September Random Read: The Stars My Destination

[Jason]

Up this month is a book I have not read, but am looking forward to reading.

So, let's discuss.

[Sérgio]

I'm sorry Jason but isn't The Left Hand of Darkness supposed to be discussed next month?

Shouldn't it be The Stars My Destination this month?

[Jason]

Ha! So sorry. Totally my bad. I'll fix it.

[Jessie J]

I've started "The Stars My Destination" and I'm really loving it!

[Maggie, space cruisin' for a bruisin']

lol @ Jason-we are just too busy! They are both great at least.....hehehe

[Sérgio]

I liked the over-the-top tone of the book. First I didn’t get why that was necessary and was a bit put off by that, since the story itself was out of the ordinary enough and didn’t need that emphasis.

Then when I got to the Scientific People chapter I finally understood why the book was that way. It makes it really entertaining because everything about it is over-the-top and almost ridiculous in a fun way: the violence, the action (slow-motion!!!!), the revenge wish of Gully Foyle and the world of the book itself.

I’m going to refrain from talking about things in the second half of the book, I’ll do it later.


I’ll only say that my favorite part of the first chapters is when (view spoiler)[Foyle tries to blow up the Vorga ship regardless of knowing who was responsible for leaving him to die. I mean, his revenge is against the ship, like that metal object was the responsible. That’s just absurd and hilarious to me also because on top of that his “master plan” completely fails because of the anti-gravity system the ship obviously has. (hide spoiler)]

[mark, personal space invader]

just wanted to chime in that i read this one a while ago and loved it. so many parts still linger in the mind. a memorable novel!

[Jessie J]

I've found several things...helpful might be the word?...while reading "Stars My Destination":

-If you haven't read

I recommend it. It was published in the U.S. in a censored version for boys at some point, so make sure you have the "real" version.

-"The Tyger" is quoted in my version of the book, but if you don't know that William Blake was batcrap crazy, too, and had a whole philosophy, I think you lose something from the reference.

-Bester may have based Gully Foyle's survival ordeal on a real event (I just read): http://tomahawksadventuretravel.blogs...

[Clark]

I loved this book when I read it many years ago. Bester was a fine writer, but not restricted to genre novels. He was also a comic book writer and later, a writer of radio serials. To me, that knowledge helped me to embrace the tone and speed of the novel. It's all "punch". Like one of his comics, or a script for "The Shadow". I could easily mentally visualize "The Stars..." in terms of a Golden Age comics story or an edge of your seat radio drama like "Dimension X"! Whizzzz!!! Bang!!!

[Jessie J]

Just finished it--loved it!

[Sérgio]

My favorite part was the “Synesthesia chapter”. It was a piece of writing that was as experimental as entertaining and I think that’s pretty rare.

One little detail that I found interesting was this is the oldest novel I’ve read were the future actually has real globalization (like we have nowadays) and we have important characters from other countries and cultures, (namely Y'ang-Yeovi), instead of everyone being american or something.

I didn’t care much for the love relationships in the last third, they felt very forced. Also, I didn’t care much for the last revelations about Vorga.(view spoiler)[ So the blind billionaire girl that Foyle instantly falls in love with happens to be the “space pirate” that left him to die? Really?
(hide spoiler)]

Also, certain aspects of the story reminded me very much of Akira. (view spoiler)[Specifically, I’m talking about the weird ghostly apparitions of Gully Foyle to himself that turn out to be related to a fantastic event in the climax of the novel and also the “old children” with psychic powers. (hide spoiler)] The creator of it, Katsuhiro Otomo, must have read this novel.

[Megan]

I agree - I love it when Bester plays with language and sense like that. To my mind, it's even cooler when you get into the discussions between telepaths in The Demolished Man, but that chapter here is remarkable.

[SubterraneanCatalyst]

I haven't been around this group in awhile but I wanted to stop in and say this is one of my all time faves! Made a Bester fangirl. The first few pages of this book are fantastic and I'll never forget them. His "tone" and "over the topness" makes sense given that he was also a comic book writer/author for DC Comics. He contributed to Superman and Green Lantern comics etc.
I wish Bester had written more! He wrote a decent bit of short stories but not very many novels. I've only read Demolished Man and The Stars My Destination.