{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/sflovers/108", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "sflovers", "thread": { "id": 108, "subject": "Tiny reviews of Gene Wolfe novels", "messages": 2, "voices": 2, "first": "1993-01-16T20:01:39+00:00", "last": "1993-01-18T23:20:40+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Dan Rabin", "address": "rabin at cs.yale.edu" }, "date": "1993-01-16T20:01:39+00:00", "subject": "Tiny reviews of Gene Wolfe novels", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Everybody seems to be recommending _The Book of the New Sun_ as *the*\nseries of novels by Gene Wolfe to read first. Yes, they are the best, and\n_The Fifth Head of Cerberus_ is almost as good, but what about Wolfe's\nother novels? Here follow some short reviews of them, ordered from most\nrecommended to least. I omit the _Soldier_ series, which other posts have\naddressed. I also omit _Peace_, which I have not yet read, and _Operation\nAres_, which I have not yet obtained.\n\n_There Are Doors_\n\n The reader has a problem here. The narrative is in the third person,\n restricted to the point of view of the protagonist, who is obsessively\n in love with a woman from an alternate universe. He goes there to seek\n her. Or does he? We have reason to doubt...\n\n OK, I've told you too much already. It is characteristic of Wolfe that\n an abstract problem like the foregoing provides enough tension to hang a\n novel on. Of course, the alternate world itself is surreal and\n frightening. And of course there are surprises and brilliant ideas\n galore, and of course the book grabs your mind and firmly twists it.\n\n_Pandora, by Holly Hollander_\n\n This book is a refreshingly light murder mystery set in the present day\n in the far suburbs of Chicago (where, incidentally, Gene Wolfe resides).\n The narrator is a teen-age girl who seems to have personal relationships\n with most of the suspects. Thus all of Wolfe's authorial personality\n has to be expressed through the limited voice of a young person of a\n different generation and sex from the actual author. It doesn't work\n all of the time, but it's lots of fun to read. And short, too.\n\n_Castleview_\n\n Illinois, again. A small town. All Hell breaks loose. Literally.\n Once again, Wolfe concerns himself with points of contact between two\n worlds. The small-town characters (and even their pets) become elevated\n to a heroic plane again, quite literally. There is no lack of action\n and excitement. There *is* a lack of much indication of what the ****\n is going on, but if you've gotten this far down the list, you expect\n this from Wolfe.\n\n_Free Live Free_\n\n A very odd book indeed. Four down-and-out mutual strangers are thrown\n together in house that is then demolished. The old man disappears -\n what was his secret? Escapades ensue, ranging from comic to\n suspense-thriller fare. There are many chapters of these, and then there\n is a conclusion, which doesn't quite justify the journey and is drawn\n from yet a different genre.\n\nI hope these reviews prove useful to somebody. I'm writing this out of a\nsense of duty, because I found it difficult to make up my own mind two\nyears ago to explore Wolfe's works beyond _The Book of the New Sun_ and\n_The Urth of the New Sun_. There seems to be something compelling about\ncertain created universes that makes me reluctant to read other works by\nthe same author. Perhaps I fear that to do so would reveal that these\nworlds, which seem so real, are actually artifices.\n\nHow do other readers feel about, for example, \n\n* J.R.R. Tolkien's non-Middle-Earth works? (_Leaf by Niggle_, _Farmer Giles\n of Ham_, _Smith of Wootton Major_).\n\n* Frank Herbert's non-Dune books? (admittedly, there are other reasons to\n regret having read _The God Makers_)\n\nDan Rabin" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "K R Maxson", "address": "maxson at cerl.uiuc.edu" }, "date": "1993-01-18T23:20:40+00:00", "subject": "Re: Tiny reviews of Gene Wolfe novels", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I would take exception with those who say that Wolfe's New Sun material is\nhis best work, but to each his own. My personal favorite is _There Are\nDoors_, followed closely by _The Fifth Head of Cerberus_, \"The Death of\nDoctor Island\" (not to be confused with any of the other short stories\nabout death, doctors, and islands), and _Peace_.\n\nTo describe many of Gene Wolfe's novels before they are read is, in my\nopinion, to diminish them. I have never read a Wolfe piece that I\nregretted, so read all of them. His _Gene Wolfe's Book of Days_ and\n_Endangered Species_, both collections of short stories, are good places to\nstart.\n\nThe New Sun material is an attempt to weave a Wolfesque story into the\ntapestry of commercial fantasy and science fiction. I think it is done\nrather slickly, but that much of the current SF market would rather bypass\nbooks that aren't reassuringly shallow and don't spell out the point for\nthe reader by the end. (Personally I feel that if the writer can sum up\nhis or her thesis in a few sentences at the end of the book, the book\nshould have only been a few sentences and save the gloss. If a book\ndoesn't make me think at least as much as walking in the woods does, I'd\njust as soon walk in the woods.)\n\n_Castleview_ and the _Pandora_ I both found disappointing, although still\nenjoyable." } ] } ] }