Science Fiction Aficionados discussion
This topic is about
Way Station
Monthly Read: Random
>
September 2018 Random Read-Way Station by Simak
date
newest »
newest »
I am in, I see more time being freed up this month from my chaotic life. If chaos stays away from me for a short time. A few months ago, I picked up the digital version of this book for only 99 cents.
It has been a long time since I joined a club read.
Mod
I voted for "Way Station" and was glad to see it being picked. I read it many, many years ago (1970's ??) and may have been the reason I became a big Clifford Simak fan. When people would ask me over the years what my favorite Simak book was I would always reply that it was "Way Station". But I realized that I only remembered the the basic plot element of a teleport style station being set up on earth to link other planets in the galaxy. Also that nobody on earth knew about it except the human selected to run the station. I remembered that it was set up in a rustic location and the human running it had been a kind of loner. So I picked it up to read again and have been surprised at how much more there is to the story. As I re-read the story I can see why it impacted me so strongly the first time. Looks like it's going to remain my favorite Clifford Simak story.
The story has a similar feel to his wonderful novella "The Thing in the Stone". Some other great stories I've enjoyed by Simak are; "They Walked Like Men", "Desertion" and "The Big Front Yard".
I read this just over a year ago and enjoyed it very much. Probably my first Simak read. After 50 years of reading SF I don't remember everything I have read.
Bill, I was born in 1947 and if you include Tom Corbett novels I have been reading SF for 60 years !! I also read all the Heinlein YA novels and loved them although for some reason I didn't like Heinlein as much as an adult. I personally prefer Simak to Heinlein. I would recommend reading more Simak. "Way Station" is typical of his style but he does occasionally move into other SF genres. From NNDB.com:
"Although contemporaneous with Robert A. Heinlein, he is not considered as significant, yet he has added his own unique and distinct flavor to speculative fiction, one that is both pastoral and eerily mystical, with an edge of wry cynicism about the human race. He is especially known for his emphasis on the struggles of common people placed in extraordinary circumstances, for setting his tales in Wisconsin countryside, and for featuring dogs with unusual frequency."
I wont be in on this one. Cant get hold of it. My library doesn't have it and I cant find a second hand copy that I can get in time.
Mod
There are usually some inexpensive Kindle copies - that's how I read it a year or so ago.
I used an audible credit and I’ll start in a few days.
It's also in the Clifford Simak Gateway SF edition, if you can find that anywhere.
Mod
I felt the same way when I finished City. I’ll start Way Station later this week.
I read this one last October (was it really that long ago? feels like only a few months). I had never read Simak before, though I'm old enough I should have. Somehow he never was on my radar.Very good book!
I can see how his SF is classified as "pastoral." I read one other Simak afterwards (All Flesh is Grass) and it had a similar feel: set in a rural town and focused on the lives of ordinary people rather than heroes and world-shaking events.
I think he might get passed over nowadays, though, because of that. Popular SF is way too focused on action/adventure, the dystopian, and the spectacular. These quiet, personal tales are out of vogue, which is kind of sad.
Or maybe his kind of writing has always been only known to the inner-clique of hardcore SF readers, those of us who read almost nothing but SF.
Micah wrote: "I read this one last October (was it really that long ago? feels like only a few months). I had never read Simak before, though I'm old enough I should have. Somehow he never was on my radar.Very..."
Good points!! I never thought of the pastoral things. I've read both of those books.
So far I have covered about 25% of Way Station. So far I like this book. I have read one other book by Simak that was City.As a Hermit myself and living in a pastoral setting (I am somewhat a failure as a hermit, but a goal in life). Hermits tend to have a small garden as Enoch has, but 25% in and he has no dog? From reading “City”, I would expect Enoch to have a dog. But then do hermits have pets? Like Enoch, I also have chickens roaming my yard. Unlike Enoch I do age, and in my old age I just have a garden, a dog and a few chickens. Dairy cows are too much work, I pasteurize milk I get from a neighbor for milk and cheese making. I rarely see the mailman that does bring me a couple of science magazines and baking supplies.
However, I am jealous, every year I power wash my home to remove the dirt and mildew that builds over time. That’s life in the boondocks (pastoral setting). Oh to have a home that does not need cleaning on the outside. I wish I had a home like Enoch Wallace. Maybe Simak had to do the same, his inspiration for the home.
Like Enoch, I do have a machine that can transport Alien life into my home: It is called “The Internet” :)
This book does appeal to me so far as it is not dystopian. It is the dystopian books I do not like. I prefer the moral of the story books. Why I like Star Trek and The Orville tv shows.
What I do not have and wish I had are pocketfuls of rare gems.
I know, I know, I am rambling and have more reading to do.
Micah wrote: "I read this one last October (was it really that long ago? feels like only a few months). I had never read Simak before, though I'm old enough I should have. Somehow he never was on my radar.Very..."
I read "All Flesh is Grass" many years ago and I remember enjoying it very much.
Micah wrote: "I read this one last October (was it really that long ago? feels like only a few months). I had never read Simak before, though I'm old enough I should have. Somehow he never was on my radar.Very..."
I agree. I get some of that same feeling from reading Theodore Sturgeon.
I was a huge Heinlein guy, and hadn't read any Simak till I found a very battered old copy of City in an antique shop. A great discovery & I really enjoyed reading Way Station too last week. On my bookshelf I've got several other Simaks that I found at the used bookstores and I definitely plan to fit them in.
Finishing up Sturgeon's "More Than Human" but it's not really grabbing me. To me, a good chunk of it reads like the VALIS trilogy, finding one's self after going crazy.
Allan wrote: "Finishing up Sturgeon's "More Than Human" but it's not really grabbing me. To me, a good chunk of it reads like the VALIS trilogy, finding one's self after going crazy."I thought that "More Than Human" was one of the great SF novels of the classic era. The theme of producing a "human gestalt" was handled extremely well and with a lot of emotion. Tension is kept high trying to deal with the world outside of the gestalt while also dealing with the conflicting personalities within the gestalt. Sturgeon's writing style in this novel encompasses various styles well. It moves from the lyrical to terseness and occasionally to a stream of consciousness mode. It has long internal monologues that Sturgeon handles well so that they can never become boring. The narrative is not always in sequential order providing another level of depth to the story. The narrative style sets up puzzles that aren't always resolved in the way you expect. It addresses the question of what is the correct moral direction for such a unique entity. This isn't just great SF, it's great fiction, period.
I did like Sturgeon's style & prose, and had to smile at the beauty of a particular phrase multiple times. But I found that when it switched to morality, it became more philosophy and less story, bogging it down. It came back and finished strong but that portion didn't sit well with me. The puzzle created some interest but not enough. I liked Way Station much more.
Just started. Ridiculous animal cruelty! There was absolutely no reason for him to harm those horses.
Lena wrote: "Just started. Ridiculous animal cruelty! There was absolutely no reason for him to harm those horses."When I read a book, I always try think about the mindset of the era they are writing about. In this case the nineteenth century. They fought wars with horses. Soldiers then shot enemies that rode on horses and the horses also. They probably felt then that horses have no souls. In the past, people probably thought no more of their horses than you think of your car.
Today people know different. Animals do have emotions and feel pain. Religious beliefs then played a greater part in the past than today as of who has a soul or no one has a soul. Also Enoch just lost his parents and may not be thinking straight. Then again some people are just cruel no matter what era they live in.
The horses may have been injured in the accident. In the nineteenth century, death by gun shot is probably the most humane way for an animal to die. I do not believe they had better ways to euthanize an animal like they do today.
Lena wrote: "Just started. Ridiculous animal cruelty! There was absolutely no reason for him to harm those horses."You are projecting 21st century sentiments towards animals onto a man born before the Civil War. I believe that Enoch killed the horses as a misguided act of vengeance. It seems Enoch needed to blame someone or something for his father's death and it was the horse's who unfortunately paid the price. It's possible that if Enoch hadn't reacted that way it would made it an "act of God" and unconsciously Enoch didn't want to have his religion tested this way by the tragedy.
43% in. Racoon torture and then, shock, the same people use a bullwhip on a deaf girl. The one Enoch called primitive creature.City was a beautiful book respective of nature with grand ideas. This has been nothing like it.
And did Enoch accidently create slaves because he was too bored to think past his own needs?!?! He is a terrible person.
Lena wrote: "43% in. Racoon torture and then, shock, the same people use a bullwhip on a deaf girl. The one Enoch called primitive creature.City was a beautiful book respective of nature with grand ideas. Thi..."
Lena,
I'm not sure why you are continuing to read the book since it seems to clash so strongly with your personal worldview. I don't remember any scene that would constitute racoon torture. But the situation where Hank whipped his deaf-mute daughter is instrumental to the story.
Hank Fisher is is used to show a very negative side of human culture and is part of the reason feels that Earth may not be considered morally fit enough to become part of a galactic culture.
By "slaves" I assume you are referring to the holograms he created using alien technology. While Enoch did this mainly from loneliness I doubt very much that he realized all the ramifications of being able to gain increased awareness. Once this became apparent to him that he loved Mary and she loved him he reluctantly agreed to ending the visitations.
I agree that "City" with it's episodic format encompassed a far broader view of the cosmos than the more narrow confines required by the plot of "Way Station". But this in no way diminishes the great storytelling that makes "Way Station" such a terrific novel.
I wonder at your world view where being chained and repeatedly attacked by dogs does not constitute torture.What does it mean to you?
How poisonously misogynistic is this book?!?!One woman is a slave in love with her master.
The other woman is incapable of speech and unwilling to be educated. But she’s beautiful and has a special quality that only one man is capable of appreciating.
Hmm, which should our young female readers aspire towards Mr. Hugo?
I admit it's been a while since I've read it, but I don't remember the book Lena describes.
Kirsten wrote: "I admit it's been a while since I've read it, but I don't remember the book Lena describes."Neither do I Kirsten. Maybe there is an alternate universe edition that I missed. I highly recommend that you read this terrific book again and see if it appears "poisonously misogynistic" considering that the book was written in 1963 and in the context of a man born before the civil war and a degenerate, lowlife family whose purpose in the book was to provide an extreme example of the negative aspects of human nature. Hank fisher, himself, could be considered "poisonously misogynistic" in addition to all his other negative character traits but that was done intentionally by Simak to contrast the positive human qualities found in Enoch.
I still don't understand the idea of considering Mary, a lifelike hologram created by alien technology, as a "slave" to Enoch (I assume that is who Lena is referring to). I also felt that it was Enoch's ability to see something special about special about Lucy that made him well fitted to be chosen as the gatekeeper for the station. As it turns out Lucy does have very special qualities that were even greater than Enoch perceived.
Mod
Mod
I am having difficulties finding time in my life to read. I am only 2/3 through the book and I do like this book so far. However, I am wondering if the audible version is a fair representation from the printed version.
I am shocked that I actually finished reading a novel this year. I liked this book allot, I thought the world build and character development was well done. The book writing was well done as it flowed easily from page to page.
I like a book with a surprise ending when the pieces of a puzzle that came together showing a whole picture of its parts. Almost like a who dun-nit mystery novel that I did not know it was a mystery. Where all the characters in the novel came together for a final satisfactory conclusion.
Maggie wrote: "All I can say is you must have really been in a mood when you read this, because the rest of us all seemed to have read a different book!"I agree. I read this in 2012 and liked it. I did not recognize it from Lena's description.
It's not my favorite Simak -- I liked All Flesh Is Grass and A Heritage of Stars.
Mod
Science Fiction Aficionados
Books mentioned in this topic
City (other topics)Way Station (other topics)
Let us know what you think!