book reviews
Dec. 2nd, 2002 11:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mamajoanBooks I have read recently
Night Watch by Terry Pratchett -- the latest in the Discworld series, focusing on Sam Vimes, his history and character. Very interesting and fun stuff. I found it much more engaging than the last few, although probably not as "funny." PTerry seems to be veering into more serious stuff, waxing philosophical and like that. Not that I mind, but it makes for very different reading than the first several books in the series. Still, this one was good. Go read it.
Tricky Business by Dave Barry -- his second novel. I love Dave Barry, and his first novel Big Trouble remains one of my favorite non-sci-fi novels (I've read it about four times already), but I'm sad to say that his second attempt doesn't succeed as well. Sure, it's an interesting story with some interesting characters and some nicely surprising plot twists, but it lacks that certain something, that spark of complete wackiness that yet somehow seems to make perfect sense in Barry's capable hands. Also? *Serious* ick potential, people. There are a few moments here that will just make you go "Ewww!!!" and want to skip to the next section -- moments where, if it were a movie, you'd be averting your eyes and telling your neighbor "Tell me when it's over!" So, in conclusion: if you must read a Dave Barry novel, make it Big Trouble. If you REALLY love that book and MUST have more, read Tricky Business, but don't expect as much from it. Alas.
Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer -- science fiction. This is a fascinating book, not exactly about time-travel but about time displacement. The premise is that a scientific experiment unexpectedly causes all human beings to experience two minutes of their lives from twenty years in the future. In other words, for two minutes, every person on earth has their consciousness "flash forward" twenty years. This naturally causes a lot of havoc -- planes and cars are helmed for two minutes by essentially unconscious people, so there are a lot of accidents and a lot of death. But even more than that, the survivors are left with all kinds of questions based on what they saw in their visions -- for example, some people saw themselves married to people they don't know, or having jobs they don't currently have, or using technology that doesn't currently exist. One guy, a scientist involved in the experiment that caused the phenomenon, does not have a vision at all, and the reader and then his fellow scientists figure out before he does what this means -- that he'll be dead in twenty years. He then starts hearing from people whose future-visions related to his murder, and so he has to run around trying to "solve" his own murder twenty years before it actually happens.
Meanwhile, of course, the scientists are all running around trying to figure out a) why their experiment didn't produce the expected effect and b) why it caused the time-displacement effect instead. And at the same time they are all dealing with the emotional consequences of their own visions and of the deaths and mayhem caused by the phenomenon.
A large amount of science is bandied about, mainly in the area of quantum physics, and I'm not in a position to say how much of it is "real" (currently accepted science) vs. how much was made up by the author, but I will say that the reader should be prepared to use his/her brain during the reading of this book. The science isn't so esoteric that you need a physics degree to understand it -- the author does a pretty good job of making it comprehensible -- but it *is* complicated, and necessary to the plot so you really shouldn't skim it.
Eventually, the plot skips forward to the time of the visions, to show the resolution of the various plot threads. This part of the story does suffer to a certain extent from the problem that's so endemic in sci-fi these days -- namely, taking a long time to set up the scenario and then having to wrap it all up in just a few pages. However, it's less egregious in this case than in many others (the works of Neal Stephenson come to mind). The plot is resolved in a satisfying manner, with enough ambiguity to let the reader apply his/her own interpretations, but not so much that the reader is left frustrated going "but then what happened?"
The story raises very interesting questions such as: do humans have free will? is the future fixed or mutable? what is the effect of human observation on quantum (i.e. unresolved) situations? why is the desire to know the future so prevalent in the human psyche, and what would be the effects if we really could? And so forth. (In some cases the author's answers to the questions strike me as a bit naive or optimistic, but that's open to interpretation, obviously.) The story is marred by a few instances of poor proofreading (a "their" that should be "there," a "you're" that should be "your") and a few of clunky/awkward/poorly-constructed prose, but overall I found it a fascinating read and would recommend it to anyone interested in the genre. It will almost certainly keep you guessing; the climactic denouement of the B-storyline vibrates with tension and had me literally yelling aloud at the characters; the science involved is very engaging and will give you plenty to muse about in bed late at night; and the resolution, as I mentioned above, is satisfying.
That's it for now! I've been trying to get through the hardcovers on my "to be read" pile, so that I can take the paperbacks on my trip and spare my back/shoulders some grief. So, maybe I'll have more reviews later. :)
Night Watch by Terry Pratchett -- the latest in the Discworld series, focusing on Sam Vimes, his history and character. Very interesting and fun stuff. I found it much more engaging than the last few, although probably not as "funny." PTerry seems to be veering into more serious stuff, waxing philosophical and like that. Not that I mind, but it makes for very different reading than the first several books in the series. Still, this one was good. Go read it.
Tricky Business by Dave Barry -- his second novel. I love Dave Barry, and his first novel Big Trouble remains one of my favorite non-sci-fi novels (I've read it about four times already), but I'm sad to say that his second attempt doesn't succeed as well. Sure, it's an interesting story with some interesting characters and some nicely surprising plot twists, but it lacks that certain something, that spark of complete wackiness that yet somehow seems to make perfect sense in Barry's capable hands. Also? *Serious* ick potential, people. There are a few moments here that will just make you go "Ewww!!!" and want to skip to the next section -- moments where, if it were a movie, you'd be averting your eyes and telling your neighbor "Tell me when it's over!" So, in conclusion: if you must read a Dave Barry novel, make it Big Trouble. If you REALLY love that book and MUST have more, read Tricky Business, but don't expect as much from it. Alas.
Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer -- science fiction. This is a fascinating book, not exactly about time-travel but about time displacement. The premise is that a scientific experiment unexpectedly causes all human beings to experience two minutes of their lives from twenty years in the future. In other words, for two minutes, every person on earth has their consciousness "flash forward" twenty years. This naturally causes a lot of havoc -- planes and cars are helmed for two minutes by essentially unconscious people, so there are a lot of accidents and a lot of death. But even more than that, the survivors are left with all kinds of questions based on what they saw in their visions -- for example, some people saw themselves married to people they don't know, or having jobs they don't currently have, or using technology that doesn't currently exist. One guy, a scientist involved in the experiment that caused the phenomenon, does not have a vision at all, and the reader and then his fellow scientists figure out before he does what this means -- that he'll be dead in twenty years. He then starts hearing from people whose future-visions related to his murder, and so he has to run around trying to "solve" his own murder twenty years before it actually happens.
Meanwhile, of course, the scientists are all running around trying to figure out a) why their experiment didn't produce the expected effect and b) why it caused the time-displacement effect instead. And at the same time they are all dealing with the emotional consequences of their own visions and of the deaths and mayhem caused by the phenomenon.
A large amount of science is bandied about, mainly in the area of quantum physics, and I'm not in a position to say how much of it is "real" (currently accepted science) vs. how much was made up by the author, but I will say that the reader should be prepared to use his/her brain during the reading of this book. The science isn't so esoteric that you need a physics degree to understand it -- the author does a pretty good job of making it comprehensible -- but it *is* complicated, and necessary to the plot so you really shouldn't skim it.
Eventually, the plot skips forward to the time of the visions, to show the resolution of the various plot threads. This part of the story does suffer to a certain extent from the problem that's so endemic in sci-fi these days -- namely, taking a long time to set up the scenario and then having to wrap it all up in just a few pages. However, it's less egregious in this case than in many others (the works of Neal Stephenson come to mind). The plot is resolved in a satisfying manner, with enough ambiguity to let the reader apply his/her own interpretations, but not so much that the reader is left frustrated going "but then what happened?"
The story raises very interesting questions such as: do humans have free will? is the future fixed or mutable? what is the effect of human observation on quantum (i.e. unresolved) situations? why is the desire to know the future so prevalent in the human psyche, and what would be the effects if we really could? And so forth. (In some cases the author's answers to the questions strike me as a bit naive or optimistic, but that's open to interpretation, obviously.) The story is marred by a few instances of poor proofreading (a "their" that should be "there," a "you're" that should be "your") and a few of clunky/awkward/poorly-constructed prose, but overall I found it a fascinating read and would recommend it to anyone interested in the genre. It will almost certainly keep you guessing; the climactic denouement of the B-storyline vibrates with tension and had me literally yelling aloud at the characters; the science involved is very engaging and will give you plenty to muse about in bed late at night; and the resolution, as I mentioned above, is satisfying.
That's it for now! I've been trying to get through the hardcovers on my "to be read" pile, so that I can take the paperbacks on my trip and spare my back/shoulders some grief. So, maybe I'll have more reviews later. :)
