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9th out of 32 books
—
39 voters
The Stars My Destination
In this pulse-quickening novel, Alfred Bester imagines a future in which people "jaunte" a thousand miles with a single thought, where the rich barricade themselves in labyrinths and protect themselves with radioactive hit men - and where an inarticulate outcast is the most valuable and dangerous man alive. The Stars My Destination is a classic of technological prophecy an...more
Paperback, 244 pages
Published
March 29th 2010
by Orion Publishing Group
(first published 1956)
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Gully Foyle is my name
Terra is my nation
Deep space is my dwelling place
The stars my destination
Sci-fi from its formative days is funny. Not funny ha-ha (not always anyway), but funny-weird…at least for me. I am often unable to get over the clunky writing and wispy plots despite the many cool ideas on display. Sometimes even a premise as cool as a galaxy-spanning empire held together by the prods and pokes of a few cognoscenti using an arcane sociological science still can’t make a plodding plot...more
Terra is my nation
Deep space is my dwelling place
The stars my destination
Sci-fi from its formative days is funny. Not funny ha-ha (not always anyway), but funny-weird…at least for me. I am often unable to get over the clunky writing and wispy plots despite the many cool ideas on display. Sometimes even a premise as cool as a galaxy-spanning empire held together by the prods and pokes of a few cognoscenti using an arcane sociological science still can’t make a plodding plot...more
Oct 10, 2011
mark monday
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
futuristik-classik,
rain-man-reviews
¡WOW BOB WOW!
GULLY FOYLE IS FAST AND FURIOUS!
A MADMAN OUT FOR VENGEANCE, LEFT FOR DEAD NOT ONCE - BUT TWICE!
HE IS HUMAN JUGGERNAUT, HE IS FORCE MAJEURE, HE IS BOTH ROCK AND HARD PLACE!
HE HURTLES THROUGH SPACE & TIME & MISADVENTURE, HE WEARS MANY FACES, A LOVER AND A RAPIST, THE MOST VIOLENT MAN IN THE ROOM, THE ANGRIEST BOY EVER, A HUMAN TIMEBOMB!
HIS FACIAL TATTOOS:
A TIGER, A TIGER!
BURNING BRIGHT!
THE ONLY GIRL FOR HIM - ANOTHER SOCIOPATH!
THE ONLY DESTINATION FOR HIM: THE STARS...more
GULLY FOYLE IS FAST AND FURIOUS!
A MADMAN OUT FOR VENGEANCE, LEFT FOR DEAD NOT ONCE - BUT TWICE!
HE IS HUMAN JUGGERNAUT, HE IS FORCE MAJEURE, HE IS BOTH ROCK AND HARD PLACE!
HE HURTLES THROUGH SPACE & TIME & MISADVENTURE, HE WEARS MANY FACES, A LOVER AND A RAPIST, THE MOST VIOLENT MAN IN THE ROOM, THE ANGRIEST BOY EVER, A HUMAN TIMEBOMB!
HIS FACIAL TATTOOS:
A TIGER, A TIGER!
BURNING BRIGHT!
THE ONLY GIRL FOR HIM - ANOTHER SOCIOPATH!
THE ONLY DESTINATION FOR HIM: THE STARS...more
33 likes · like · see review
Holy shit, The Stars My Destination is a revelation. How'd this novel get past me for so long?
I picture Alfred Bester as a mad scientist, surrounded by paper and typewriters, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, knocking this fucker out in the mid-50s. Bester writes likes he has to get all of his ideas out of his head RIGHT NOW, like they're going to explode if they stay in his brain too long. People who buy special diseases so they can go into the hospital and hang out with cute nurses? Neurol...more
I picture Alfred Bester as a mad scientist, surrounded by paper and typewriters, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, knocking this fucker out in the mid-50s. Bester writes likes he has to get all of his ideas out of his head RIGHT NOW, like they're going to explode if they stay in his brain too long. People who buy special diseases so they can go into the hospital and hang out with cute nurses? Neurol...more
21 likes · like · see review
I think that this book pretty much just blew my mind. I mean, am I crazy, or is this one of the most profound things ever written?
"You pigs, you. You goof like pigs, is all. You got the most in you and you use the least. You hear me, you? Got a million in you and spend pennies. Got a genius in you and think crazies. Got a heart in you and feel empties. All a you. Every you….”
Alright, you probably have to read the book to appreciate that, and you should! Can I entice you further by saying that an...more
"You pigs, you. You goof like pigs, is all. You got the most in you and you use the least. You hear me, you? Got a million in you and spend pennies. Got a genius in you and think crazies. Got a heart in you and feel empties. All a you. Every you….”
Alright, you probably have to read the book to appreciate that, and you should! Can I entice you further by saying that an...more
41 likes · like · see review
Gully Foyle is not a likeable man. But he is a compelling one. And in The Stars My Destination Alfred Bester wrote one of his best. (I do like The Demolished Man a little bit more.)
Stranded in space, running out of air, Gully Foyle watches as a ship that could save him passes him by. This changes something in him, turning him into a monster bent on revenge (comparisons to The Count of Monte Cristo do not go amiss.) Although he gains sophistication and self-control throughout the book, he remain...more
Stranded in space, running out of air, Gully Foyle watches as a ship that could save him passes him by. This changes something in him, turning him into a monster bent on revenge (comparisons to The Count of Monte Cristo do not go amiss.) Although he gains sophistication and self-control throughout the book, he remain...more
21 likes · like · see review
Aug 05, 2008
Adam
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
People who wonder what "classic" means
Fast and furious and blackly comedic similiar to early Vonnegut or Jack Vance mixed with the bitter surrealism of Finney's "Circus of Doctor Lao", this book predicted and influenced trends like the British New Wave,cyberpunk, and new space opera, but retains an oddball flavor of its own. Satirizing 50's anxieties like the red scare and the threat of nuclear annihilation(and unhindered corporate greed and warmongering)and featuring a psychopathic protagonist(loose in world that makes him look lik...more
Aug 07, 2010
Scott Sheaffer
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction,
classics
Gully Foyle is my name
And Terra is my nation.
Deep space is my dwelling place,
The stars my destination.
Gully Foyle is one of the most memorable anti-heroes of science fiction I have ever read. He is an unpleasant but strangely fascinating character that lies, betrays, rapes and brutalizes his way towards seeking revenge. Foyle starts out as a grunting animal that only adopts more sophisticated techniques when brute force fails to be effective in achieving revenge. Two steps forward and one step b...more
And Terra is my nation.
Deep space is my dwelling place,
The stars my destination.
Gully Foyle is one of the most memorable anti-heroes of science fiction I have ever read. He is an unpleasant but strangely fascinating character that lies, betrays, rapes and brutalizes his way towards seeking revenge. Foyle starts out as a grunting animal that only adopts more sophisticated techniques when brute force fails to be effective in achieving revenge. Two steps forward and one step b...more
From the back cover: “EDUCATION: NONE. SKILLS: NONE. MERITS: NONE. RECOMMENDATIONS: NONE” So reads Gully Foyle’s Merchant Marine card. But Gully has managed to survive for 170 days in the airless purgatory of deep space and to escape to Terra with a murderous grudge and a secret that could change the course of history…
…The Stars My Destination is a classic of technological prophecy and timeless narrative enchantment by an acknowledged master of science fiction.
Marooned in deep space by the wreck...more
…The Stars My Destination is a classic of technological prophecy and timeless narrative enchantment by an acknowledged master of science fiction.
Marooned in deep space by the wreck...more
3 likes · like · see review
Jul 10, 2008
Sandi
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Sandi by:
Online Book Club Selection
I have two thoughts on "The Stars My Destination" by Alfred Bester. One is that it really reads modern for a book written in 1956. The other is that it has some really antiquated ideas about the future.
First for the positive. For the first 200 of the 250 or so pages of the story, I couldn't stand the protagonist, Gulliver Foyle. However, he grows as a human being to the point that I ended up spending the last 50 pages cheering him on. Bester did an excellent job of taking Foyle from being almost...more
First for the positive. For the first 200 of the 250 or so pages of the story, I couldn't stand the protagonist, Gulliver Foyle. However, he grows as a human being to the point that I ended up spending the last 50 pages cheering him on. Bester did an excellent job of taking Foyle from being almost...more
18 likes · like · see review
Interesting book, not only because of the story but because it was written before man had travelled to outer space so the author's notions of how it would work are entertaining.
Basically in the future everyone can teleport at will, with limitations. The changes this causes in society are explored by the author and create a strange but compelling alternate reality.
The story is fast-paced and rarely dull. The last several chapters are nice and heavy. The only reason I don't give it a higher review...more
Basically in the future everyone can teleport at will, with limitations. The changes this causes in society are explored by the author and create a strange but compelling alternate reality.
The story is fast-paced and rarely dull. The last several chapters are nice and heavy. The only reason I don't give it a higher review...more
Totally mind-blowing and unlike anything I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I can't offer any constructive criticism and can only say, "wow, just wow." Ok, a few more thoughts then:
I still can't believe this novel was written in 1956! There are some fairly risque subject matter, violence and profanity that Bester gets away with that must have been controversial for its time but I don't even know if this novel was popular when it was first published. I'm still trying to sort out my mishmash...more
I still can't believe this novel was written in 1956! There are some fairly risque subject matter, violence and profanity that Bester gets away with that must have been controversial for its time but I don't even know if this novel was popular when it was first published. I'm still trying to sort out my mishmash...more
I first read this book decades ago under the title of Tiger! Tiger! (British edition). I just reread it recently for the purposes of writing this review. Fortunately I have memory like a sieve so I enjoy this reread just as much as the first time.
The Stars My Destination is one of the few sf books that is included in almost every all-time best sf books I have ever seen, and I have seen many. If I see such a list without this book I will probably dismiss it.
The story is centered upon Gully (Gulli...more
The Stars My Destination is one of the few sf books that is included in almost every all-time best sf books I have ever seen, and I have seen many. If I see such a list without this book I will probably dismiss it.
The story is centered upon Gully (Gulli...more
Gully Foyle is my name
And Terra is my nation.
Deep space is my dwelling place,
The stars my destination.
A man is a member of society first, and an individual second. You must go along with society, whether it chooses destruction or not.
Here's the break down:
Characterization - What a book of incredibly unlikable people. All the female characters are happy to be victims and while they are pretty badass in some regards are totally obsessed with love. Ummm...shut up. All the male characters are power...more
And Terra is my nation.
Deep space is my dwelling place,
The stars my destination.
A man is a member of society first, and an individual second. You must go along with society, whether it chooses destruction or not.
Here's the break down:
Characterization - What a book of incredibly unlikable people. All the female characters are happy to be victims and while they are pretty badass in some regards are totally obsessed with love. Ummm...shut up. All the male characters are power...more
6 likes · like · see review
I can easily align myself with readers who view this novel as a seminal transition between the Golden Age and the New Wave, but I can't quite swallow its iconic status, at least not as a transcendant work of ideas.
Clearly Bester is going for a new history of the future, and I love the rogue and revolver bravado, but his puzzler-subtlety-sinks-the-punchline formula is no more trenchant than an episode of Star Trek or Twilight Zone (I love both).
Which is not to say that I didn't relish this book...more
Clearly Bester is going for a new history of the future, and I love the rogue and revolver bravado, but his puzzler-subtlety-sinks-the-punchline formula is no more trenchant than an episode of Star Trek or Twilight Zone (I love both).
Which is not to say that I didn't relish this book...more
3 likes · like · see review
The Stars My Destination
by Alfred Bester
Yes, another old scifi novel, and one of the best imho. There is no doubt that Mr. Bester knows how to tell a story, and that is by letting his characters tell it for him.
Gully Foyle is a remarkable creation. When we are introduced to him, he is marooned in space, the last surviving crewman of a horrific accidental bombing (there's an interplanetary war going on, and his ship was apparently in the wrong place at the wrong time.) He is more sluggish brawn...more
by Alfred Bester
Yes, another old scifi novel, and one of the best imho. There is no doubt that Mr. Bester knows how to tell a story, and that is by letting his characters tell it for him.
Gully Foyle is a remarkable creation. When we are introduced to him, he is marooned in space, the last surviving crewman of a horrific accidental bombing (there's an interplanetary war going on, and his ship was apparently in the wrong place at the wrong time.) He is more sluggish brawn...more
1 like · like · see review
As SF availability in India is limited, i asked my wife to get few books from London. And this was one of them. She had to visit quite a few stores to find it. Half way through the book i was wondering if the effort she put in was worth it. Till half the book it was just a regular who done it to me or a revenge tale. At times well written and well paced, at times ordinary. But later part of the book made me change my opinion. Things start happening and story develops. But i also think that first...more
Am I a bad person for only just thinking this book was just OK? It was written in the 50s and not having a good grasp of the development of science fiction I'm not sure what or if ideas in the book were groundbreaking or not. Maybe it was just over hyped (I read the SF Masterworks edition). I will say this, up until the last two chapters I wasn't too intrigued by the books premises. However the second to last chapter includes an interesting attempt at describing synthesia (the neurological condi...more
2 likes · like · see review
On a recent flight, I read the in-flight magazine and an article by Keith Ferrell on great science fiction literature. He laid out his criteria and then rank-ordered 15-16 essential works of science fiction. I had not read most of them, but based on reputation, I think it’s a decent list.
Number four jumped out to me: Alfred Bester’s The Stars My Destination. Ferrell called it, “Arguably the greatest science fiction adventure novel ever written.” I’ve heard about this book a few times over the ye...more
Number four jumped out to me: Alfred Bester’s The Stars My Destination. Ferrell called it, “Arguably the greatest science fiction adventure novel ever written.” I’ve heard about this book a few times over the ye...more
One of the post-War (1956) classics of SF, The Stars My Destination (or Tiger! Tiger! in its UK release) is a dark, imaginative recrafting of Dumas' The Count of Monte Christo, but with a far less likable protagonist in Gully Foyle than in the older Edmond Dantes. Blending what are now seen as proto-cyberpunk and New Wave SF elements, with big societal what-if speculation (jauntes), brutal psychodrama, and enough hints of Golden Age SF to feel dissonantly dated, it's a worthwhile if sometimes ex...more
Trigger warning.
This book has some heavyweights in its corner. If I recall correctly, Sam Delany recommended it in The Jewel-Hinged Jaw. Gaiman wrote the intro (which I'll read after I write this review). I guess I see some of what they saw here. There is a prefiguration of some of the schemae that would later become standard in the works of Gibson and Gaiman and Stephenson et al., things like the atmosphere of carnival, the antihero, the juxtaposition of high and low in a bubbling melting pot,...more
This book has some heavyweights in its corner. If I recall correctly, Sam Delany recommended it in The Jewel-Hinged Jaw. Gaiman wrote the intro (which I'll read after I write this review). I guess I see some of what they saw here. There is a prefiguration of some of the schemae that would later become standard in the works of Gibson and Gaiman and Stephenson et al., things like the atmosphere of carnival, the antihero, the juxtaposition of high and low in a bubbling melting pot,...more
A merchant [space] marine is the only survivor on an attacked ship, barely scraping by for six months before sighting another vessel. He signals the ship and it approaches... only to look him over and pass him by. This stirs a passion in him he's never before known (like, shall we say, a tiger!), that will spur changes in the course of humanity and take him to the ends of the galaxy.
There were a number of clever things in the novel--eponymous action names, mental abilities beyond current human p...more
There were a number of clever things in the novel--eponymous action names, mental abilities beyond current human p...more
Quite simply one of the best science fiction novels ever written, this is a remarkable tour-de-force, especially bearing in mind it must be well over 50 years old. The book only shows its age in its treatment of women - it is set in a world where most people can 'jaunt' - teleport themselves from place to place - and the social response to this has been to return women to the seraglio, to hide them away behind mazes to prevent them being despoiled. If you can ignore this dated attitude (the only...more
Oh I forgot to list this one! Wow - oversight city! (A city not found on any maps). God knows whether this is really a five star novel, but it was when I read it as a young teenybopper, and it bopped all over my teeny brain and imploded it into a zillion sparkly pieces which took many months to gradually meld back into a usable item again - I think that's why I did so poorly in my physics exam. It was called Tiger! Tiger! then, partly because Gully Foyle, the antiest of heroes, has a facial tige...more
15 likes · like · see review
I found this on a list of adaptations of Count of Monte Cristo, not because I like period sci-fi, so keep that grain of salt in hand. The gender norms in this book were a huge stumbling block for me. I know, different times have different norms, but this was pretty intense. Prejudices may be socially supported at certain times, but they're still prejudices, and the author seems to really have had a problem with women.
That aside, this was a decent book. The writing was a bit.. forced for my tast...more
That aside, this was a decent book. The writing was a bit.. forced for my tast...more
Considered by some to be Bester's best novel, it is the tale of Gully Foyle, a spacer of no renown who speaks gutter and gets only the lowest jobs on a ship. His life changes drastically when he is marooned for six months as the only survivor of the wreck of the Nomad. The Vorga passes by close enough to hail but it goes on leaving Foyle stranded. He gets so worked up over this he manages to find a way to leave the ship and lands in the asteroid belt where a group of people rescues him but disfi...more
Nov 07, 2012
Richard
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Richard by:
Hey, it's a classic!
Wow, what a fascinating and strange book. You should read it.
Doesn’t take long, and it is pretty easy reading. Yeah, true, science fiction from 1956 definitely creates a few difficulties in style and anachronisms, but those fade away pretty quickly.
A quick synopsis: a simple, stupid and barbaric man is stranded after a space battle. He appeals to a passing ship for rescue, and they leave him to die. He dedicates himself to the task of vengeance, and with each step he becomes more — more intellig...more
Doesn’t take long, and it is pretty easy reading. Yeah, true, science fiction from 1956 definitely creates a few difficulties in style and anachronisms, but those fade away pretty quickly.
A quick synopsis: a simple, stupid and barbaric man is stranded after a space battle. He appeals to a passing ship for rescue, and they leave him to die. He dedicates himself to the task of vengeance, and with each step he becomes more — more intellig...more
Amazingly I don't recall ever hearing of Alfred Bester, or "The Stars My Destination" (also known as "Tiger Tiger"). I cut my teeth on classic 40s and 50s sci-fi but somehow totally missed this book and its author. Bester only wrote a few books and a handful of shorts for the pulps during the 40s and 50s, followed by a few books in the 70s so I guess I overlooked him because he didn't have the same name power as a Heinlein or Clarke.
The first thing that struck me about this novel was that, despi...more
The first thing that struck me about this novel was that, despi...more
"... Alfred Bester (1913-87) is a pop culture author of radio scripts, screenplays & comics -- creating the Green Lantern's Oath. Known for his sf,The Stars My Destination may be his finest novel. Published in Galaxy in '56 as "Tiger! Tiger!" (after {William} Blake's poem), it's about a man who teleports himself out of a tight spot, causing consternation in the process. Slyly potshotting at corporate skullduggery, it remains contemporary.
Stars My Destination is, in one sense, an adaption of...more
Stars My Destination is, in one sense, an adaption of...more
This is yet another novel that I’ve heard much about that I’m glad I’ve had an opportunity to read. At the end of the day I’m a bit torn how I feel about the story, and need a bit more time to reflect on how everything fits together. Gully Foyle behaves more as an anti-hero rather than protagonist, though readers can’t help but cheer for his efforts, I’m sure. He comes across a bit as an imp of the perverse, upsetting the cosmic apple cart in the process. He begins his journey at the bottom—a vi...more
Tiger! Tiger! What a great book thou art!
The Stars My Destination has so much packed into its 300 pages it is no wonder it's had such a great influence on sci-fi. And while I think the book is far from perfect, it has so many interesting ideas and has so many turns that it is impossible not to enjoy.
First, I have to say that I thought the idea of teleportaion (aka jaunting) was cool, but the explanation for why it was possible was incredibly lame. According to TSMD, everyone is able to jaunt, i...more
The Stars My Destination has so much packed into its 300 pages it is no wonder it's had such a great influence on sci-fi. And while I think the book is far from perfect, it has so many interesting ideas and has so many turns that it is impossible not to enjoy.
First, I have to say that I thought the idea of teleportaion (aka jaunting) was cool, but the explanation for why it was possible was incredibly lame. According to TSMD, everyone is able to jaunt, i...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Is this Bester's greatest novel? | 18 | 139 | May 11, 2013 10:39pm | |
| Books that made you fall in love with SF | 9 | 54 | Mar 06, 2013 11:03am | |
| The Book Club: The Stars My Destination Feedback - Contains Spoilers | 7 | 16 | Oct 21, 2012 12:57am | |
| Sci Fi Aficionados: * September Random Read: The Stars My Destination | 13 | 55 | Sep 18, 2012 06:42pm | |
| What's The Name o...: A book about "jaunting" [s] | 13 | 50 | Sep 17, 2012 10:52pm | |
| Reddit SF Book Club: 'The Stars My Destination' by Alfred Bester is the April Selection | 1 | 8 | Apr 02, 2012 11:39am |
American science fiction author, TV and radio scriptwriter, magazine editor and scripter for comic strips and comic books.
His novel The Demolished Man (1953) won the very first Hugo Award for best novel.
More about Alfred Bester...
His novel The Demolished Man (1953) won the very first Hugo Award for best novel.
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“Faith in faith' he answered himself. 'It isn't necessary to have something to believe in. It's only necessary to believe that somewhere there's something worthy of belief”
—
108 people liked it
“You pigs, you. You rut like pigs, is all. You got the most in you, and you use the least. You hear me, you? Got a million in you and spend pennies. Got a genius in you and think crazies. Got a heart in you and feel empties. All a you. Every you...'
[...]
Take a war to make you spend. Take a jam to make you think. Take a challenge to make you great. Rest of the time you sit around lazy, you. Pigs, you! All right, God damn you! I challenge you, me. Die or live and be great. Blow yourselves to Christ gone or come and find me, Gully Foyle, and I make you men. I make you great. I give you the stars.”
—
37 people liked it
More quotes…
[...]
Take a war to make you spend. Take a jam to make you think. Take a challenge to make you great. Rest of the time you sit around lazy, you. Pigs, you! All right, God damn you! I challenge you, me. Die or live and be great. Blow yourselves to Christ gone or come and find me, Gully Foyle, and I make you men. I make you great. I give you the stars.”
@Forres...more
Apr 10, 2013 05:59am
Apr 10, 2013 11:10am