characters are also quite stereotyped, and the same problematic issues repeat over and over.
There are a few other points worth discussing. This may be a bit spoilery about the end and the resolution of the murder mystery, so I'll have to put it within spoiler tags. Again, it is a mix of interesting elements with eyebrow-raising stuff that is just a product of its era and of an author who--despite writing speculative fiction—was unable to think beyond the social frameworks of his era. Be warned, though, it is a long spoiler block.
Now, that whole scene also has something praise worthy and interesting—and that's the concept behind it. Reich is considered to be a one-in-a-century person, who is incredibly powerful, almost above the law, but also clever. Thus, the Espers consider him a threat to society, and decide to collect their Esper powers for Powell to kill or invalidate Reich. The whole idea is far more complex, but this is a review and not a summary. This "attack" (for a lack of a better word) basically destroys Reich's perception of reality, breaking down elements until Reich feels completely isolated and misunderstood; Powell is meticulous, and he does this by destroying the concepts as soon as Reich focuses on them—for example, the stars are there until Reich looks at the sky and they vanish; the sun vanishes after Reich goes out to the street to see it, and so on.
There is a whole discussion to be had regarding how dependent are humans on sharing perceptions, and how the lack of sharing one's view can lead to questioning one's self. Reality as a concept shared across humanity is implied, and certainly open for readers to discuss. Likewise, the whole scene could be seen as how concepts construct reality (e.g., is reality just a construct of our minds? What is real? How important are concepts and words to perceptions? How important is a shared language? What happens if you lack a shared language?), and how—if those concepts cannot be shared—we can not, therefore, share our reality. It is an incredible section, with so many avenues for philosophical consideration... yet, agh! So many other issues!
The ending itself also brings both a problem and an interesting concept. After Reich is invalidated by Powell's mind-attack, he's taken to a hospital—and that's what Demolition means. It is not about jailing Reich or destroying his economic empire. It is about putting him through a mind-reversal and reeducation, just like they did to Barbara. The book ends up leaving this point up for debate (I'll quote the book):
If a man's got the talent and guts to buck society, he's obviously above average. You want to hold on to him. You straighten him out, and turn him into a plus value. Why throw him away? Do that enough and all you've got left are the sheep.
That's the problem with Bester—I think he had some great ideas, but he was also jailed by the biases of his time, and the science of his time. At the end of the day, this book is thoroughly speculative and I think it has to be read to speculate. It is not a book one can read, read it literally, have fun, and put down. This book is meant to be deep-dived, assessed, and considered. I think that both its "timeless" parts and its "out of date" parts are worth discussing—just like the interrelation between them is also worth considering. Understanding how real-life society changed to make this book outdated is a very interesting topic that comes to mind when reading any of these SF Masterworks.
TL;DR: All and all, it was a fun and entertaining read, with some heavy speculation and some interesting themes—but it also comes with a lot of problems. My suggestion? Read this book if you are willing to do some serious speculation. This book may not have withstood the pass of time, but it has some concepts worth discussing. In the end, I'm giving it 4 stars because of the discussions it could enable—I think this book is quite rich in that regard.
kamslam7's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
stelladallas's review against another edition
"There has been joy. There will be joy again." Did not click with me as much as "Stars My Destination" but I don't think I'll ever not enjoy being tossed around by Bester's manic yet purposeful prose-- it's like dancing with a real weirdo of a partner who you eventually realize is following steps!
ajali's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5