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Contact

Carl Sagan

4.07 AVERAGE

cowboy_kk's review against another edition

5.0

I'm a convert to the church of Carl Sagan

slcy's review against another edition

5.0

inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-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: No

mastercabs's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

We are not good enough for Carl Sagan. Seriously, when he wrote this, I feel like we were on track to make a planet that could have responded to the signal in the way that they did in his novel. Sadly, I kept reflecting, "Well, interesting that he thought we'd do x,y, or z... In our world, we'd..." It makes the past feel like an entirely different world. Did the US actually elect Jimmy Carter? Seriously? Jimmy? Can you imagine that in contemporary discourse?
Donald Trump would have been threatening to nuke anyone who tried to do anything with the aliens - not to mention the fact that he flat out would have been entirely unable to understand the time separation between us and them... Ugh... Alright, that's not about the book... clearly...
All that said, Sagan does create an everyone's-favorite-science-teacher-before-Neal deGrasse Tyson-was-around-tells-a-story type narrative, and he does it well. That said, Ellie sometimes feels too perfect. Even the book's ostensible villains feel like they're too good for the world we live in, too educated, too... well... good.
I liked the book. I'd recommend it to people who liked listening to their science teachers tell stories about graduate school.

jillianrue's review against another edition

4.0

It's hard for me to have an unbiased opinion on this book since I loved the movie all through my childhood. Just don't expect it to be exactly like the movie. It can be a little slow going at times, with politics as a major part of the story. However, I enjoyed the juxtaposition of science and religion and the realistic way the story unfolds. I probably would have given it three stars if it weren't for the end (part 3). I was up til 3 am finishing it, in tears.

katrinajr's review against another edition

5.0

Exactly my kind of book. It deserves a slow read - to absorb all of the ideas and concepts and thoughts about humanity and beyond.

martin_earl's review against another edition

4.0

I read it twice.

caseyrafn's review against another edition

4.0

Every time Sagan shows a glimmer of dramatic storytelling, it's almost like he becomes shy and cuts it off abruptly. Due to its relative dryness, the sharp points of emotion that Ellie feels throughout are powerful (perhaps intentionally). There's also a ton of brain fodder that gave me pause. It's almost embarrassing how different (read: glamorized) the movie is from the book, but I like them both in their own ways.