The first book on the list that I read, one down, 51 to go!
I actually read this book called "Fantastic Voyage" without even noticing that it was on the list, and I was surprised to find it on the list after finishing it
I enjoyed the book, though it seemed to lack much back-story.
The book was of the sci-fi genre, and took place on a futuristic Earth, there were, to my mild disappointment hover cars, exceptionally precise robots, really fast jet planes, all the regular cliches of sci-fi, but oh well, the author of this book, Issac Asimov, basically pioneered Sci-Fi (along with Ray Bradbury) so I suppose he created these things that other authors made into cliches
Cliches aside, this version of Earth had what seemed to be two large nations us and them, no real names were given, but it was established that we disliked them and they disliked us and we had been at a stalemate in the war for a long time, so the cliches continue, but without even the satisfaction of having names to put to the sides... this made me grit my teeth a little, but I read on
Now there is this scientist named Benes who supposedly has defected from the Other side and is coming to us with knowledge that will make us win the war
the Other side is obviously angry about this, and worried that Our side will win the war with this knowledge so they try to assassinate Benes
the attempt ultimately fails, but it creates a blood clot in Benes' brain that regular surgery can't remove and that will eventually kill him
So in desperation Our side gets laser, a few crew members and a submarine and miniaturizes them to be injected into Benes' bloodstream to remove the clot themselves
The story is all about their voyage through his body, which turns out to be much longer than planned, and it is also about a race against the 60 minute time limit before they de-miniaturize and kill Benes regardless of the success of the surgery
I won't say more about the story, some of you may not have read it yet and I despise spoilers
Now overall I liked the book, but would I recommend it? I'm going to restrain judgement here, if you like sci-fi and need a book to read this one isn't bad, but if you are a non sci-fi person looking for your first sci-fi book to give a shot, this is not the book for you
I don't consider this one a classic, but others do, and the opinion of one reader is outweighed by the opinions of many.
anyways the book was a good read, nothing special, but it was good enough to be worth my time
until next time folks!
The grammar here is atrocious! In the future, make sure you pay more attention. As this assignment is new, I'll let it slide this time. I expect that as time goes on these blogs will get better.
ReplyDeleteLess book report, more reflection is also expected for the future. Those are just points to keep in mind.
Now...
You recognize that Asimov is a pioneer in science fiction so all the points you make on cliches are invalid. Why do you think the points you mention became cliche? What is the draw to a subsequent writer to use "hover cars" and "exceptionally precise robots"?
You identify with one side over the other. How does Asimov lead you to favor one side? What would be the benefit or detriment of identifying with the other side? Do you think it is feasible that the outcome of a war hinge on one man? How does the war in the book relate to any wars the U.S. is/was a part?
BTW, when I returned this book to the library the young girl working there said it's one of her favorites and was glad to see it is being checked out! What points of the book do you think would inspire someone to be so excited as to tell a complete stranger hoe much she loved it?
Well I believe the point about cliches is not invalid, though I recognize that Asimov created those cliches and thus they are not cliches in a technical sense they still SEEM like cliches to me, the reader, since I have read so many similar books with those cliches in them.
ReplyDeleteAs for what the draw to use those cliches is, I imagine that early on the genre was so new that to come up with anything else would require a lot of effort. Then later on when the genre was established and had become popular I think that there would be many second-rate authors who just weren't good enough to come up with anything new.
Now on to the point about identifying with one side over the other. Asimov leads me to favor one side over the other by giving absolutely no information about the other side, and only minimal information about the side he wants you to identify with. The result is having no choice in the matter of what side to pick. You can only side with the characters in the story themselves, and as a result the side that they side with is the one the reader sides with as well
Personally I prefer books that give background to both sides and give you an option of who to side with, it creates more suspense if the characters work for the side you feel is in the wrong, you want the characters to succeed, but you also want the side you picked to come out on top.
Your next question was about the feasibility of a war hinging on one man. I think that a war between two halves of a world being ended by one man is a tad unrealistic, however I'm sure that if the president were to fire all our nuclear missiles at an enemy nation that the war would reach a climax very quickly.
As for how the war in the book relates to actual wars... I find it difficult to say if I can accurately compare them. I'd say the closest resemblance would be the cold war, since that was simply a race to prove one country was bigger and better than the other, but was not actually violent. This is similar to the war in the book, which is at a stalemate since neither side has the technology to win the war before the other side launches their nukes.
Now for your final question, what points of the book would inspire someone to be so excited about this book as the young girl you met. I am unsure about this, I WOULD say it was the constant mystery of who the traitor in the crew might be, but the culprit was so dreadfully obvious to me that I can't honestly say that this aspect of the book would excite someone to that level.
I am unsure about what else could be the cause of such excitement. Overall I didn't view the book as anything out of the ordinary, as I stated before. My guess is that in this case "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder," I have read so many books of this quality that it doesn't really appeal to me all that much. However to that young girl it may have been one of the best things she has ever read. Since the book was not bad by any means this is the conclusion that I will settle with. If you want the actual reason you should ask the young girl yourself, since I can't truly speak for another about their experience with a book.