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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
Though it does have moments of excitement and literary impress, this was an overall forgettable story that had potential to be much better.
Enjoyed this book very much, and the story was different enough to keep me turning the pages quickly. However I was a little disappointed when I finished it as I don't like loose ends...
This novel was a subtle examination of character and the strains on a relationship imposed by distance.
At first it seems that Peter has got himself a fantastic new job, with USIC, ministering to the indigenous population on a distant planet for 5 months, an apparently much sought after position that hundreds interviewed for, but he scored. Unfortunately, his wife Bea cannot accompany him and must stay on earth to await his return.
Our appreciation of his relationship with Beatrice is directly observed for the short first part of the novel, and we can see that they are very much in love and have an active and healthy physical and sexual relationship. Then we go off with Peter to Oasis, and the rest of our contact with Bea is only through the correspondence between herself and Peter as his work progresses.
The mission seems almost idyllic, emotionally at least, for Peter, at first, as the natives are eager for the word of God and very welcoming to their new pastor. Peter seems reasonably able to cope with the challenging humid and hot environment, and finds beauty in the rhythms of night and day, the austere but majestic landscapes, and the rainwheels which predictably wash the planet and renew life.
The locals are humanoid in shape, but have a very different head structure, and their language cannot be well rendered by our mouths, and they have great difficulty with our words, but it is clear that they feel Peter and his Bible is a vital part of their lives, offering something they feel they need very much.
Soon, we discover that they essentially demanded the replacement of their old pastor (who appears to have wandered off and ‘gone native’) and actually forced the hand of USIC into providing Peter, by implying they might cease their cooperation with providing food for the settlement, and the humans are very dependent on the help of the inhabitants, as they haven’t been able to produce palatable food from the local Whiteflowers, as the aliens do.
As time and our observations of the situation on Oasis and Earth grow, though, the reader begins to become uncomfortable, both with the Oasans’ apparent feverish dependency on Peter, (and the drugs they mysteriously seem to need from the USIC base) and their idealising of him. Eventually we are admitted into the frightening reality of their vulnerability to injury and inability to heal. At the same time, Peter begins to rewrite his Bible for them, omitting or changing words they have difficulty pronouncing, and changing situations or animals or characters he feels they will be unable to relate to. His rewritings of the verses and psalms are awkward and ugly, and seem even to this lapsed christian, an affront. At the same time, from Bea’s letters we can see that apocalyptic times seem to be descending on the Earth, with Tsunamis wiping out whole countries, volcanoes erupting, killing tens of thousands, food supplies diminishing, and looting, vigilante killings, attacks and earthquakes. Governments cannot cope and civilisation seems to be crumbling.
The truly haunting thing, though, is Peter’s reaction to Bea’s letters – she pleads with him for contact, needs love and reassurance, and receives nothing but inanities from him. At first it seems that this might be because the disasters have apparently been happening for decades on a dystopian earth, so they are no surprise; but then it dawns on us that this is the circumstance under which Peter left his wife.
The human inhabitants of the USIC base choose not to follow too closely what is happening on Earth, and they have few updates and information about earth current affairs, and in fact few ties to home. They are a surprisingly detached, almost autistic lot who seem to avoid close personal relationships with each other, along with vices such as alcohol and drugs. (seems a bit like the rumours about Silicon Valley, really!)
As the novel played out, I began to feel that Peter was developing a Jesus complex, where he was beginning to see himself as the object of the Oasans religion, and the arrogance of his tampering with the sacred texts of his own religion began to feel unjustifiable. Not just this, but it was completely subverting the reason why the Oasans apparently loved the Book of Strange New Things (their words for the Bible) – its glimpse into a mysterious race and creed imbued with meaning and experiences foreign to them, but hopeful and promising of something. The feeling that Peter was betraying his beliefs was worsened by his inability to relate to Bea’s pain and suffering, to even be interested in the fate of his friends and congregation on Earth, let alone the citizens of the countries being destroyed. I began to feel that Peter, and the other USIC personnel, had intentionally deserted the sinking ship of Earth to save their own skins, knowingly accepting the cost of their ties to humanity on earth. Peter began to feel like a sociopath, in the company of others of his kind, on Oasis, and Bea’s accusations about his lack of communication stopped sounding shrill and began to be a reasonable assessment of his character. It was just impossible to reconcile the relationship at the beginning of the novel with the treatment Peter was meting out to Bea.
In the end, he decides he must return, reluctantly, to Earth to be with Beatrice, who has stopped wanting him back, and is beginning to see him as manipulative and callous.
We feel that his return will not redeem the relationship; he has already destroyed it. And now the earth is dying, the USIC staff think him weak and emotional, and the Oasans are about to discover that Peter is not their saviour, as they had hopefully, and wrongly believed a literal interpretation of the promise of eternal life and an end to suffering. It seems like this could be part of the reason why he wanted to go back.
It is the story of the unravelling of the man; Peter is an ex manipulative drug addict and thief, once self destructive and burnt out, who found easy refuge in a Christianity and a woman and a mindset which saw others as instruments to further his progress, which was always handily aligned with God’s will. But once his luck ran out, and God seemed silent, he was unable to find convenient platitudinous answers, or they weren’t enough, and he was again lost.
At first it seems that Peter has got himself a fantastic new job, with USIC, ministering to the indigenous population on a distant planet for 5 months, an apparently much sought after position that hundreds interviewed for, but he scored. Unfortunately, his wife Bea cannot accompany him and must stay on earth to await his return.
Our appreciation of his relationship with Beatrice is directly observed for the short first part of the novel, and we can see that they are very much in love and have an active and healthy physical and sexual relationship. Then we go off with Peter to Oasis, and the rest of our contact with Bea is only through the correspondence between herself and Peter as his work progresses.
The mission seems almost idyllic, emotionally at least, for Peter, at first, as the natives are eager for the word of God and very welcoming to their new pastor. Peter seems reasonably able to cope with the challenging humid and hot environment, and finds beauty in the rhythms of night and day, the austere but majestic landscapes, and the rainwheels which predictably wash the planet and renew life.
The locals are humanoid in shape, but have a very different head structure, and their language cannot be well rendered by our mouths, and they have great difficulty with our words, but it is clear that they feel Peter and his Bible is a vital part of their lives, offering something they feel they need very much.
Soon, we discover that they essentially demanded the replacement of their old pastor (who appears to have wandered off and ‘gone native’) and actually forced the hand of USIC into providing Peter, by implying they might cease their cooperation with providing food for the settlement, and the humans are very dependent on the help of the inhabitants, as they haven’t been able to produce palatable food from the local Whiteflowers, as the aliens do.
As time and our observations of the situation on Oasis and Earth grow, though, the reader begins to become uncomfortable, both with the Oasans’ apparent feverish dependency on Peter, (and the drugs they mysteriously seem to need from the USIC base) and their idealising of him. Eventually we are admitted into the frightening reality of their vulnerability to injury and inability to heal. At the same time, Peter begins to rewrite his Bible for them, omitting or changing words they have difficulty pronouncing, and changing situations or animals or characters he feels they will be unable to relate to. His rewritings of the verses and psalms are awkward and ugly, and seem even to this lapsed christian, an affront. At the same time, from Bea’s letters we can see that apocalyptic times seem to be descending on the Earth, with Tsunamis wiping out whole countries, volcanoes erupting, killing tens of thousands, food supplies diminishing, and looting, vigilante killings, attacks and earthquakes. Governments cannot cope and civilisation seems to be crumbling.
The truly haunting thing, though, is Peter’s reaction to Bea’s letters – she pleads with him for contact, needs love and reassurance, and receives nothing but inanities from him. At first it seems that this might be because the disasters have apparently been happening for decades on a dystopian earth, so they are no surprise; but then it dawns on us that this is the circumstance under which Peter left his wife.
The human inhabitants of the USIC base choose not to follow too closely what is happening on Earth, and they have few updates and information about earth current affairs, and in fact few ties to home. They are a surprisingly detached, almost autistic lot who seem to avoid close personal relationships with each other, along with vices such as alcohol and drugs. (seems a bit like the rumours about Silicon Valley, really!)
As the novel played out, I began to feel that Peter was developing a Jesus complex, where he was beginning to see himself as the object of the Oasans religion, and the arrogance of his tampering with the sacred texts of his own religion began to feel unjustifiable. Not just this, but it was completely subverting the reason why the Oasans apparently loved the Book of Strange New Things (their words for the Bible) – its glimpse into a mysterious race and creed imbued with meaning and experiences foreign to them, but hopeful and promising of something. The feeling that Peter was betraying his beliefs was worsened by his inability to relate to Bea’s pain and suffering, to even be interested in the fate of his friends and congregation on Earth, let alone the citizens of the countries being destroyed. I began to feel that Peter, and the other USIC personnel, had intentionally deserted the sinking ship of Earth to save their own skins, knowingly accepting the cost of their ties to humanity on earth. Peter began to feel like a sociopath, in the company of others of his kind, on Oasis, and Bea’s accusations about his lack of communication stopped sounding shrill and began to be a reasonable assessment of his character. It was just impossible to reconcile the relationship at the beginning of the novel with the treatment Peter was meting out to Bea.
In the end, he decides he must return, reluctantly, to Earth to be with Beatrice, who has stopped wanting him back, and is beginning to see him as manipulative and callous.
We feel that his return will not redeem the relationship; he has already destroyed it. And now the earth is dying, the USIC staff think him weak and emotional, and the Oasans are about to discover that Peter is not their saviour, as they had hopefully, and wrongly believed a literal interpretation of the promise of eternal life and an end to suffering. It seems like this could be part of the reason why he wanted to go back.
It is the story of the unravelling of the man; Peter is an ex manipulative drug addict and thief, once self destructive and burnt out, who found easy refuge in a Christianity and a woman and a mindset which saw others as instruments to further his progress, which was always handily aligned with God’s will. But once his luck ran out, and God seemed silent, he was unable to find convenient platitudinous answers, or they weren’t enough, and he was again lost.
Such a disappointment from a usually excellent author. If you want great Michel Faber read Under The Skin instead. And for a much better alien missionary story, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book is amazing and impossible to put down. A Christian pastor takes a brief mission to another planet while his wife experiences great disruption on Earth that tests their marriage. The details of the other world seemed so real, and the challenges faced by the characters are so multifaceted and tangible, the reader soon inhabits this story. Our protagonist is good enough, we believe him, he is honorable; in short he keeps faith with the reader even as he nurtures faith in other beings. And in that way, we are able to truly experience an amazing story. Michel Faber has once again created a complete environment in which the reader can feel, smell and almost hear the ambient conditions that are so intricately described. The story itself moves well, neither entirely predictably nor without reason. I might have wished for an ending later in time, but that suggests I really didn't want the story to end. This is a genre-busting book that defies categories, a magnificent book! - Suzanne R.
A very different kind of space colony story. Fun at times.
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated