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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
This is a rather interesting and strange story about a generational starship in which something has gone horribly wrong and many of the humans have no idea what they are living in and what is going on aboard. The story follows the main protagonist who lives in a primitive tribe at the beginning of the book, and sets out to explore the wilds outside the boundaries his tribe lives in. He encounters other tribes and some strange things going on in his travels and and the whole mystery is revealed to him at the end of the book. I liked the concept of the book and the reveal is neat. This was Brian Aldiss's first novel, going way back to 1958.
Zounds!
If you are like me in being relatively new to science fiction, then we have one distinct advantage: a hefty number of the novels, particularly those of the New Wave, will possess an undeniable freshness, making for an exciting, even thrilling, read. This is most certainly the case with Non-Stop by British New Waver Brian Aldiss. What an adventure!
Frequently when reviewing a novel, I'll highlight specific themes or aspects that give the story its own unique flair. I will not do so here since Non-Stop is a tale where all the many varieties of characters along with developments, ups, downs and breakthroughs are best disclosed to a reader page by page.
What I will say is a one-line paraphrase of the blurb on the book's back cover: the tale revolves around a member of the Green tribe, a hunter by the name of Roy Complain, setting out with renegade priest Marapper to explore lands beyond the limits set by tribe leaders.
Once I read the first chapter, I was completely hooked. I became excited, anticipating what Roy would encounter and learn on the next step of his journey. And, remarkably enough, there was no lessening of my excitement right up til the very last page. Now that's powerful storytelling! I felt like our ancient ancestors must have felt listing to an unfolding saga as they sat around the fire at night.
So the question arises: how did Brian Aldiss pull it off?
I think a good part of the answer lies in the disparity of knowledge between readers on one side and Roy and company on the other. This to say, living in the modern world, we possess an understanding of astronomy and reading about people lacking such basic knowledge but who, step by step, eventually expand their comprehension of the universe and their place in it, makes for a fascinating read.
I strongly suspect another part of the answer is tied up with three key qualities of New Wave SF - how it tends to be psychological, boundary pushing and weird. Let me tackle these one at a time.
Psychological: The inner space of the mind assumes equal important as outer space. Non-Stop is chock full of references and reflections on the inner psyche, as for example, here's one of Roy's musings: "A madman had lived for a moment within his skull! The Teaching warned him that his mind was a foul place. the holy trinity, Froyd, Yung and Bassit, had gone alone through the terrible barriers of sleep, death's brother; there they found - not nothing, as man had formerly believed - but grottoes and subterranean labyrinths full of ghouls and evil treasure, leeches, and the lusts that burn like acid. Man stood revealed to himself: a creature of infinite complexity and horror."
Boundary Pushing: Here is Marapper the priest revealing a great secret to Roy: "The great thing is, that not being in a ship is vastly different from being in it. You know - we all know - only what being in one is like; it is that which makes us think there is only ship. But there are many places which are not ship - huge places, many of them . . . This I know because I have seen records left by the Giants. The ship was made by the Giants, for their own purposes which are - as yet - hidden from us." Ship, not ship, Giants? What's going on here? And what's the very nature of reality?
Weird: Never mind Green Martians, Non-Stop is right up there with other New Wave SF in its bending of biology and genetics. "As the rabbit was drawn up, the five original scout rats spread out by the inner door, keeping watch for the Giants' return. The leader-rat ducked his head at the sword in his buckler, standing erect again with a fierce little blade fitting over his two front teeth, a tiny scythe which he twitched avidly about in the direction of the rabbit's neck." Now that's weird!
Yet again another dimension of Brian Aldiss' first-rate storytelling is his incorporation of Jungian archetypes as Roy travels on his hero's journey - to name several: the lover, the trickster, the shadow, the wise oldster.
Lastly, recall I mentioned we as readers have the advantage of knowing the facts of astronomy. However, we only learn the ultimate reality of the characters, their world and their underlying mission toward the stunning conclusion.. Thus, in this regard, we are in store for a few unexpected jolts. What a remarkable novel. Bravo, Brian Aldiss.
British author Brian Aldiss, 1925-2017
"Violence and death were pandemic in Quarters, forming a natural balance to the high birth rate, by nobody cheerfully dies for the sake of symmetry." - Brian Aldiss, Non-Stop
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The book has flaws. There are average writing, not good characterization. But nevertheless the book is great. Because of fantastic storytelling. The plot is amazing. Something happens all through the way. And there are incredible conceptual breakthroughs. You need to keep in mind all small weird things that you find in text. All of them are meaningful. The novel starts a little bit strange and clunky, but it’s gaining momentum and in the second half it became a page-turner. The ending has blown me away.
Like most of the science fiction from the 1950s I've read, Starship, despite its generic title, contains a really intriguing premise that I had never really encountered before. Unfortunately, it's also like those books in that the plot doesn't live up to the premise, starting to falter around the halfway point before coming to a messy, formulaic, and ultimately unsatisfying conclusion.
Without getting into spoilers (it's a book with a number of twists along the way) the basic premise is this: a small tribe of people inhabit what appears to be a run down spaceship. The interior of the ship is overgrown with rapidly growing hydroponic plants that give it a jungle-like atmosphere. The people live a largely primitive life, though there are remnants of technology, such as laser-like weapons known as "dazers." Throughout the ship there is evidence of some cataclysmic event that happened long ago, but exactly what it was nobody seems to know. The culture of the tribe is incredibly aggressive, the inhabitants adhere to a religion known as the Teaching, a seemingly warped form of psychoanalysis and Jungian thought that encourages acting on (frequently violent) impulses. The main character, Roy Complain, joins with a group of fellow tribesmen to explore far into the ship in an attempt to unravel its mysteries.
So yeah, there's some pretty interesting stuff going on! The setting, at turns primitive and high tech, is very cool. The mystery of what happened is intriguing. I found the religious aspect to be surprisingly well-developed for what is essentially an action book. The major drawback to the setting in the characters it produces. None of them are particularly interesting or sympathetic. The majority of the interactions are guys flying into random rages or sulky silences and scheming against one another. And although by the end Aldiss tries to describe Complain as someone who has grown fundamentally for the better, other than his cliched puppy-love for the main female character, he seems much the same at the end as he is at the beginning.
Speaking of the love plot, my biggest complaint (which will be unsurprising to those who know me or have read my other reviews) is the way that the book treats women. Or, woman, more accurately, as there is really only one of substance in the entire book. Laur Vyann starts off as a promising character. She's a competent person in a position of authority, but as soon as she meets the main male character she pretty much spends the rest of the book either being objectified by Roy or fawning over and rapidly falling in love with him for no apparent reason. Some choice quotes:
It just never ceases to amaze me how so many science fiction writers, then and now, are able to think so complexly about technology or biology or culture, and yet they seem incapable of creating female characters that are more than misogynistic stereotypes.
This, along with the way that the plot pretty much implodes at the end made what was an initially entertaining read to end up as another Golden Age of SF disappointment. Oh, and all that doesn't even take into account the
Without getting into spoilers (it's a book with a number of twists along the way) the basic premise is this: a small tribe of people inhabit what appears to be a run down spaceship. The interior of the ship is overgrown with rapidly growing hydroponic plants that give it a jungle-like atmosphere. The people live a largely primitive life, though there are remnants of technology, such as laser-like weapons known as "dazers." Throughout the ship there is evidence of some cataclysmic event that happened long ago, but exactly what it was nobody seems to know. The culture of the tribe is incredibly aggressive, the inhabitants adhere to a religion known as the Teaching, a seemingly warped form of psychoanalysis and Jungian thought that encourages acting on (frequently violent) impulses. The main character, Roy Complain, joins with a group of fellow tribesmen to explore far into the ship in an attempt to unravel its mysteries.
So yeah, there's some pretty interesting stuff going on! The setting, at turns primitive and high tech, is very cool. The mystery of what happened is intriguing. I found the religious aspect to be surprisingly well-developed for what is essentially an action book. The major drawback to the setting in the characters it produces. None of them are particularly interesting or sympathetic. The majority of the interactions are guys flying into random rages or sulky silences and scheming against one another. And although by the end Aldiss tries to describe Complain as someone who has grown fundamentally for the better, other than his cliched puppy-love for the main female character, he seems much the same at the end as he is at the beginning.
Speaking of the love plot, my biggest complaint (which will be unsurprising to those who know me or have read my other reviews) is the way that the book treats women. Or, woman, more accurately, as there is really only one of substance in the entire book. Laur Vyann starts off as a promising character. She's a competent person in a position of authority, but as soon as she meets the main male character she pretty much spends the rest of the book either being objectified by Roy or fawning over and rapidly falling in love with him for no apparent reason. Some choice quotes:
"Sweat stood out on Complain's face, and he noticed Vyann's blouse sticking to her breasts; for him they were the sweetest fruits aboard the ship."
"She made no answer beyond looking stubbornly at him, knowing, woman-like, that she had an argument superior to reason."
"'No!' Complain roared. It was hell the way everyone had wills of their own, even women."
It just never ceases to amaze me how so many science fiction writers, then and now, are able to think so complexly about technology or biology or culture, and yet they seem incapable of creating female characters that are more than misogynistic stereotypes.
This, along with the way that the plot pretty much implodes at the end made what was an initially entertaining read to end up as another Golden Age of SF disappointment. Oh, and all that doesn't even take into account the
Spoiler
army of super intelligent rats that wear clothes and make little cities and have moth scouts and telepathic rabbits that they keep in cages. Yeah, that was pretty weird.
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Uma ficção científica bem clássica, focada em uma nave-geração. Com certeza bem diferente dos exemplos mais recentes de livros que exploram esse mesmo tema. Consegue juntar bem as ideias de como uma civilização se aclimataria no ambiente claustrofóbico de uma nave especial quando a própria natureza do que ela é vira uma espécie de mitologia, e uma narrativa com ritmo bom, que faz você querer continuar a ler. Alguns aspectos da ciência são claramente ilógicos, mas menos do que eu esperava para um livro dos anos 50. A parte de como a psicanálise se torna uma religião é muito interessante. De modo geral, vale a leitura para quem quer ter contato com a era de ouro do gênero ou só um pouco de diversão descobrindo o que aconteceu nessa jornada (embora os plot twists sejam, talvez, os mais fáceis de prever que já vi, não deixam de ser satisfatórios)
Well that was absolutely fantastic. I can’t quite believe that 1) this was Aldiss’ first full novel and 2) it was published in 1958. Other than a few mid-century peculiarities, there’s very little to date it and it’s a hell of a propulsive story.
It’s concisely written but in no way sparse. The density and claustrophobia of the setting is ever present, and a great many of the characters ooze with a sort of baroque murk themselves, including the susprisingly layered protagonist.
The story is absolute classic sci-fi, with an anthropological edge that really does put it a cut above. I can imagine LeGuin tackling something like this; it has the same interest in how the make-up of people guide histories on the largest and smallest scales.
Weirdly, considering it’s nearing three Giant generations old too, I don’t want to go into the story too much for fear of giving anything away for the lucky readers who, like me, approach the novel mostly ignorant of the plot. I’m so glad I did, because there were quite a few surprises that really were genuinely delightful.
What a great book.
It’s concisely written but in no way sparse. The density and claustrophobia of the setting is ever present, and a great many of the characters ooze with a sort of baroque murk themselves, including the susprisingly layered protagonist.
The story is absolute classic sci-fi, with an anthropological edge that really does put it a cut above. I can imagine LeGuin tackling something like this; it has the same interest in how the make-up of people guide histories on the largest and smallest scales.
Weirdly, considering it’s nearing three Giant generations old too, I don’t want to go into the story too much for fear of giving anything away for the lucky readers who, like me, approach the novel mostly ignorant of the plot. I’m so glad I did, because there were quite a few surprises that really were genuinely delightful.
What a great book.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes