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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book is a collection of previously written stories, all set within a future time period in which humans have begun a diaspora off the earth, with those who can't afford to go or who aren't allowed to go remaining behind. It's a bit like the concept behind Blade Runner, but set in a desert instead of rainy LA.
There are some through lines with characters, but it's more about the concepts and atmosphere than the overarching plot. And this author is dense and takes concentration. Just not what I was in the mood for, although the book is undoubtedly written well.
This book is a collection of previously written stories, all set within a future time period in which humans have begun a diaspora off the earth, with those who can't afford to go or who aren't allowed to go remaining behind. It's a bit like the concept behind Blade Runner, but set in a desert instead of rainy LA.
There are some through lines with characters, but it's more about the concepts and atmosphere than the overarching plot. And this author is dense and takes concentration. Just not what I was in the mood for, although the book is undoubtedly written well.
Central Station imagines a world where divisions have blurred between man-created and biological entities and corporate and personal memory. Conversation has shifted from personal one-on-one dialogue to universal eavesdropping and vicarious experience available through an implanted node.
Central Station is the interstellar port that rises above Jewish Tel Aviv and Arab Jaffa where people "still lived as they had always lived." We will recognize aspects of their lives, the human need for love, the seeking of answers through faith and escape through drugs, the vilification of those who are different. And yet this world, this society, is totally a new imagining.
Originally a series of short stories about individuals whose ancestors came to build the station or fight in the old wars, this is not a plot-driven book but is still compulsive. Long explanations do not burden the tale; you take the strange and new by faith and context, growing into understanding.
Some of the characters and their stories include:
Boris Chong and Miriam Jones had once been young and in love. Boris worked in the labs that created human life but left to work on Mars. He has returned to Central Station with a Martian aug, a parasite, having learned his father's memory was failing. Miriam has adopted a strange child born in Boris's lab.
Boris is followed by an ex-lover named Carmel, a data vampire who is shunned and dangerous. Carmel becomes lovers with one of the few humans without a node, Achimwene, a man she cannot feed on and who cannot become addicted to the dopamine high stimulated by her theft of their memory data. Sometimes he wonders what it was like to be "whole," growing up part of the Conversation, for a human without a node was a 'cripple'. His passion is for mid-twentieth century pulp fiction books, the cheap paperbacks crumbling and yellowed. Their story and search for answers was one of my favorite sections.
"Just another broken-down robotnik, just another beggar hunting the night streets looking for a handout or a fix or both."
Miriam's sister Isobel Chow is in love with Motl, an ex-soldier who was mechanically rebuilt over and over until he is more machine than man. Robots haven't been made for a long time and these veterans end up on the street begging for replacement parts to keep going. He no longer recalls what wars he had fought, but the vision of war and death remain. He is an ex-addict of the faith drug Crucifixion. Now his parts are breaking down, but his feelings are strong. "Sometimes you needed to believe you could believe, sometimes you had to figure heaven could come from another human being and not just in a pill."
"This part of the world had always needed a messiah."
R. Brother Patch-It is a robo-priest and part-time moyel. "We dream a consensus of reality," he preaches. It feels tired, old, his parts wearing out, and sometimes he is envious of the human trait of sensation and stimulation. "To be a robot, you needed faith, R. Patch-It thought. To be a human, too."
On the flip side, Ruth Cohen longs to be part of something bigger, a total immersion in The Conversation, the linked awareness made possible through the node implant. "Are you willing to give up your humanity?" she is asked.
Behind these otherworldly characters are still basic stories of humanity's essence: the search for love and meaning.
"It is, perhaps, the prerogative of every man or woman to imagine, and thus force a shape, a meaning, onto that wild and meandering narrative of their lives by choosing genre. A princess is rescued by a prince; a vampire stalks a victim in the dark; a student becomes the master. The circle is complete. And so on."
"There comes a time in a man's life when he realizes stories are lies. Things do not end neatly."
My son, blog writer of Battered, Tattered, Yellowed and Creased, raved about Tidhar's book (read his review athttps://yellowedandcreased.wordpress.com/2016/05/18/central-station-lavie-tidhar/ ) which motivated me to request it through NetGalley. Central Station has won multiple awards and huge recognition. It is sure to be a classic. I thank the publisher for the ebook in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Central Station is the interstellar port that rises above Jewish Tel Aviv and Arab Jaffa where people "still lived as they had always lived." We will recognize aspects of their lives, the human need for love, the seeking of answers through faith and escape through drugs, the vilification of those who are different. And yet this world, this society, is totally a new imagining.
Originally a series of short stories about individuals whose ancestors came to build the station or fight in the old wars, this is not a plot-driven book but is still compulsive. Long explanations do not burden the tale; you take the strange and new by faith and context, growing into understanding.
Some of the characters and their stories include:
Boris Chong and Miriam Jones had once been young and in love. Boris worked in the labs that created human life but left to work on Mars. He has returned to Central Station with a Martian aug, a parasite, having learned his father's memory was failing. Miriam has adopted a strange child born in Boris's lab.
Boris is followed by an ex-lover named Carmel, a data vampire who is shunned and dangerous. Carmel becomes lovers with one of the few humans without a node, Achimwene, a man she cannot feed on and who cannot become addicted to the dopamine high stimulated by her theft of their memory data. Sometimes he wonders what it was like to be "whole," growing up part of the Conversation, for a human without a node was a 'cripple'. His passion is for mid-twentieth century pulp fiction books, the cheap paperbacks crumbling and yellowed. Their story and search for answers was one of my favorite sections.
"Just another broken-down robotnik, just another beggar hunting the night streets looking for a handout or a fix or both."
Miriam's sister Isobel Chow is in love with Motl, an ex-soldier who was mechanically rebuilt over and over until he is more machine than man. Robots haven't been made for a long time and these veterans end up on the street begging for replacement parts to keep going. He no longer recalls what wars he had fought, but the vision of war and death remain. He is an ex-addict of the faith drug Crucifixion. Now his parts are breaking down, but his feelings are strong. "Sometimes you needed to believe you could believe, sometimes you had to figure heaven could come from another human being and not just in a pill."
"This part of the world had always needed a messiah."
R. Brother Patch-It is a robo-priest and part-time moyel. "We dream a consensus of reality," he preaches. It feels tired, old, his parts wearing out, and sometimes he is envious of the human trait of sensation and stimulation. "To be a robot, you needed faith, R. Patch-It thought. To be a human, too."
On the flip side, Ruth Cohen longs to be part of something bigger, a total immersion in The Conversation, the linked awareness made possible through the node implant. "Are you willing to give up your humanity?" she is asked.
Behind these otherworldly characters are still basic stories of humanity's essence: the search for love and meaning.
"It is, perhaps, the prerogative of every man or woman to imagine, and thus force a shape, a meaning, onto that wild and meandering narrative of their lives by choosing genre. A princess is rescued by a prince; a vampire stalks a victim in the dark; a student becomes the master. The circle is complete. And so on."
"There comes a time in a man's life when he realizes stories are lies. Things do not end neatly."
My son, blog writer of Battered, Tattered, Yellowed and Creased, raved about Tidhar's book (read his review athttps://yellowedandcreased.wordpress.com/2016/05/18/central-station-lavie-tidhar/ ) which motivated me to request it through NetGalley. Central Station has won multiple awards and huge recognition. It is sure to be a classic. I thank the publisher for the ebook in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
I have wanted to read something of Tidhar since his name first cropped up on my radar. I am an occasional reader of more literary and heavier science fiction and his style and subject matter appeared to hit the spot. I had an email from the publisher (Tachyon Press) asking if I would like an ARC. Gratefully, I accepted as eagerly as I accepted Slow Bullets by Alastair Reynolds last year. Here is what I think of this book.
The titular Central Station is a giant spaceport located in the middle east, somewhere between modern Tel Aviv and Jaffa. Though the spaceport is intimidatingly its central “character”, and it is ever present, the story follows several families who have made their lives in a city that surrounds its base – wild, uncontrolled and growing. They reflect on the changes going on in Israel and the middle east, both socially and technologically, and develop in this new world.
It is essentially a story of family, of life and love, and getting by. Each chapter is told from the perspective of a different character. This switching about may confuse some and annoy others, especially if you are not used to this more literary end of the science fiction scale. In this way, it can be hard going. It is not exciting by any stretch of the imagination, but we are compelled to keep reading. Fans of China Mieville and Alastair Reynolds well know exactly what I mean here, though you will find a lot less in the way of action.
The tone is slow and deliberate, almost densely written. Not everybody will have the patience for this density. I notice from Good Reads that several readers simply gave up after a chapter or two. I can understand why, but I think that is a shame that they did not have the motivation or the patience to keep reading. This style is certainly an acquired taste and its not a “lazy Sunday morning” sort of a read. Tidhar could also have done more to make the style accessible. In places, it feels a little over-written.
Something about this book feels very much thrown together as though the chapters do not quite fit as intended. I wasn’t surprised to discover later that it had appeared piece by piece elsewhere and had always intended to be one story. Cleverly done, but I feel the author slightly misses the mark on that issue too.
Not a bad book, but not great either. I feel that missing the cultural references made me poorer for the experience. Had I got these, I am sure I would have got the book a bit better too. 3.5 / 5 for me. Definitely an acquired taste, even your somebody used to the style.
At first glance, the book was full of interesting ideas and zips by pretty fast. After finishing the whole thing though, one realizes that that was all it was- set of great set pieces without any foundation.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a novel?
I enjoy character driven novels as much as the next guy, but the plot needs to come out too. The plot was yearning to come out, but all this really is is a series of linked character sketches. It was an interesting setting, some of the characters were interesting, but they didn't do much. I skimmed the second half in case something started happening, but it really didn't.
I enjoy character driven novels as much as the next guy, but the plot needs to come out too. The plot was yearning to come out, but all this really is is a series of linked character sketches. It was an interesting setting, some of the characters were interesting, but they didn't do much. I skimmed the second half in case something started happening, but it really didn't.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Underwhelmed by this book. The world building was good, but it read like individual stories not as a cohesive total. While there was sort of an overall story, there were so many disparate characters from different technological realities. It was hard to understand why they coexisted. I didn’t compellingly like any of the characters, perhaps because many of them were a topic of only one chapter and no real connection had been made.