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3.29 AVERAGE
3.29 AVERAGE
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Tried reading this, but couldn't get through it. The characters were 2-dimensional and uninteresting, and too much time was spend on the relationships between supporting characters and the main characters.
Year of New Authors
A breakthrough in transmission technology has allowed mankind to dub a human being and materialise their doppelganger on the moon, with a short term psychic link to their original on earth. This monumental progression for science is somewhat hindered by an alien structure on the lunar surface, as indescribable as it is very, very deadly. With every volunteer who enters swiftly dispatched by the malevolent architecture, and psychologically damaged by experiencing their own death through their clones, the head scientist searches for a man prepared to die over and over again.
Why in the ground control to Major Tom fuck is this book not more well known? I mean... Jesus, forget [b: Solaris|95558|Solaris|Stanisław Lem|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1498631519l/95558._SX50_.jpg|3333881] or Duncan Jones' Moon, this novel is a pungent Smörgåsbord of philosophical, moral and sociological questions, including, but far from limited to: concepts of personhood, suicide, PTSD, loneliness, the psychopathy of politics, legacy, power, masochism and, of course 'What has science done!?'
The themes and questions the book raises are delightfully exhausting, but most fascinating to me was the exploration of gender. The portrayal of rival forms of feminity is about as nuanced as you could get for the early 1960s (it's just Whore and Madonna, honestly), but Budry's exploration of manliness fascinated me. We're given a triumvirate of toxic masculinity with our three main male characters, with the dare-devil jock, the slimy master of manipulation, and the cool detatched, unemotional scientist. All three archetypes are utterly broken as they suffer their own inner turmoil, are desperate for some form of true connection with another human being, and their bravado and power are exposed as worthless facades for a sad and isolated vulnerability.
Sadly, there are two notable downsides to the novel.
The dialogue: It suffers from the Haruki Murakami problem of everyone being far too quick to offer monologues on their own secret desires within two minutes of meeting someone, as well as the Ayn Rand bullshit of a character's personality being second to their philosophical role, so everyone has an uncanny valley feel of a human being.
The second fault is the weird eldritch building. It piques your interest through the entire book, but ends up as nothing more than a disappointing maguffin. It's weird, it's mind bending, sure, but we're given no clue or even discussion on the what/why/how of the other worldly structure, and once the characters are able to navigate this Ikea from Hell, it's swiftly forgotten so they can talk about humanity again.
This a novel length wiki page of thought experiments, but it still works as a compelling narrative with memorable characters (even if their dialogue is a little off). It invokes that beautiful sense of suffocating, God awful ennui I seem to love inflicting on myself, apparently for no good reason other than a spoonful of surreal salt helps reality's existential crisis go down.
A breakthrough in transmission technology has allowed mankind to dub a human being and materialise their doppelganger on the moon, with a short term psychic link to their original on earth. This monumental progression for science is somewhat hindered by an alien structure on the lunar surface, as indescribable as it is very, very deadly. With every volunteer who enters swiftly dispatched by the malevolent architecture, and psychologically damaged by experiencing their own death through their clones, the head scientist searches for a man prepared to die over and over again.
Why in the ground control to Major Tom fuck is this book not more well known? I mean... Jesus, forget [b: Solaris|95558|Solaris|Stanisław Lem|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1498631519l/95558._SX50_.jpg|3333881] or Duncan Jones' Moon, this novel is a pungent Smörgåsbord of philosophical, moral and sociological questions, including, but far from limited to: concepts of personhood, suicide, PTSD, loneliness, the psychopathy of politics, legacy, power, masochism and, of course 'What has science done!?'
The themes and questions the book raises are delightfully exhausting, but most fascinating to me was the exploration of gender. The portrayal of rival forms of feminity is about as nuanced as you could get for the early 1960s (it's just Whore and Madonna, honestly), but Budry's exploration of manliness fascinated me. We're given a triumvirate of toxic masculinity with our three main male characters, with the dare-devil jock, the slimy master of manipulation, and the cool detatched, unemotional scientist. All three archetypes are utterly broken as they suffer their own inner turmoil, are desperate for some form of true connection with another human being, and their bravado and power are exposed as worthless facades for a sad and isolated vulnerability.
Sadly, there are two notable downsides to the novel.
The dialogue: It suffers from the Haruki Murakami problem of everyone being far too quick to offer monologues on their own secret desires within two minutes of meeting someone, as well as the Ayn Rand bullshit of a character's personality being second to their philosophical role, so everyone has an uncanny valley feel of a human being.
The second fault is the weird eldritch building. It piques your interest through the entire book, but ends up as nothing more than a disappointing maguffin. It's weird, it's mind bending, sure, but we're given no clue or even discussion on the what/why/how of the other worldly structure, and once the characters are able to navigate this Ikea from Hell, it's swiftly forgotten so they can talk about humanity again.
This a novel length wiki page of thought experiments, but it still works as a compelling narrative with memorable characters (even if their dialogue is a little off). It invokes that beautiful sense of suffocating, God awful ennui I seem to love inflicting on myself, apparently for no good reason other than a spoonful of surreal salt helps reality's existential crisis go down.
More of a 3.5 stars.
Most of the book was just fine, nothing especial, but the ending... it was great and kind of terrifying in a sense (though I do wish it had been longer/the author had gone into more depth regarding certain aspects).
Most of the book was just fine, nothing especial, but the ending... it was great and kind of terrifying in a sense (though I do wish it had been longer/the author had gone into more depth regarding certain aspects).
An extremely well-written novel, with characters that spring fully-fledged off each page. The story is imbued with a ‘fifties vibe (it was published in 1960), and the tech is marvellously outmoded, but where these factors may have dated a lesser tale, they here add additional flavour to a novel that operates on two levels, being on the one hand an intriguing SF premise, and on the other a deeply fascinating examination of the relationship between mind and body, memory and fact, and of the psychological tensions between the protagonists.
It's easy going into this book with wrong expectations. It's not an adventure about a man's expedition into a maze on the moon, it's a drama about a scientist who's conducting a dangerous experiment, about two very different men having to work together and how that affects them and their social circles.
The book is slow paced and deals a lot with concepts and interpersonal stuff, which is something I love but might not be what one expects from the premise of the novel.
I liked how the author took the stereotypes of the action hero and the scientist and presented what they would be like as real people and what problems they would face or try to avoid. It's full of food for thoughts, even though some concepts are explained in too much detail and take too long, but that's intentional and maybe was needed for readers back then.
If you want to see the theme of new discovery done in a different, more personal way, that addresses the sacrifices that are made for possible progress and knowledge, check out this book, if you want to read about a man venturing through a dangerous maze, there's probably another book that actually does that.
The book is slow paced and deals a lot with concepts and interpersonal stuff, which is something I love but might not be what one expects from the premise of the novel.
I liked how the author took the stereotypes of the action hero and the scientist and presented what they would be like as real people and what problems they would face or try to avoid. It's full of food for thoughts, even though some concepts are explained in too much detail and take too long, but that's intentional and maybe was needed for readers back then.
If you want to see the theme of new discovery done in a different, more personal way, that addresses the sacrifices that are made for possible progress and knowledge, check out this book, if you want to read about a man venturing through a dangerous maze, there's probably another book that actually does that.
I think that's a 2.5 rating. The science speculation in this book, the mysterious object on the moon and the teleportation technology, is seriously chilling. I loved that part of it. It was interesting and terrifying. Unfortunately most of this book is about some bitter, obsessed middle-aged men and their pissing contests and whatever it means to be a "real man" in the 1960's. There are two female characters: one is a one-dimensional femme fatale who only stays with real men, and the other is nothing but an opportunity for one of the male characters to talk about his feelings because he can't do that to other male characters.