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A review by nelsonminar
They'd Rather Be Right by Mark Clifton
2.0
What a mess of a novel. Just really not good. Confusing plot, terrible characters, rampant sexism. There's some good ideas but all in all this is really not a good book. It's not much fun talking about bad writing so let me highlight the good ideas.
Bossy, the first truly thinking computer, could be a fascinating concept. The book even comes so close to a singularity plot when Bossy starts manipulating people to make copies of her. In 1955! But instead the computer is just seen as a particularly powerful tool, one used for a form of psychoanalysis of all things. Particularly weird the authors here gave her gender but no personality. I think in a modern novel Bossy would have been a character.
I liked the book's inclusion of telepathy; I gather that was a Clifton plot signature. Also interesting was the idea that psychoanalysis could somehow reverse aging and lead to superpowers. The emphasis on Skid Row characters was fresh, too, although then the book gets grossly sexist by treating Mabel (the one female character) completely as an object when she could have been the most interesting part of the narrative.
I read this because it was the 1955 Hugo novel winner. I wasn't aware of its reputation as "worst Hugo winner evar". In a year that could have considered Fellowship of the Ring or I am Legend for an award... what a weird result. For some perspective on that: https://www.tor.com/2010/10/31/hugo-nominees-1955/
Bossy, the first truly thinking computer, could be a fascinating concept. The book even comes so close to a singularity plot when Bossy starts manipulating people to make copies of her. In 1955! But instead the computer is just seen as a particularly powerful tool, one used for a form of psychoanalysis of all things. Particularly weird the authors here gave her gender but no personality. I think in a modern novel Bossy would have been a character.
I liked the book's inclusion of telepathy; I gather that was a Clifton plot signature. Also interesting was the idea that psychoanalysis could somehow reverse aging and lead to superpowers. The emphasis on Skid Row characters was fresh, too, although then the book gets grossly sexist by treating Mabel (the one female character) completely as an object when she could have been the most interesting part of the narrative.
I read this because it was the 1955 Hugo novel winner. I wasn't aware of its reputation as "worst Hugo winner evar". In a year that could have considered Fellowship of the Ring or I am Legend for an award... what a weird result. For some perspective on that: https://www.tor.com/2010/10/31/hugo-nominees-1955/