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foggy_rosamund 's review for:
The Man Who Fell to Earth
by Walter Tevis
Published in 1963, and set in an imagined 1980s, this is approachable, engaging sci-fi, that is elevated to brilliance by Tevis's sense of pathos and understanding of character. Newton arrives in Kentucky on a spacecraft: tall and impossibly fine-boned, he stands out from humans, but no one realises he's an alien. He's taught himself about human culture by watching TV, and he's able to establish a multi-million dollar business by releasing some of his planet's advanced technologies onto the Earth's market. He comes from a world -- it may be Mars -- which has been ravaged by war and drought, and he is desperate to save his people and to save the Earth from itself. For humanity, too, is on the brink of destroying itself.
Though the imminent destruction in the book is related to the Cold War, the image of humanity on the brink of self-destruction feels all-too-relevant now. Whether it's by nuclear war or climate change, human civilization has never felt more unstable, and Tevis captures that terror and the apathy it produces. The humans in The Man Who Fell to Earth are intelligent, harassed, not unkind, and living lives of quiet despair. Almost everyone is an alcoholic. Being drunk is the only possible response to the pressures of the world and its inevitable path towards destruction. Newton, at first, is shocked by humans, and gradually comes to understand them, getting to the point where he is no different from them. In some ways, this book is rather dated, particularly as there are almost no women in it, and no characters of colour, but Tevis's worldview, in his treatment of men and aliens, feels very open and humane. Some of the technology is laughable now, but that's never mattered to me in sci-fi.
It's not a spoiler to say that this book ends with tragedy, because it's the tragedy that makes the narrative particularly moving and memorable. The Man Who Fell to Earth is a study of despair, and how we humans respond to the unbearable pressures around us, and asks what civilization is, and whether it's possible to have a civilized society. It's also an intimate portrait of despair, betrayal, and loss. I found it very moving, and at times shocking: it grabbed me and wouldn't let me go.
Though the imminent destruction in the book is related to the Cold War, the image of humanity on the brink of self-destruction feels all-too-relevant now. Whether it's by nuclear war or climate change, human civilization has never felt more unstable, and Tevis captures that terror and the apathy it produces. The humans in The Man Who Fell to Earth are intelligent, harassed, not unkind, and living lives of quiet despair. Almost everyone is an alcoholic. Being drunk is the only possible response to the pressures of the world and its inevitable path towards destruction. Newton, at first, is shocked by humans, and gradually comes to understand them, getting to the point where he is no different from them. In some ways, this book is rather dated, particularly as there are almost no women in it, and no characters of colour, but Tevis's worldview, in his treatment of men and aliens, feels very open and humane. Some of the technology is laughable now, but that's never mattered to me in sci-fi.
It's not a spoiler to say that this book ends with tragedy, because it's the tragedy that makes the narrative particularly moving and memorable. The Man Who Fell to Earth is a study of despair, and how we humans respond to the unbearable pressures around us, and asks what civilization is, and whether it's possible to have a civilized society. It's also an intimate portrait of despair, betrayal, and loss. I found it very moving, and at times shocking: it grabbed me and wouldn't let me go.