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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2034738.html[return][return]It must be around thirty years since I first (and last) read Non-Stop. There are still lots of things to like about it. It was a deliberate response to the Heinlein stories later published as Orphans of the Sky, taking the concept of people living on a generation starship, but who do not realise their real situation, to a new level. Where Heinlein's protagonists were barely aware that they were on a spaceship at all, Aldiss's know that they are on a long journey but very little else, and the fact that they have partial knowledge allows Aldiss to partially misdirect us so that the eventual conceptual breakthrough is all the more dramatic.[return][return]The gender perspective of the book is a little regrettable. The book starts with an argument between Roy Complain, the protagonist, and his lover; their relationship is pretty abusive, and when she is kidnapped we never hear of her again. We do a little better with Roy's other lover, Vyann, who he first encounters as a security official from a more socially advanced group. I feel she rather loses agency as their relationship prospers and Roy gets to save her once of twice, but she does get the last word in the book:[return][return] Now they'll have no alternative but to take us back to Earth,' Vyann said in a tiny voice. She looked at Complain; she tried, woman-like, to guess at all the new interests that awaited them. She tried to guess at the exquisite pressures which would attend the adjustment of every ship-dweller to the sublimities of Earth. It was as if everyone was about to be born, she thought, smiling into Complain's awakened face. He was her sort; neither of them had ever been really sure of what they wanted: so they would be most likely to find it.[return]Though that "woman-like" is rather jarring.[return]I was surprised to realise that there is quite a strong decolonisation metaphor at the core of the story. Complain and his fellow inhabitants of the ship turn out to have been denied agency by the rest of humanity, treated as subhumans - smaller, smellier and with much shorter lifespans - and in his climactic debate with Complain, the Earth agent Fermour actually invokes Albert Schweitzer as a good example. The ensuing conflict changed Complain's world forever, and while it may not necessarily be for the better, it is from a position of superior understanding.[return][return]A final thought, on religion: the belief system of the starship turns out to be a set of completely invented and manipulated lies, but the priest Marapper is sincere. He also appears to die and return to life.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Aldiss is seriously old-school sci-fi. In Non-Stop he’s tackling one of the classic science fiction problems: interstellar travel. With travel between the stars you can have faster-than-light ships with hyper/warp-drives like Star Wars and Star Trek, or wormholes like the movie Interstellar. If we choose to exist in a world without FTL travel, then how do you get between the stars? In Six Wakes author Mur Lafferty proposes ships manned by clones that live for a generation then wake up a new version of themselves. Or you can put all humans to sleep and have robots drive the ship.
In Non-Stop, written in 1958, Brian Aldiss proposes a generational starship. This is one where humans are born and die on the ship, not reaching its destination for hundreds of years and a dozen generations. In a self-sustaining, self-contained starship the only constraints are time, space, and sanity. What happens if, several generations in, order and civility break down? What if the passengers onboard this immersive and self-sustaining ship forget that they are on a ship at all? Could those people, now trapped in ignorance, make their way home?
While the plot is interesting and fun, the writing style reminds me of early 20th century pulp like A Princess of Mars. The characters remain shallow and undeveloped, occasionally wrecked by displays of emotion for one reason or another, but none of them feel like real people at any point. While I’m sure influential and important in it’s time, this novel has not held up well.
In Non-Stop, written in 1958, Brian Aldiss proposes a generational starship. This is one where humans are born and die on the ship, not reaching its destination for hundreds of years and a dozen generations. In a self-sustaining, self-contained starship the only constraints are time, space, and sanity. What happens if, several generations in, order and civility break down? What if the passengers onboard this immersive and self-sustaining ship forget that they are on a ship at all? Could those people, now trapped in ignorance, make their way home?
While the plot is interesting and fun, the writing style reminds me of early 20th century pulp like A Princess of Mars. The characters remain shallow and undeveloped, occasionally wrecked by displays of emotion for one reason or another, but none of them feel like real people at any point. While I’m sure influential and important in it’s time, this novel has not held up well.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
OK, in the past few years no other book made me so angry or pissed me off as this one...after being on shelf for so long, I finally started with reading and right on the beginning I was disappointed because it was like reading sentences of some 10 year old kid, writing report in elementary school...not only once I forced myself to go back few pages in the search of understanding of Aldiss writing, because it was uber confusing...and then after finally being cached by the action, end comes...just like that everything is over, finished, the end...my opinion is that book has brilliant concept and it would be fantastic piece of SF, but lacking more courage and a lot more pages for developing proper action, it is just another mediocre SF piece of literature
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is the fourth novel I’ve read by Aldiss, and one I was drawn to as it’s the first he had published.
As always with Aldiss, the world building is exceptional. He can craft worlds and environments which are exciting and feel unique. This time, the story is interesting because the characters don’t know exactly where they are, or exactly how came to be here. For the most part, they live a life prescribed, not necessarily controlled, but one that doesn’t have a clear origin or reason. They’re indoors, plants roam between decks, rooms and rooms of cold metal remain unexplored, enemies could lurk at any turn abs an eccentric priest has a plan for escape. I don’t want to say too much more about the plot, as to avoid spoilers, but there are some good twists in this one.
This being said, this isn’t my favourite of Aldiss’s, that place is still held by Hothouse or Greybeard. Unfortunately, as with Cryptozoic!, I had an issue with some of the characters. I don’t know if it’s a “time of writing” issue (I don’t think it is), but Aldiss writes women oddly, in my opinion. His female characters aren’t always believable and lack a bit of depth. In this case, the female characters are few, which in itself isn’t necessarily an issue, but they’re a bit wishy-washy (technical literary term, lol). They are so ridiculously quick to fall in love and fall in love hard. There isn’t any build up it just happens, and I don’t buy it. The ending also felt rushed to me, but I don’t think it ruined the story.
Anyway, I still really enjoyed this read and I’ll keep reading Aldiss. I feel like I know where I stand with this writer, what I do and don’t like about their writing, which is good, right?
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated