Strange Invasion

by Michael Kandel

Bantam #28146-1, 1989. Paperback Original. A fine copy of the authors first book.

Genres: Science Fiction

152 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 1989

About the author

Michael Kandel (born 1941) is an American translator and author of science fiction.

Kandel was born into Polish Jewish family. He received a doctorate in Slavistics from Indiana University, and is an editor at the Modern Language Association. Kandel is also a part-time editor at Harcourt, editing (among others) Ursula K. Le Guin's work.

Kandel is perhaps best known for his translations of the works of Stanisław Lem from Polish to English. Recently he has also been translating works of other Polish science fiction authors, such as Jacek Dukaj, Marek Huberath and Andrzej Sapkowski. The quality of his translations is considered to be excellent and is especially notable in the case of Lem's writing, which makes heavy use of wordplay and other difficult-to-translate devices.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an odd short novel, and did remind me of Philip K. Dick as the blurb on the cover proclaims. Kandel is well known as the translator of Stanislaw Lem's works, but has written several works of the absurdist or bizarre flavor. This one begins with the premise that the narrator is untrustworthy, perhaps especially to himself, as he has been subject to hallucinations and been confined for most of his life. (Spoilers follow... maybe... It might turn out to be a different story for y'all if we hallucinate differently...)He has been chosen (by shadowy alien super-beings, who also give him advanced capabilities) to protect the Earth from other alien tourists who will muck the whole place up for everyone. A plague of gourds invades South America, and he defeats them with the aid of bullhorn-toting Marxist toucans. An army of filing cabinets invades Russia, and he turns them away with the help of fleas. Penguins assist him, but it becomes apparent that the task is Sisyphean somewhere around Mozambique on the way to Turkey from the South Pole... It's all quite amusing (if confusing), but takes a dark turn and ends in a depressing manner. He feels badly used by one woman who's supposed to be his counselor, and he treats another badly in turn who feels that he is her friend. It's a clever story for the most part, with the added fun of trying to guess what was real and if it mattered, but it came to an end that was both way too abrupt and very dark.

[R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A man prone to horrifying hallucinations is contacted by an alien race benevolently bent on preventing a series of invasions of earth by a variety of "tourists".

But this...is not a horrifying hallucination. This is the real thing - and for Wally Griffith, longtime psychiatric case, it's the Campbellian call to take up the hero's journey.

He enlists the aid of others en route to each adventure.

Others, such as the bullhorn-toting Marxist toucans in the jungle of South America -a bold gambit by Our Hero Wally to control the damage of an interdimensional parade of hedonistic bureaucrats.

I urged the bird to round up its Marxist colleagues immediately. We would meet in an hour - there was no time to lose - at the harbor bridge. Ramphastidus, crying, "Workers of the world, unite!" took to the air gracefully, while I scrambled down the tree, skinning my shins.

A whimsical, psychedelic tale - indeed, first novel - written by the longtime translator of the works of Stanislaw Lem.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

While short, Kandel's "Strange Invasion" is a wild and crazy adventure story following characters that are a bit crazy themselves. Following a character that suffers from a condition that causes odd hallucinations, this story creates the zany account of a man who has been chosen to save the world from a destructive race of alien tourists, a charge given to him by his refrigerator. Facing such things as Marxist toucans (as in the birds), he must travel the world and convince each wave of tourists to leave, before they cause the humans in different areas to suffer from different types of insanity, such as crippling boredom. With a surprise ending, Kandel creates a hilarious story, from beginning and especially to the end, in his well written, nonsensical adventure story. His story is one of my favorites, inspiring me to try my hand at writing different types of humorous stories.

[Snakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the title states, strange. The narrator appears to be a lunatic who has gone off his medication and then is recruited by aliens to be the ambassador and savior of our planet. Or is he just living in a post apocalyptic world? Or both.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book was interesting and inventive. It was a little slow here and there but funny. Sometimes, it erred on the side of absurdism for the sake of absurdism, and that gets tiresome to me. The good side is that you can see the influences of Stanislaw Lem and Philip K Dick in Kandel's work (at least this debut) and I hope that he was able to grow his obvious talent in future works.
A good short read!

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Almost did not bother to finish this. I found this buried in a 2nd hand book shop sci-fi section. Note this book is 35 years old and i could tell i am the first one to read it. To its credit it is a very quick read. Just the story itself is bad. A crazy guy who sees hallucinations all the time is contacted by aliens to save the human race from a series of invasions. An invasion of aliens who mainly see earth as a tourist trap. It was very hard to follow as one paragraph rarely flows into the next coherently. In the end the earth is doomed, and there was no big moral of the story. Just a big waste of time. There are much better things to read, and can tell this is why i was the first to read it in 35 years.

[Lila · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Stanislaw Lem translator has written a humorous tale of alien invasion--by tourists. Wally normally has hallucinations all the time, so aliens are just taken in stride. He just might be able to deal with one group of extraterrestrial visitors but four might be too much.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hallucinatory short novel with a hallucinating main character, comic and fascinating with turns, dreams and twists it ends too soon.

[Steven Dunlap · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alien invasion as you have never seen before. Instead of conquest or xenophobic attempts at eradication humanity faces... tourists. Actually quite worse, and hilarious.

[Jake · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very hard for me to follow

[Sam Hall Watson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was depressing and unfunny and I didn’t get it.

[Ragnarok · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredibly enjoyable book, which I would give five stars were it not for the ending, which depressed me (which is my fault, not the author's). I can't believe Michael Kandel's work is so unread. I'm glad I sought it out because he's a brilliant translator and the book is exactly the type of thing I'd hoped for: something in the vein of Lem, though without much scientific background.

[Sigmundur Halldorsson · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites. Quite possible the best alien invasion story that I've ever had the pleasure to read. It's funny, quirky and gives you the tools to see live from a perspective that you might not have considered before. What more could you possibly ask for from an excellent speculative fiction story. Could not recommend it enough.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

weird... not good or bad.. weird