THE COSMIC RAPE by Theodore sturgeon

Finished Sa 7/25/20

This is one of my ancient paperbacks that I found on the shelves. No note on the flyleaf when I got it or if I read it. The book was published in 1958.

An interesting premise and there are many compelling passages and sections, but overall it lacks depth.

PREMISE:

A spore, 'THE MEDUSA' is traveling through space searching for sentient beings so that they can absorb it into 'the hive'. The spore is dropped to Earth and travels through the food chain until it reaches an alcoholic homeless person, Dan Gurlick. He is asked by this higher entity to 'find out how humans can reconnect' like they were before. In other words, humanity was intended to be live a hive of bees or a colony of ants and Dan Gurlick will become 'the host'.

As this process begins, the humans learn to 'grok' together and repel the alien plan.  Nothing in the novel sheds light on how this defense happened.  

Numerous characters are introduced that are not really connected to the overall story. 

Interesting Points:

(After human consciousness is re-united)

"Now children would never again wonder if anyone cared, or grow up thinking that to be loved is a privilege. It's a privilege only to adults. To any child it's a basic right, which if denied dooms the child to a lifetime of seeking it and an inability to accept anything but child-style love. The way things were now, never again would a child be afraid of growing up, or hover anxiously near half-empty coffers so very easy to fill."  

Chapter 26 is a short chapter that very effectively describes how a human 'united mind' would be. It makes it sound pretty fantastic. 

The ideas of the novel are interesting and compelling, yet as a novel, it doesn't quite gel. 

The novel's page at Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cosmic_Rape

A reader's observations about the book at Amazon:

"Theodore Sturgeon's The Cosmic Rape (1958) is an unusual and refreshing take on the alien invasion trope -- especially for a 1950s novel. Unlike many other reviewers, I found that the mechanics of the work (innumerable characters, short length, and ramshackle structure) do not detract from the overall result. Sturgeon's prose is, as always, admirable. Although the novel can feel like an outline rather than a fully fleshed out novel like his earlier masterpiece of the genre, More than Human (1953), the end result is a poignant exploration of collective conscious/individuality.

Brief Plot Summary (limited spoilers)

Gurlick, an alcoholic homeless man, accidentally ingests a seed of the Medusa (in a half-eaten hamburger found in a trashcan). However, the Medusa does not immediately transform him. Instead, the Medusa's ability to convey/carry it's ultimate goal (to create a hive-mind) is restrained by the paltry abilities of Gurlick's intellect. Most importantly, the Medusa is baffled by humanity which has achieved so much individually without a hive-mind. The individuality of humanity (despite wars, struggle, isolation) is its most notable and positive quality. The alien believes that humanity once had a hive-mind that fractured overtime.

Thus the unusual galaxy spanning entity has Gurlick discover how to "put people's brains back together again." The alien's reward plays into Gurlick's base desires -- he can break whatever he wants. The chapters containing Gurlick's story are the most numerous.

Other secondary characters include Dimity Carmichael who is aroused by the sexual sufferings of others (in this case an abused co-worker). A perpetually frightened boy name Henry who is unable to differentiate between happiness and punishment because his abusive father begins all his punishments with smiles. And Mbala (clearly Sturgeon had just read Achebe's Things Fall Apart) whose manhood is challenged by a yam thief. Although there are numerous other side jaunts/characters everything wraps up in a relatively cohesive whole at the end.

Final Thoughts

The structure of Sturgeon's work can be quite frustrating. Sturgeon's preference for the short story form means that each character hardly receives more than one or two short chapters. Each story is linked thematically by a scene of guilt, fear, anger... The event causing the emotion-often characterized by miscommunication between individuals-serves to isolates the character from others. This isolation/miscommunication is paired with the arrival of the Medusa which seeks to create a human hivemind which it will be able to control.

For a novel barely clocking in at 160 pages and comprised of numerous small chunks, Sturgeon manages to ask and ruminate on some very pertinent themes. The Cosmic Rape is in no way a masterpiece of the caliber of More than Human but deserves to be read by all fans of Theodore Sturgeon and the genre. This is a fascinating re-invention of the alien invasion trope."

My observation-  "Nice try, but no cigar. "

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving

Finished Su 7/21/20

I loved the book and want to see the movie and read more by Irving.

This is one of my ancient paperbacks and there was no note on the flyleaf if and when I had read it.

I picked it up on the shelf when I read a review that said Elizabeth Berg was a similar writer. Somewhat true, yet her writing doesn't quite reach the sublime level of Irving.

I watched a YouTube video where Irving was interviewed on the 40th anniversary of the book's publication. Also, I saw a sixty minute documentary on Amazon Prime where Irving talks about his approach to the writing craft. 

It's a kind of satire of a war between the sexes or, more accurately, 'the polarization of the sexes'. Jenny Garp is killed by a man and Garp is killed by a woman. I saw an interview with Irving on the 40th anniversary of the release of 'THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP' and he was surprised had how little progress has been made in forty years. 

The definition of a 'picaresque novel'. This class of novel depicts the adventures of a roguish, but appealing hero. 

The book is jam-packed with interesting and crazy characters. 

John Irving studied under Kurt Vonnegut at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. 

Jenny (Fields) Garp's novel is called 'A SEXUAL SUSPECT'. She is 'suspect' because she shuns the traditional role of a woman. She 'uses' a wounded soldier to impregnate herself with Garp. She doesn't feel the need of a husband. 

Garp's name is 'T.S. Garp'. The two initials stand for 'Technical Sargent'. That was his soldier's rank in the service. 

Roberta (Robert) Muldoon is a central character. 'Old 90 from the Philadelphia Eagles'. This character is Irving's favorite and was intended to be the 'most grounded'. He is also Garp's closest friend. 

After Garp dies the book goes on for twenty pages. No matter who dies, life goes on...largely unaffected. 

The book is also about a father's fears. How can he keep all of his friends and family away from 'The Under Toad'?

Ellen Jamesians, a group of women named after an eleven-year-old girl whose tongue was cut off by her rapists to silence her. The rapist apparently 'forgot' that Ellen could still write to describe her attackers. The members of the group cut off their own tongues in solidarity with the girl (the girl herself opposes this tongue cutting).

Garp vehemently disagrees with this group for disfiguring themselves. Because of this he is vilified as an anti-feminist and a hater of women.  

Many attributes of Garp are shared by the author. Irving really was an English teacher and a wrestling coach with young children when he wrote the book. Also, just as Garp had a couple of unpopular novels before his 'break through', so did John Irving. 

The book's page at Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_According_to_Garp

O-ZONE by Paul Theroux

Finished Th 7/8/20

This is an old hardback from my collection. There is no note on the flyleaf, but I'm sure that I've at least read most of this before. 

Paul Theroux is generally known for his travel books and this is one of his novels.

I almost stopped reading,  but I think that this book is very important especially today. The gap between the rich and the poor is getting worse and the plot in this book could be America's future.

The book was released in 1986 and the dystopic future that the book documents is probably about 2020 to 2030. 

Hooper and Hardy Allbright- Two brothers who are 'owners'. These are the licensed, upper-class members of America. Both are heirs to the Allbright fortune. It was a chain of clothing stores that went 'mail order' and as society broke down, more people ordered by mail (just like today during the pandemic).

Chemically induced 'comas' are acceptable ways to enjoy a weekend.

A new way for gangs to intimidate. They surround their victim in a 'swarm' and then scream at the top of their lungs. 

***A few of the characters begin to realize that essential freedoms have been given up due to the harsh security measures. Aliens are not sub-human and by treating them as harmful, the entire society is hampered by needless checks and counter-checks by police and private security firms. 

 

Moura is Hardy's wife- She has a son, Fisher (Fizzy), by her visit to a fertility clinic ('contact clinic'- actually this place is closer to legalized prostitution). The clients are masked (masks play a key role in the novel. They are used as a fashion statement and a protection against disease...just like in today's world of the pandemic). In order to insure her pregnancy she visited the clinic many times over a couple of months and formed a kind of 'love relationship' with the donor. 

The search for 'her donor' is a big sub-plot within the novel. 

O-ZONE is an area of the United States near the Ozarks in Missouri. A radioactive spill caused this entire area to be abandoned...The Outside Zone. 

The novel begins with a trip to the O-Zone by a group of wealthy 'owners' from NYC. They live in a 'gated' hi-rise called Cold Harbor. They have been told that this zone is uninhabited, but people live there. 

Aliens are people that are undocumented. They are described as being sub-human and I almost believed that they were from another planet. However, the denigration of these people is almost like the way people talk of 'foreigners' today. 

By the end of the novel we learn that a whole conservative section of the country lives in these outer zones. They almost have a kind of 'Andy of Mayberry' existence. This is very appealing some of the characters.

***Fisher is a repellent character, but I feel that he is a portrayal of someone 'on the spectrum'. He seems very intelligent, but completely devoid of social skills. He is an excellent pilot and very familiar with all things mechanical. 

Murdick is one of the rich owners. He is very right-wing and violent. He is rich enough to buy almost any form or weapon or transport vehicle. 

He is involved with a group of fanatics called 'Godseye'. These people murder undocumented aliens on sight. They patrol the edges of the settled areas and kill at random. They believe that they are protecting the country. 

Hopper is obsessed with a native girl called Bligh. She runs with a pack of aliens and Hooper kidnaps her. And the aliens take Fisher as a way of getting her back. 

Under Fisher's guidance the group travels to New York to make the exchange. Fisher grows during his time with the aliens. They almost become friends and it's the first time that Fizzy has dealt with people in a positive manner.  

***Hardy Allbright works for a company that attempts to change weather plans to create crops and temperate conditions. It is a way for oil companies to keep the price of oil up. This company plants a huge mountain of oil that makes the surface temperature warmer and this attracts clouds and causes rain. Whole areas of the world are transformed. He is hoping that he can accomplish this in the Ozark area. 

From Publishers Weekly:

"Theroux's view of humanity is becoming increasingly bleak even as he stretches his reach with this novel that brilliantly depicts the world as it may become. In the not-too-distant future, America has turned into a police state and a rigidly class-obsessed, terrifyingly racist society. On the verge of anarchy, the country is fragmented into many chaotic parts. The Owners, the remnant elite who live in armed enclaves protected by fearsome security forces, feel menaced by aliensalso called Roaches, Trolls, Skells, Starkiesall those who lead desperate lives of poverty and despair. A group of eight Owners, including a near-genius adolescent, seek an adventurous thrill in a rocket trip to the forbidden area of the O-Zone, formerly the Ozarks, which has been sealed off following massive nuclear contamination. The experience changes all of them, and a second, secret voyage there has terrifying consequences. Theroux has vizualized every detail of his desolate, all-too-plausible world. His scathing social commentary is powerful and convincing; his characters, while too unappealing to win the readers' sympathy, etch themselves in the mind. This highly literate science fiction is not a pleasant book to read, but it is a significant contribution to the literature of what may be a preapocalyptic world."

A link to an excellent critique of the book:

http://movies2.nytimes.com/books/97/06/08/reviews/theroux-ozone.html

Although I had trouble keeping my interest up, I finished the novel and realized that it could be viewed as 'important' especially during the real America of 2020. 

STRAIGHT WHISKY: A LIVING HISTORY OF SEX, DRUGS, AND ROCK 'N ' ROLL ON THE SUNSET STRIP by Erik Quisling & Austin Williams

Finished Fr 6/26/20

This is one of my old hardbacks and according to the flyleaf I bought the book at E bay on the Internet and finished the book the first time on We 9/29/04.

The book deals with the birth of Rock'n' Roll clubs on the Sunset Strip.

From the book's page at Amazon:

"Straight Whisky is the first book to chronicle all the music, magic and mayhem of the Sunset Strip. Includes rare photos and original interviews."

During the early part of the 20th century movie stars frequented the bars and restaurants along the strip. There was no sympathy for the 'wild and woolly' rock and rollers and they were allowed into these more staid clubs. 

Lou Adler and John Phillips (MAMAS AND PAPAS) partnered with a guy named Henry Valentine to make a bar restaurant to cater to the needs of the new stars of the Rock World. Mario Maglieri was added to run the establishment on a day to day basis. This man had ties to the Chicago mafia.

The 'Whiskey A Go Go' was the place. This is where the concept of 'Go Go Dancing' with women in cages on stage was developed. 

Then came The Rainbow, Over The Rainbow, The Troubadour, The Roxy, The Viper Room, The Masque, El Cid.

***In the late seventies and early eighties the VCR Revolution greatly enabled the popularity of Porn-On-Demand and it went through the roof. Then the porn stars began to party with the rock crowd on the strip. Then the parties went into cosmic overdrive. 

Strange vignettes about the crazy stuff that went on at the clubs. 

-Bowie got punched out by a crazed guy wearing a karate outfit

-The Doors are banned from The Whisky

-Steve Marriott might have started the place on fire. And years later he dies in a fire

-THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW premieres at The Whisky. The film failed until it was released and shown after midnight and then it became wildly famous.

-Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison appear to be lovers, and then she brains him with a whisky bottle.

Not a very deep book, but filled with anecdotes. I can read stuff like this all day long.

WHEN GOD WAS A RABBIT by Sarah Winman

Finished Mo 6/22/20

This is one of my ancient trade paperbacks that I bought on Amazon and received on Mo 11/4/13. No note on the flyleaf that I had read it, but parts of the novel were familiar.

I really liked the book because it is chock full of colorful characters and odd situations. 

The first part of the novel is set in Cornwall, England. The rural southwestern county of Great Britain. 

Elly is the protagonist. Her brother, Joe is five years older than her and he has been protective all his life. He has been gay since he was a very small child. 

Charlie was Joe's childhood friend. Charlie's father was a diplomat and when Charlie's family left Cornwall Charlie is held hostage by radicals. His ear is cutoff and he is held for ransom. No one sees Charlie again until they are adults. 

The second part of the novel occurs twenty years later so that you see the young children as adults. 

Elly's father was an avid lottery ticket buyer and when he finally wins he feels completely unworthy of his luck. They make the home into a bed and breakfast and it attracts an odd group of people. 

Elly's parents marriage is probably a sham. Her father's sister Nancy is a gay actress. She was in love with Elly's mother and she is the one that initiated the 'attraction' between Elly's parents. 

Arthur is an older man who is into yoga and knows the moment of his death. He is hit on the head by a coconut although he was supposed to have run out of his money at the same time that he runs out of money. 

Fro the New York Times review:

"“If this God couldn’t love me,” she resolves, “then it was clear I’d need to find another one that could.” This new divine entity is encountered some time later, after she tells her brother that she’s been sexually abused by their neighbor, Mr. Golan. “I’ll get you a proper friend,” her brother declares, as he holds her “in the darkness, as defiant as granite.” The new friend Joe finds for his sister turns out to be a Belgian hare, a pet she names “God,” who sometimes talks to her. Although Joe swears never to reveal Elly’s dark secret about their neighbor, it turns out to be mere prelude to total eclipse: the mentally disturbed Mr. Golan (who has lied about being a Holocaust survivor) commits suicide."

From Goodreads:

"Spanning four decades, from 1968 onwards, this is the story of a fabulous but flawed family and the slew of ordinary and extraordinary incidents that shape their everyday lives. It is a story about childhood and growing up, loss of innocence, eccentricity, familial ties and friendships, love and life. Stripped down to its bare bones, it’s about the unbreakable bond between a brother and sister."

THE FOURTH DEADLY SIN by Lawrence Sanders

Finished We 6/17/20

This is one of my ancient paperbacks that I have apparently never read. The book was released in 1985.

THE FOURTH DEADLY SIN:

Greed (Latin: avaritia), also known as avarice, cupidity, or covetousness, is, like lust and gluttony, a sin of desire.

PREMISE: (From the back of the book). "A celebrated New York psychiatrist- considered a saint by patients and colleagues is brutally beaten to death. There are no leads, no apparent motives, and six suspects- the doctor's own patients."

Generally I dislike when a writer throws out a 'bunch of suspects' and the reader is left to 'figure it out'. My feeling is that the writer will not allow the reader to know the culprit unless he is a bad writer.

Diane Ellerbee, the wife of the psychiatrist, Simon Ellerbee, is the killer. She is a beautiful woman and could not accept the fact that her husband of many years had fallen in love with a dowdy woman who was one of his patients. And, he wanted a divorce so that he could marry this woman. Diane felt that this would open her up to public ridicule and this would be unthinkable.   

I suppose there was a red flag because his wife is the one who gives the police the list of possible suspects. She would obviously use this list to maximize misdirection. 

Edward X. Delaney is a retired member of the police and he is brought back to oversee the murder investigation because the death of Simon Ellerbee was a murder that must be solved. He was very popular, well-liked, and influential. 

Within fifty pages of the ending, Delaney solves the case, and I thought that maybe this was a red herring, but this turned out to be the truth. I was waiting for a surprise ending, but this was not the case.  

From the book's page at Amazon:

"Lawrence Sanders (1920–1998) was the New York Times bestselling author of more than forty mystery and suspense novels including the Edward X. Delaney, Archy McNally, and Timothy Cone series, as well as the acclaimed Commandment books. The Anderson Tapes received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for best first novel."

PROJECT POPE by Clifford D. Simak

Finished Sa 6/13/20

This is one of my ancient paperbacks that I had never read.

A fantastic concept and you could really tell that Simak had a background in newspapers. His writing style was clear and easy to understand. 

PREMISE:

For over a thousand years on a planet far away from Earth, robots and humans had been collaborating to located a 'one true faith' loosely based on Catholicism. 

Humans called 'Searchers' are used to 'visit' different dimensions. An old woman named Mary claims that she has visited 'Heaven'. She goes back for another visit and is expelled from Heaven. Later it's determined that it was not the real Heaven. 

This 'area' of the galaxy was populated by very ancient philosopher beings. They were in the forms of 'bubbles' and 'haystacks'. 

This is where the novel broke down for me. These beings were just too weird. The novel could have really taken a philosophical turn, but instead it became kind of clownish. 

From the book's page at Amazon:

"Robot believers at the far end of the galaxy endeavor to create a true religion, but their efforts could be shattered by a shocking revelation. Far in the future, on the remote planet End of Nothing, sentient robots are engaged in a remarkable enterprise. They call their project Vatican-17: an endeavor to create a truly universal religion presided over by a pope, whose extreme godliness and infallible artificial intelligence are fed by telepathic human Listeners who psychically delve into the mysteries of the universe. But the great and holy mission could be compromised by one shocking revelation that threatens to inspire serious crises of faith among the spiritual, truth-seeking robotic acolytes while tearing them into warring religious factions; for the Listener Mary is claiming that she has just discovered Heaven.

There are those among the Clifford D. Simak faithful who consider Project Pope his masterpiece. But whether the crowning literary achievement of a multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning science-fiction Grand Master or merely another brilliant novel of speculative fiction to stand among his many, Simak's breathtaking search for God in the machine ingeniously blends science and spirituality in a truly miraculous way that few science fiction writers, if any, have been able to accomplish."

Random comments from Goodreads:

"Not sure why it happens that the man (Dr. Jason) Tennyson and the woman Jill (Roberts, journalist) arrived on this planet just as the robots' Search for Knowledge and for a constructed Faith also arrived. But so it did, and so we learn about these robots who are interested in humans and in relitions, and about humans, and about a bunch of other truly alien aliens."

"Tennyson is running from people, so he stows away on a ship going to a planet called The End of Nowhere. Arriving there with another passenger, a reporter, he settles down in a society called Vatican. The planet was built by human made robots and loosely based on the Catholic system. When a human "listener" thinks she has found heaven, the robots have to determine its validity and the split between factions begins to escalate. Meanwhile, after befriending a being called The Whisperer, he and the woman, Jill travel to strange new worlds of equation beings and the place that turns out NOT to be Heaven."

"Running from the middle of nowhere (the feudal planet Gutshot) after his patron dies and he’s afraid he’s going to be forced to take the fall for it, Dr. Jason Tennyson takes the first ship out and ends up at the end of nowhere—the planet End of Nothing.

End of Nothing has one settlement: Vatican, a robot project to discover the one true faith, preferably one that will include robots.

This is a typically nice Simak story, with friendly characters, who despite being friendly all have different motivations that cause conflict. Stories like this or Way Station are a refreshing change of pace. There are also some neat ideas here. Just as humans find it difficult to lose a reverence for their own hypothetical creator, robots find it difficult to lose their reverence for their visible creator: mankind. That’s one of the conflicts on End of Nothing, that some robots came to the planet, having been created by humans, and some were created later by the human-created robots.

Into all of this, one of the human researchers claims to have discovered heaven—the real deal, with golden stairs, ivory towers, and flying angels. A human heaven. And all the conflicts come out into the open."

I really liked Simak's writing style and would read more by this author.