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.