Customer Reviews

All Flesh Is Grass

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This isn't a bad book, but the ending for me was very unsatisfactory. It's as though the author just stopped writing. Little is resolved. On the whole, though, the book is rich and beautifully written. Again, Simak takes American small town life and fills it with strangeness and wonder. Originality is so apparent-- in so many ways. For instance, who could imagine that some flowers growing by the roadside, transplanted into the garden by an old man, become a window to communicate with the stars? Read it, you'll enjoy it. And you may wish, like me, that it had a better ending.

A classic Clifford D. Simak, small town middle America is the back drop to an other worldly tale of unparalleled originality. A griping read that thrusts you into the action right from the very first paragraph. Simak has a unique ability to have you turning the pages all night without ever loosing the relaxed atmosphere only he can create. This is a first contact story like no other, no other writer has created so alien aliens which at the same time are so familiar. But the real triumph of this book is the manner in which Simak is able to bring all the characters of small town America to life in such a believable manner. Like many of Simak's books the story is the story of a beginning and leaves you crying out for more and with many questions. This among other things make this book live on long in your imagination. A treat not to be missed.

I found this paperback where I get most of the classic sci-fi of the 1950s, 60s and 70s: in a used bookstore (in this case for $1). Knowing Simak's reputation, I took a chance (with my dollar) and wasn't disappointed. The idea of aliens coming in the guise of innocent-looking plant life was a cool concept and the story line was a lot of fun. Not any high-tech stuff here, but perhaps that is why this book endures and does not seem outdated. Simak writes in simple, declarative sentences and the structure of his work is logical and easy to read (Asimov says in a chapter in his own autobiography,'I Asimov', that he tried to emulate Simak). Definitely worth a read if you can find it.

Clifford D. Simak (1904-1988) wrote a masterpiece, "City" (1952) rewarded with International Fantasy Award, two remarkable sci-fi novels "Way Station" (1963) Hugo Award winner and "Highway of Eternity" (1986); "Grotto of the Dancing Deer" (1981) Hugo Award for best short story, and many more good short stories and novels.

"All Flesh is Grass" (1965) has almost the same literary argument as "Ring around the Sun" (1953) with different twists. Some of Simak's major themes are used in this book: time manipulation, escaping from Earth and parallel universes.

The story starts when a "bubble" traps a small city not allowing anything alive to cross it. Brad is a home towner and ... a looser. He is the first neighbour to be affected by the phenomenon. A combination of strange circumstances put him in touch with the alien mind owner of the "bubble". The alien decide to use Brad as a mediator with Human kind, even when he plead he is not fitted to be an ambassador.

Simak brilliantly deal with the strong relations among towners and the undercurrents of power, greed, altruism and politics in poignant a way that made me think about King's "Salem's Lot" (1975).

I think the author has improved the ending in relation with the already mentioned "Ring..."
I recommend this book to sci-fi lovers and general public too. It is a very interesting stuff!

Reviewed by Max Yofre.

Thre IS no author, alive, or dead that can sufficiently portray the otherworldliness of almost ANY SIMAK book; He is a genius of the alternate universe, with absolutely no peers whatsoever!