"Either, I thought, the one who'd carved it had been a primitive who, by sheer chance, had fashioned the sorrow in it, or a skilled craftsm
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"Either, I thought, the one who'd carved it had been a primitive who, by sheer chance, had fashioned the sorrow in it, or a skilled craftsman who, with a few simple strokes, evoked the hopelessness and anguish of an intellectual being facing the riddle of the universe and overwhelmed by it."
Riddle, indeed. Overwhelmed, indeed. Pity the poor sentient being, human or not, forced to confront the inescapably unknowable quality of this cluster of stars, scraps of debris, and grains of life tossed apparently at random into a great dark void... this question mark called the universe. Is it any wonder religion was created, and other comfort items?
Destiny Doll is an odd, often off-putting book. The plot appears easy to encapsulate: a small number of humans land on a remote planet, encountering strange traps and stranger aliens and dying or disapearing one by one - maybe. I was reminded at first of Lem's absorbing Eden, with its sinister mysteries and bleak perspective on human nature. But Destiny Doll's reach is wider: this is not an analogy for human history. And it is even stranger than that strange book. The writing is not pretty; the narrative is not straightforward; the characters are not friendly. This is Simak at his most stark and also at his most hallucinogenic.
The protagonist is carcinogenic. A tough character to spend time with, let alone see the other characters and this bizarre world through his disgusted, closed-minded, excruciatingly reactionary yet prosaic tunnel vision. A toxic fellow, to say the least. Nor does he live in what I'd call an "enjoyable" book. But it is one that is dense with meaning, hidden between lines and implicit within journeys. Implications of what "life" is can be inferred by the silent, furious alien that compels our characters out of one place, in the hostile alien tree that attempts to kill our characters and then reveals itself to be a host for two soon-to-die civilizations, in the lonely suicide of yet another alien, perhaps the last of his kind. And in the mounds of bones and in the silent white city and in the transporter to various hellscapes and in the beating of many wings heard flying far above our characters' heads, flying or fleeing, from whom and to where, sounds from another dimension.
What is this dimension they live in, humans and aliens alike? Better yet, what dimension have they made? Can another dimension be made, be lived in, that is not so toxic to life? One can only hope. And Simak being Simak, that hope is alive and well, if only in the last, most hallucinatory of its pages. But thank the sweet Lord for those pages, and for the possibility of another kind of life. 'Twas a comfort!
It starts with a crash: the protagonist's car into the invisible dome that has mysteriously surrounded his village, the car bouncing back, a truck doiIt starts with a crash: the protagonist's car into the invisible dome that has mysteriously surrounded his village, the car bouncing back, a truck doing the same then plowing into his vehicle. Exciting! And then the story becomes something sad and beautiful: Simak writes with an elegiac melancholy about a small town getting smaller and sadder, and a small life getting smaller and sadder. His literary sensibilities when writing on the evanescence of such towns, such lives, make many passages a joy to read, as nature and time and life are reflected upon. The story then becomes wider, more bizarre, involving an alien incursion into our world, a human incursion into another dimension's Earth, plants with a hive mind and an altruistic nature, bizarre singing humanoids watching the death of a world as a form of entertainment.
And then it becomes a crashing bore, alas. I get what Simak intended: to show his frustrations with small-minded, suspicious, petty humans, their inability to think beyond themselves and to react to the new and the different with anything approaching grace, let alone open-mindedness. But I don't enjoy reading that perspective. Having it come from the protagonist made this story a very frustrating, irritating experience. I just wanted to shake him, yell at him, smack him upside his stubborn head. And the story expands to bring in the perspectives of his fellow villagers, and the U.S. government. My God it was too much. Like being forced to listen to conspiracy theories about masks and diseases and the government, told to me by a group of people too mulish to entertain any ideas or opinions that differ from their own. I get what Simak was illustrating, but he did it too well: the book eventually drove me up the wall, despite all of the strangeness and all of the mournfulness that came before....more
Goofiness reigns supreme in this amusing, charming lark by Simak at his most relaxed and spontaneous. This book has it all: a fairly pleasant far-futuGoofiness reigns supreme in this amusing, charming lark by Simak at his most relaxed and spontaneous. This book has it all: a fairly pleasant far-future that looks a lot like our own, where instantaneous space travel, poorly-funded time travel, visitors from the past, alien enigmas, a ghost, a rowdy Neanderthal, a robo-Sabretooth, a secret dragon, scifi explanations for faerie & goblins & trolls & banshees, lots of whiskey drinking (I approve), villainous wheeled buckets of insects, and more goofy shenanigans than I can even recount all cram a loose narrative that is about the stresses and appeal of life working on a busy college campus. Oh and the protagonist's duplicate has been mysteriously murdered, and he's not even sure why there was a duplicate running around in the first place. Got all that? If you did, then you have a stronger mind than me, because I often lost track of all the different things the author was throwing at the reader. Soft throws though, with soft objects; nothing about this book is hard or painful.
Best part of the book: the strange, mournful, and decidedly petty banshee. The banshee is basically a combo of a black cloud and black bag, floating around being mean-spirited and then dying with very little fuss. It is also much, much more and the key to what exactly is happening with all of these goofy mysteries.
Was the author a college professor himself? There is amused critique and a very clear love for this milieu that is the most appealing part of this book. The college: overly busy and fraught with rivalry, but within the confines of a lovely pastoral setting that makes it all rather worth it. Nature and friends to banter and drink with: those are the key ingredients that Simak puts forward as the recipe for a good life. I can't help but agree! But let's throw books in there too....more
It has been funny reading the irritated, disgusted, sometimes outraged reactions towards this anti-science & technology novel - reviews written mainlyIt has been funny reading the irritated, disgusted, sometimes outraged reactions towards this anti-science & technology novel - reviews written mainly by my fellow science fiction nerds. I guess I can understand the sour reactions, as Simak is pretty much saying that technology is for dumb-asses who don't want to grow as human beings. That must really rankle anyone who loves technology LOL! I guess for me it would be like reading a book that is all about how reading books is for simpletons.
But really, c'mon! Science Fiction is not just about science and tech. Don't get so pressed about this, my nerd brothers and sisters. The genre is often seen as being all about the sagas, those amazing and usually multi-part adventures. Sometimes those sagas focus on hard science, and all the science-fixated can delight in that. But the genre is also speculative. Indeed, it was once referred to as "Speculative Fiction". Sometimes the speculation taking place is one that is all about a particular invention or piece of technology taken that next step, and how that would impact mankind; sometimes it is about a Big Dumb Object mysteriously appearing and ready for our study. Many classic scifi novels have such things as their foundation; time again for the science and technology lovers to rejoice. But speculative novels can speculate on many things. As any fan of Ursula K. Le Guin or Isaac Asimov or Samuel R. Delany understands, speculative fiction can also be about sociology or psychology or sexuality - all the aspects of culture and personality. That's my kind of scifi. A Choice of Gods is one such novel.
Synopsis: The vast majority of humanity on Earth have vanished, leaving small groups behind. Thousands of years later, these groups have evolved in their own unique ways. One group develops psychic powers allowing them telepathy and teleportation to the stars beyond. Another group bonds to the land, developing less easily described powers that connect them to nature on an intimate level. A third group does little evolving and much fleeing in ignorance at strange things - but one individual from this clan has evolved in his own unique way. Also left on earth: robots! And they evolve as well: some into perfect servants, how boring (but useful? sorry), others carrying the torch of religion that humanity has left behind, others working to get to the next level of purpose and intelligence. All of these groups receive troubling news: (1) something coldly omniscient has been discovered at the center of the universe, and (2) the vanished majority have not only been found, they have found the path back to Earth - much to all of these small groups' chagrin.
That's a lot! Simak has an incredibly fertile imagination, layering idea upon idea, hinting at one and then the other, eventually unfurling each for all to contemplate. The effect of so many ideas could be dizzying, and the multiplicity of perspectives could confuse things, but fortunately Simak is also blessed with a very easy-going, almost folksy style. A comforting style, and a cozy one. Reading Simak is like snuggling up by a fire and lazily free-associating ideas, or like relaxing in a park on a sunny day, letting all sorts of thoughts flit and flutter in and out of your mind.
This is my fourth novel by the author, following City and Way Station and Cosmic Engineers. It was written after those three as well. I loved seeing many of his themes and many of his favorite ideas from all three of those books come to a certain sort of fruition in this book. In particular:
- Simak's commitment to portraying human disgust at the "alien". His realization that not only is this an understandable response, it is also a block to true empathy. Just as it is with humans dealing with other humans who look different. One of my favorite bits: a character being comforted by the tentacle formed by an alien - an alien described as looking like a bucket of worms. That was an incredibly endearing moment. The book makes it clear that "a person" can be so many different things.
- A rejection of technology as a path or means for man to get to a higher place. Sorry science nerds, but I'm on Simak's team with this idea. 100%! Simak recognizes the barriers that technology creates in our striving for more ease, more convenience, less heavy lifting and less delay. He sees evolution as occurring on not just an intellectual level, but on an emotional level as well. Evolution as an increase in understanding - an understanding of not simply science and technology, but an understanding of life and all of its differences and all of its commonalities and all of its potentials. An understanding of who we are and how we can break free of physical limitations. An emotional evolving, a psychic evolution. Of course, I'm a big hypocrite because I would have an aneurysm if I permanently lost the internet or spreadsheets or, I suppose, tv. But still: technology is often a barrier to empathy. True, it has helped us so much in getting to understand different people and viewpoints and cultures that we would otherwise never be able to engage with. I certainly get that and so that's the love in my love-hate relationship with technology. But our over-reliance on it means that our thoughtfulness is reduced (hello Twitter). Our tendency to immediately react in a toxic sort of group-think is increased (hello reddit and every single political website). Our ability to connect slowly, personally, and therefore more deeply is diminished as we rely on pithy snark and easy labels and images to define who we are (hello Facebook, Instagram, and so many dating sites). My God, our humor replaced by... memes! Ok now I'm being intensely old man-ish, so I'll stop. I don't hate you, social media, or you, technology in general, I promise. I just wish your easy shortcuts didn't so frequently replace true meaning or understanding. Some things shouldn't be so easy.
- The question of God: in a universe full of so many moving parts and yet so little potential for life... what that God would look like, how they would act, what their purpose and goals could be. Obviously the title makes it clear that this is the central concept behind the story. It is a concept and theme that is treated, at times, quite broadly: "a choice of gods" could mean a choice of what an individual - be they human, robot, or alien - decides is their own purpose for being. That purpose could be religion. It could be creating a higher intelligence. It could be caretaking a newly fecund Earth. There are many choices. But Simak also specifically addresses the nature of a more singular God. I loved his vision. It may not have been a comforting portrait of a bearded, elderly gent looking out for us all, but there was still much about his idea of a Higher Power that comforted - if only because it felt logical and fresh while still being challenging, even disturbing. A cold sort of comfort, but it made a lot of sense to me. Just like this entire book....more
This fast-paced slice of pulp science fiction may only be 2 stars worth of fun, but at least it is a breezy, painless 2 stars, despite sloppy plottingThis fast-paced slice of pulp science fiction may only be 2 stars worth of fun, but at least it is a breezy, painless 2 stars, despite sloppy plotting and mainly cardboard characters. It was smart fun as well. The story hurtles back and forth, from our solar system to the edge of the galaxy, into the distant future to visit Earth's last resident and back again, universes colliding & altruistic robots & all-powerful but senile puppetmasters, oh my. There's an interesting character in the peace-loving scientist woken from her thousand-year suspended animation - a suspended animation where she was busy thinking away, the entire time. Now awake, and ready to save the universe with her supra-intelligence!
This is probably only for Simak completists, which after reading City and Way Station and A Choice of Gods, I definitely consider myself. And as a Simak enthusiast, it was fun seeing all of the themes and favorite subjects that would come to define him, already present in nascent form: the need for humans to evolve - without a reliance on technology; robots and dogs; the regrettable human urge to reject the physically alien; a detached intelligence that could be God; the nonsense of human bureaucracy; an ideology that somehow combines progressive values with old-fashioned conservatism. I also quite enjoyed the short bit that appears to be endorsing Christian Science as a viable perspective on life and the universe - that was a surprise!...more
the fool known as Man is too slow to learn, too fast on the draw, too committed to staying still. the man known as Enoch Wallace stays to watch and mithe fool known as Man is too slow to learn, too fast on the draw, too committed to staying still. the man known as Enoch Wallace stays to watch and mind the way, to live and so learn, to dream beyond those fools known as Men. but he is a man still, and a loyal one, to Men. he'll learn and he'll fight for them, his fellows, living beside them but always aside from them, in his lonely way station, his alien friends coming and going and seldom returning. he'll mind that way and he'll chart the fall of Man, planning all the while to raise them higher. the author Clifford D. Simak, calm and careful and bursting with ideas, a heart bursting with love, makes a chart as well. a chart that tracks the eternal life of Enoch Wallace, its slow rise, its slow sloughing off of all that is brutal, weak, or indulgent. the author wonders, and perhaps despairs: can such a rise happen for brutal, weak, indulgent Man - is evolution even possible? the book Way Station is both nihilist and optimist, dire and sweet. how shall it all end - with a bang, a whimper, or a small step into the space beyond? no spoilers allowed, not for the book, nor for the fate of Man. we shall all have to wait and see what becomes of us, of our sweet dire lives, what these lives could amount to. will there be meaning? will an end become a beginning?...more
City is a collection of eight connected stories depicting the future and end of mankind, and the rise of dogs. just as i always gosh i loved this one!
City is a collection of eight connected stories depicting the future and end of mankind, and the rise of dogs. just as i always suspected, dogs will eventually inherit the earth. good dogs!
Simak is a humanist, but a clear-eyed one, an author who doesn't let much sentiment cloud his storytelling. man fails, and fails again, but his strivings are viewed with both careful distance and genuine affection. this is not one of those scifi novels about man being the architect of his own doom. well, i suppose it sort of is - but minus the doom part. there is a kind of transcendence achieved, or at least a movement by mankind into a state that is clearly more glorious and exuberant than their earthly forms. they reach for the stars (ding, ding, ding, cliche time arrives) but don't quite get there. eh, no matter. how does the song go? you can't always get what you want... but if you try sometimes... you get what you need. man gets what he needs. when dogs inherit the earth - well, perhaps, not our earth - man is basically a mythical creature. the stories in City are tales told and studied by the dog race a millenia in the future.
the novel is subtle, nuanced, tender; even-tempered and even-handed. the prose is clean and straightforward and rather literary as well. the narrative is anything but straightforward, although the stories move sequentially in time. people and places and things and ideas are mentioned, developed, dropped, and yet always return. nothing of value is left abandoned. this is not a novel that is by any means thuddingly obvious. i was consistently surprised at the twists and turns that each story took and how the story of our future history is developed. and don't expect hard science - or any realistic science in general - when reading this. expect yearning and melancholy and kindness and a sweet sort of poetry and an infinite largneness of spirit. it is a classic novel for many good reasons; i was completely enthralled. the kind of novel where, after i finished, all i wanted to do was hug the author for creating it.
of particular interest to me was the depiction of a society based on mechanistic ideas compared to that of a society based around more... i suppose the word would be psychic ideas. that still doesn't feel like the right word. some kind of word that includes psychic but also spiritual and emotional and mental. ish. ah well, words fail him. a typical human failing!
this would be a 5 star book for me but, sad to say, i did find the first story to be rather weak. the second story was interesting but i wasn't quite sold. the third story and beyond: perfection.
but hey, what is it all about? well,
ants evolving into mysterious threats and building strange structures, flights into alternate dimensions, dimensions that dogs can see, threats that exist in those dimensions and sometimes cross over, a robot guardian named Jenkins - guardian to the future race of dogs, intelligent animals, a brotherhood of animals, the last city of Geneva fallen silent and its denizens sleeping an endless sleep, the race of men transported elsewhere, the race of men now a handful of bow and arrow naturals, psychic robots, wild robots, mutant humans living in castles and crossing the universe through strange doorways, the family known as Webster - forever moving mankind forward (or not), a trap for humans built by mutants - a trap based around empathy, a terrible and remorseless mutant named Joe, Jupiter as a gateway to transcendence, the ability to change form and adapt to Jupiter, Nathaniel the first genetically enhanced dog, census-taking on a pastoral world, agoraphobia, Martian philosophers, a Martian plague, humanity moves first to the countryside and then from the earth itself, the death of cities...
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