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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
One of my reading goals for 2021 is to read more Sci-Fi. I've never been a huge Sci-Fi fan but I've realized it is such a vast genre that I should try to find a niche I enjoy. After reading The Illuminatus Trilogy! last year I was still in the mood for a 70s Sci-Fi book. I had a base understanding of the premise for To Your Scattered Bodies Go but I didn't know just how vast the Riverworld was going to be.
Riverworld is such an interesting an unique concept. Having all of humanity from every era intermingle and seeing how they rebuild society is a concept that offers so much potential. My mind was running wild with the possibilities. Creating an afterlife unlike any previously conceived offers a great study in anthropology. Religion and spirituality are ingrained into humanity; to have that all be proven wrong led to such an interesting look into how humans would cope and adapt to that reality. A world where death is not a final action is also a great way to push the understanding of human nature. Seeing how the characters become more accustomed to death was also a dark revelation.
As someone who enjoys history, anthropology, sociology, and linguistics this was the perfect book for me. I wasn't expecting those interests to be satiated to this extent while reading this book. I love that the book incorporates real historical figures as well as architypes of historical figures, some that readers can relate to and recognize well. It never felt too hokey when it came to having these real historical figures play fictional characters. While this book definitely holds a lot of 70s camp, it never felt offensive or insensitive. This really showcases the fact that Farmer had such a deep interest in these subjects while writing the book and took into account, semi, realistic outcomes for this premise.
Before reading this book I didn't know who Richard Francis Burton was. Early on I had to do some external research to get a better understanding of this man. He certainly lived an interesting life and I now want to learn more about it. By learning a little more about his life I was better able to understand his actions and methods in this book. You don't need to have this external knowledge of these real life characters, as Farmer gives a lot of their biographies in the book, but you probably will want to do your own learning as Farmer writes in such an enticing manner.
I love the social commentary in this book. A lot of the themes are pretty timeless so it doesn't feel as dated as many of it's contemporaries. It helps that most of the characters were historical in 1971 and so they are still historical in 2021. I found a lot of influence from Brave New World in this book. While it might not hold the exact same themes, Farmer definitely takes the societal model concept and uses it to showcase his views on society. I do think To Your Scattered Bodies Go has a better narrative than Brave New World which is a big improvement for me.
With how much I enjoyed the concept of Riverworld I am eager to read the following books and see how more scenarios will play out. That being said, I think this book offers a good standalone narrative that doesn't rely on being a part of a series.
Riverworld is such an interesting an unique concept. Having all of humanity from every era intermingle and seeing how they rebuild society is a concept that offers so much potential. My mind was running wild with the possibilities. Creating an afterlife unlike any previously conceived offers a great study in anthropology. Religion and spirituality are ingrained into humanity; to have that all be proven wrong led to such an interesting look into how humans would cope and adapt to that reality. A world where death is not a final action is also a great way to push the understanding of human nature. Seeing how the characters become more accustomed to death was also a dark revelation.
As someone who enjoys history, anthropology, sociology, and linguistics this was the perfect book for me. I wasn't expecting those interests to be satiated to this extent while reading this book. I love that the book incorporates real historical figures as well as architypes of historical figures, some that readers can relate to and recognize well. It never felt too hokey when it came to having these real historical figures play fictional characters. While this book definitely holds a lot of 70s camp, it never felt offensive or insensitive. This really showcases the fact that Farmer had such a deep interest in these subjects while writing the book and took into account, semi, realistic outcomes for this premise.
Before reading this book I didn't know who Richard Francis Burton was. Early on I had to do some external research to get a better understanding of this man. He certainly lived an interesting life and I now want to learn more about it. By learning a little more about his life I was better able to understand his actions and methods in this book. You don't need to have this external knowledge of these real life characters, as Farmer gives a lot of their biographies in the book, but you probably will want to do your own learning as Farmer writes in such an enticing manner.
I love the social commentary in this book. A lot of the themes are pretty timeless so it doesn't feel as dated as many of it's contemporaries. It helps that most of the characters were historical in 1971 and so they are still historical in 2021. I found a lot of influence from Brave New World in this book. While it might not hold the exact same themes, Farmer definitely takes the societal model concept and uses it to showcase his views on society. I do think To Your Scattered Bodies Go has a better narrative than Brave New World which is a big improvement for me.
With how much I enjoyed the concept of Riverworld I am eager to read the following books and see how more scenarios will play out. That being said, I think this book offers a good standalone narrative that doesn't rely on being a part of a series.
Wow, sexism much? Apparently, 1971, was not the progressive environment I assumed. Everyone is a linguist! Why not just make everyone speak the same language rather than elaborate over paragraphs about how and which languages the characters know? Other than that, the story was enjoyable. I will probably try the next one.
An interesting foundation that is ruined by the prejudices of the author. I try very hard not to let these kind of things get in the way how I perceive the story but this was too much. I'm not going to bother looking up the direct quote but the protagonist says at one point 'I have no need of a woman for her mind, I like them long legged an preferably blond'. If the author want's to excuse this as it's just how Burton was in real life, I have to wonder why Burton was chosen to be the lead character.
Good idea, but lacks of characters. The book is intersting after the 19 chapter. I would prefer if the main hero was not a famous person.The women's decription was weak as their character.And OMG only the women born again virgin.....
Well, at least that was something different. I'll read the next instalment before I decide what I think.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Slavery, Suicide
Moderate: Rape, Antisemitism
Minor: Pedophilia, Cannibalism
For misogyny: This book has a very mid 20th century mainstream heteronormative attitude. It's just a component part of the book.
For everything else: Nothing is glorified by the text and it is all rightly pointed out to be the terrible things they are. The text doesn't shy away from the darker aspects of the setting, but at the same time it doesn't dwell or reveal in it.
I debated the antisemitism tag as it seemed that the book was more interested in exploring the insidious nature of antisemitism than letting the explicitly antisemitic characters have free reign. The middle section of the book does spend a fair bit of time on how someone can be a "good" person and still hold antisemitic ideas and doesn't do it with any subtly. The book is very firmly on the side of Antisemitism Is Bad, but it's also a very short book.
Years after reading it as a teenager, I decided to go back to Sir Richard Burton.
I can see now how vivid , almost movie like the novel is, and how I already want to know what happens next, I want to know who is behind all those resurrections, and who the Ethicals are etc etc
What I didn't remember at all is the feeling that the book has been hastily written. It is also strangely paced,with days, weeks, years summed up in a sentence or less. Some of the characters are difficult to care for or about, especially when their main job seems to be dropping more and more information and details about historical figures and facts.
But no matter how poorly or at least unevenly written the book is , To your etc is a wonderful, amazing work of imagination that is fun to read, a pulp novel that asks questions about what life, good and evil, morals and ethics while making you long for the next bloody battle , twist or revelation.
I can see now how vivid , almost movie like the novel is, and how I already want to know what happens next, I want to know who is behind all those resurrections, and who the Ethicals are etc etc
What I didn't remember at all is the feeling that the book has been hastily written. It is also strangely paced,with days, weeks, years summed up in a sentence or less. Some of the characters are difficult to care for or about, especially when their main job seems to be dropping more and more information and details about historical figures and facts.
But no matter how poorly or at least unevenly written the book is , To your etc is a wonderful, amazing work of imagination that is fun to read, a pulp novel that asks questions about what life, good and evil, morals and ethics while making you long for the next bloody battle , twist or revelation.
Real Rating: 3.25* of five
One day, I hope someone makes an adaptation of this. The two that've been made so far are execrable.
The book itself? 1970s. Heteronormative (despite choosing Sir Richard Francis Burton, sexual adventurer, as its hero. The persistent rumor that he walked on the wild side gets explained away, with a side-eye to Lady Burton's unconscionable burning of his papers). Misogynistic, though more mildly than I'd expected.
A shockless technological Heaven brings all 37 billion of us who will ever, it seems, exist, back to life to serve as lab rats for some of our descendents called, without seeming irony, Ethicals. Burton is the curve-breaker, and bids fair to derail their plan. Whatever it might be, however that might occur, isn't clear yet.
I'll go on, though the impulse to do so is very mild. I'm checking the books out of the library so I am not out of pocket; I wouldn't buy them or recommend other buy them.
One day, I hope someone makes an adaptation of this. The two that've been made so far are execrable.
The book itself? 1970s. Heteronormative (despite choosing Sir Richard Francis Burton, sexual adventurer, as its hero. The persistent rumor that he walked on the wild side gets explained away, with a side-eye to Lady Burton's unconscionable burning of his papers). Misogynistic, though more mildly than I'd expected.
A shockless technological Heaven brings all 37 billion of us who will ever, it seems, exist, back to life to serve as lab rats for some of our descendents called, without seeming irony, Ethicals. Burton is the curve-breaker, and bids fair to derail their plan. Whatever it might be, however that might occur, isn't clear yet.
I'll go on, though the impulse to do so is very mild. I'm checking the books out of the library so I am not out of pocket; I wouldn't buy them or recommend other buy them.
All of us, I think, can recall a handful of books that to this day seem to mark a particular period in our lives. Often, as the decades go by, we find ourselves taking those books with us as we move from place to place. For instance, I still have the paperback copy of Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle that I paid sixty cents for in a Nashville bus station during my Army basic training in nearby Ft. Campbell, KY, in early 1968. Its pages are brown and a little brittle now, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.
Philip Jose Farmer’s To Your Scattered Bodies Go is another of those books for me. I did not discover this 1971 novel (and Philip Jose Farmer) until 1983 when I paid $2.95 for a twenty-third printing of the paperback version of the novel. As you can see, the price of a relatively thin paperback had gone up considerably in the fifteen years separating publication of these two books. I’ve read each of them at least three times now, so I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth out of them.
The main character in To Your Scattered Bodies Go is the nineteenth century explorer Richard Burton, a man who one morning wakes up naked on the banks of a river he has never before seen. Burton, though, is not the only confused person waking up in that same condition:
“Everywhere on the plain were unclothed bald-headed human beings, spaced about six feet apart. Most were still on their backs and gazing into the sky. Others were beginning to stir, to look around, or even sitting up.”
That quote, from page 13 of the novel, hooked me, and it was off to the races when I learned that To Your Scattered Bodies Go was just the first book in Farmer’s “Riverworld novels.” Perhaps the best thing about coming to a series as late as I came to this one is not having to wait at least a year between new books, and I took full advantage of my tardiness.
This first book in the series sees Burton aligning himself with men and women he feels he can trust to travel with him up and down the river while he tries to figure out why every human being who has ever lived has been resurrected at the same time somewhere along the banks of this ten-million-mile-long nameless river. One of the first to join Burton’s new “family” is Alice Hargreaves, who in her first life was the inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Among others taken in by Burton are a primitive cave man and an alien who died on Earth while in the processing of killing off the entire human race.
After Burton discovers a group of “Ethicals” who seem to be responsible for this unexpected afterlife, he wants answers. If they are not gods, how did they manage to resurrect everyone? Is the human race being given a second chance to find heaven? Or is this all just an experiment run by the Ethicals to record the history and customs of the entire human race? Are the Ethicals amused at how humans are reacting to their resurrection? Whatever they are up to, Burton wants some answers – and he is determined to get them no matter how many times he has to kill his new arch-enemy Herman Goring.
Bottom Line: To Your Scattered Bodies Go beautifully sets up the rest of the Riverworld books. As the book ends, Burton understands just enough about his situation to get himself into even more trouble by trying to find the river’s source – where he believes he will find the home-base of the Ethicals themselves and all the answers he so desperately wants. And, in book two, The Fabulous Riverboat, Burton teams up with just the man to get him further up the river: the resurrected young Mark Twain. Let the fun begin.
Philip Jose Farmer’s To Your Scattered Bodies Go is another of those books for me. I did not discover this 1971 novel (and Philip Jose Farmer) until 1983 when I paid $2.95 for a twenty-third printing of the paperback version of the novel. As you can see, the price of a relatively thin paperback had gone up considerably in the fifteen years separating publication of these two books. I’ve read each of them at least three times now, so I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth out of them.
The main character in To Your Scattered Bodies Go is the nineteenth century explorer Richard Burton, a man who one morning wakes up naked on the banks of a river he has never before seen. Burton, though, is not the only confused person waking up in that same condition:
“Everywhere on the plain were unclothed bald-headed human beings, spaced about six feet apart. Most were still on their backs and gazing into the sky. Others were beginning to stir, to look around, or even sitting up.”
That quote, from page 13 of the novel, hooked me, and it was off to the races when I learned that To Your Scattered Bodies Go was just the first book in Farmer’s “Riverworld novels.” Perhaps the best thing about coming to a series as late as I came to this one is not having to wait at least a year between new books, and I took full advantage of my tardiness.
This first book in the series sees Burton aligning himself with men and women he feels he can trust to travel with him up and down the river while he tries to figure out why every human being who has ever lived has been resurrected at the same time somewhere along the banks of this ten-million-mile-long nameless river. One of the first to join Burton’s new “family” is Alice Hargreaves, who in her first life was the inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Among others taken in by Burton are a primitive cave man and an alien who died on Earth while in the processing of killing off the entire human race.
After Burton discovers a group of “Ethicals” who seem to be responsible for this unexpected afterlife, he wants answers. If they are not gods, how did they manage to resurrect everyone? Is the human race being given a second chance to find heaven? Or is this all just an experiment run by the Ethicals to record the history and customs of the entire human race? Are the Ethicals amused at how humans are reacting to their resurrection? Whatever they are up to, Burton wants some answers – and he is determined to get them no matter how many times he has to kill his new arch-enemy Herman Goring.
Bottom Line: To Your Scattered Bodies Go beautifully sets up the rest of the Riverworld books. As the book ends, Burton understands just enough about his situation to get himself into even more trouble by trying to find the river’s source – where he believes he will find the home-base of the Ethicals themselves and all the answers he so desperately wants. And, in book two, The Fabulous Riverboat, Burton teams up with just the man to get him further up the river: the resurrected young Mark Twain. Let the fun begin.
afterlife, world reshaped as a long river which is purgatory for most of humanity