What do you think?
Rate this book
Drowsy
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
301 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1917
1 person is currently reading
13 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 13, 2020
Though I still recommend this book, there were so many missed opportunities here. Great concepts never came together.
A boy inherits telepathy and a musical ear from his mother, as well as genius from both his lineages. But the relationship between his mom and dad is illegitimate and bathed in scandal. In fact, his parents hide his mother's identity from him for his entire life. The father, a physician with considerable means and influence, decides to sink into obscurity by settling in his hometown, a small Massachusetts village. There, the boy grows up as somewhat of a misfit. He is too smart and precocious for the general population, unable to take Biblical stories on faith, questioning all accepted conventions, being bored in school, and just having an overall lack of decorum and education in the "social graces." Going by the nickname of "Drowsy," due to his heavy-lidded eyes, he does make a handful of friends, including a little girl named Ruth who is the preacher's daughter. As time goes on, the town is dying and people start moving on for other opportunities, including Ruthie, leaving him largely alone to perfect his experiments in space travel, which leads to interesting results.
The literal first half of the book focuses on Drowsy as a 7 year old boy with a crush on Ruthie. At first, the interactions between these children and the adults around them was cute and endearing. But it went on and on. Nothing much happens other than long strings of dialogue involving Drowsy baffling someone else with his incessant questioning of everything. And I mean everything. For half the book.
When Drowsy does finally mature, his encounters with Ruthie verge on the ridiculous. By this time, she has moved to Europe, but somehow he keeps "coincidentally" running into her. The book would have you believe it is because of their deep connection with each other, but it comes across as ridiculous and pulls you out of what little plot there is. Ruth herself has got a head full of rocks, stubbornly adhering to appearances and decorum to her own detriment, to the point where she choses to hide out in a convent after she loses her father than marry the obviously devoted Drowsy. It becomes a bit annoying to the point where you can't any longer sympathize with any connection these two characters may have.
The development of the antigravity technology by Drowsy has some missed impact. A plot to steal the device he invents by one of his friends goes nowhere. The friend gets shot into space accidentally and Drowsy shows no emotion over this, nor does it further impact the story. Similarly, using the device to visit other worlds becomes an afterthought. He does all of his expeditions in secret, but yet because of his financial troubles and ego, he seems desperate to hint to everyone what he has done, which just makes him look crazy. If he had chosen to be alone because he learned about the intended betrayal of his friend, that would make more sense, but this is not explored and likely not the case. And how he could develop this technology by himself and accomplish these feats of space exploration is silly.
There's an early scene where a young Drowsy is receiving a telepathic distress signal from an unknown world. It is a well-done scene, but it doesn't really develop later on. There are many such examples of opportunities promised that kept me reading, but the promises were never fulfilled.
But what is delivered is a solid piece of writing, some clever dialogue, an air of wonder and mystery (enhanced by the spectacular illustrations) and a pretty scathing criticism about Western culture and values. There are suggestions regarding how our education and religious systems do not have all the answers, and do not encourage much needed critical thinking and exploration needed for science. Similarly, our taboos and gossip are decidedly anti-Christian, yet a largely Christian population blindly adheres to sentiments about acceptable behavior that causes people to behave in absurd ways that are unhealthy to the individual and society. These feelings and ideas were becoming more prevalent during the time this book was written, as seen in authors like D.H. Lawrence.
There is a sadness and tragedy in the way the author treats small-town America, and in the end, Drowsy's discoveries of forgotten splendor of abandoned alien civilization is eerily prophetic--everything other than those eternal forces that connect us to the universe (as represented in this novel through love and music) that modern society clings to as important is really insignificant and will eventually be forgotten. We hear about Drowsy's visits to other worlds mostly after the fact, which adds to the mystery behind what Drowsy has been doing and what all he has seen.
Illustrator, author, and all-around science enthusiast Ron Miller has recently released this and other early works of sci-fi for e-readers, and so these rare classics are more available than ever for people to read and judge for themselves. I hope that people do. Like "Drowsy," many of these works are not perfect, but they are dense with scientific and sociocultural history that is worth exploring and talking about.
A boy inherits telepathy and a musical ear from his mother, as well as genius from both his lineages. But the relationship between his mom and dad is illegitimate and bathed in scandal. In fact, his parents hide his mother's identity from him for his entire life. The father, a physician with considerable means and influence, decides to sink into obscurity by settling in his hometown, a small Massachusetts village. There, the boy grows up as somewhat of a misfit. He is too smart and precocious for the general population, unable to take Biblical stories on faith, questioning all accepted conventions, being bored in school, and just having an overall lack of decorum and education in the "social graces." Going by the nickname of "Drowsy," due to his heavy-lidded eyes, he does make a handful of friends, including a little girl named Ruth who is the preacher's daughter. As time goes on, the town is dying and people start moving on for other opportunities, including Ruthie, leaving him largely alone to perfect his experiments in space travel, which leads to interesting results.
The literal first half of the book focuses on Drowsy as a 7 year old boy with a crush on Ruthie. At first, the interactions between these children and the adults around them was cute and endearing. But it went on and on. Nothing much happens other than long strings of dialogue involving Drowsy baffling someone else with his incessant questioning of everything. And I mean everything. For half the book.
When Drowsy does finally mature, his encounters with Ruthie verge on the ridiculous. By this time, she has moved to Europe, but somehow he keeps "coincidentally" running into her. The book would have you believe it is because of their deep connection with each other, but it comes across as ridiculous and pulls you out of what little plot there is. Ruth herself has got a head full of rocks, stubbornly adhering to appearances and decorum to her own detriment, to the point where she choses to hide out in a convent after she loses her father than marry the obviously devoted Drowsy. It becomes a bit annoying to the point where you can't any longer sympathize with any connection these two characters may have.
The development of the antigravity technology by Drowsy has some missed impact. A plot to steal the device he invents by one of his friends goes nowhere. The friend gets shot into space accidentally and Drowsy shows no emotion over this, nor does it further impact the story. Similarly, using the device to visit other worlds becomes an afterthought. He does all of his expeditions in secret, but yet because of his financial troubles and ego, he seems desperate to hint to everyone what he has done, which just makes him look crazy. If he had chosen to be alone because he learned about the intended betrayal of his friend, that would make more sense, but this is not explored and likely not the case. And how he could develop this technology by himself and accomplish these feats of space exploration is silly.
There's an early scene where a young Drowsy is receiving a telepathic distress signal from an unknown world. It is a well-done scene, but it doesn't really develop later on. There are many such examples of opportunities promised that kept me reading, but the promises were never fulfilled.
But what is delivered is a solid piece of writing, some clever dialogue, an air of wonder and mystery (enhanced by the spectacular illustrations) and a pretty scathing criticism about Western culture and values. There are suggestions regarding how our education and religious systems do not have all the answers, and do not encourage much needed critical thinking and exploration needed for science. Similarly, our taboos and gossip are decidedly anti-Christian, yet a largely Christian population blindly adheres to sentiments about acceptable behavior that causes people to behave in absurd ways that are unhealthy to the individual and society. These feelings and ideas were becoming more prevalent during the time this book was written, as seen in authors like D.H. Lawrence.
There is a sadness and tragedy in the way the author treats small-town America, and in the end, Drowsy's discoveries of forgotten splendor of abandoned alien civilization is eerily prophetic--everything other than those eternal forces that connect us to the universe (as represented in this novel through love and music) that modern society clings to as important is really insignificant and will eventually be forgotten. We hear about Drowsy's visits to other worlds mostly after the fact, which adds to the mystery behind what Drowsy has been doing and what all he has seen.
Illustrator, author, and all-around science enthusiast Ron Miller has recently released this and other early works of sci-fi for e-readers, and so these rare classics are more available than ever for people to read and judge for themselves. I hope that people do. Like "Drowsy," many of these works are not perfect, but they are dense with scientific and sociocultural history that is worth exploring and talking about.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 3, 2023
An enjoyable but appropriately obscure work. I thought it was going somewhere interesting towards the end but no.
The first half is a biography of this young boy and is mostly comedy/romance. The boy has a special power but (in what will become a theme) the author ignores this intriguing concept to further the romance elements.
At the half-way point things become even more fragmentary and it turns into a sort of Edisonian adventure tale of inventions and wild journeys... none of which we get to experience firsthand :/ .
Its amazing how adept the author is at avoiding the most obviously interesting parts of his own plot.
Ultimately its a fairly charming read which is hard to hate and which in a world of infinite books i could recommend to absolutely no one :) .
Made available by the Merril Collection.
The first half is a biography of this young boy and is mostly comedy/romance. The boy has a special power but (in what will become a theme) the author ignores this intriguing concept to further the romance elements.
At the half-way point things become even more fragmentary and it turns into a sort of Edisonian adventure tale of inventions and wild journeys... none of which we get to experience firsthand :/ .
Its amazing how adept the author is at avoiding the most obviously interesting parts of his own plot.
Ultimately its a fairly charming read which is hard to hate and which in a world of infinite books i could recommend to absolutely no one :) .
Made available by the Merril Collection.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews