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53 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"Most days we simply spent deferring decisions.", December 9, 2004
Pohl's first entry in the Heechee series is really two books in one: a space adventure about pioneers exploring the universe and a tongue-in-cheek look at artificial intelligence through a Freudian prism. "Gateway" alternates between two storylines. Robinette (Bob) Broadhead, a young man drudging away in an underground food mine on Earth, wins a lottery and uses his earnings to travel to Gateway, a portal that was constructed and abandoned by an unknown species and that contains hundreds of modules which transport voyagers to predetermined locations throughout the universe. Adventurers are paid immense royalties by the Gateway Corporation for any scientific discoveries and for booty, but there are two hitches: nobody has ever been able to figure out in advance the destination for each module and a rather significant proportion of the explorers either return dead or are never seen again. Pohl ably depicts the claustrophobia of the Gateway colony and of space travel, and he convincingly imagines the fear and excitement that precedes each journey. Once our hero arrives at Gateway, however, he finds himself thwarted far more by his fear of dying than motivated by the desire for glory and fortune; after his training he proves a reluctant pioneer. The accurate and realistic portrayal of this inertia is simultaneously one of the novel's strengths and its downside, since the reader all but experiences Bob's indolence while he gets up enough nerve to set out on a trip: "Most days we simply spent deferring decisions." Living and working in space can be quite tedious. Between Bob's recollections of his life in Gateway are transcripts of his conversations, years later, with Sigfrid, a computer/robot who serves as his A.I. shrink. We soon realize that Bob was the only survivor of one of his exploratory missions, and Sigfrid teases out Bob's feelings of guilt while we concurrently learn the details of his past. At its best, these conversations are vaguely reminiscent of Stanislaw Lem's psychological fiction (although nowhere near as cerebral), and Pohl's idiosyncratic sense of humor make many of these sessions fun reading. These two "before and after" strands twist and twine their cords to an ending that wraps up all the loose ends, explains the mystery of the doomed expedition, and satisfactorily connects both stories. (Perhaps too satisfactorily: the final bit of dialogue between Bob and Sigfrid almost has the feel of a punch line of a shaggy-dog tale written for psychotherapists.) Pohl's wit and his knack for realism ultimately carry the story of these daring--if suicidally inclined--fortune-hunters to other worlds.
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34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Do yourself a favor and check this one out, October 10, 2006
Perhaps it's the extensive psychotherapy that turns people off, but I found Gateway to be one of the most moving pieces of sci-fi I have ever read, second to Stranger in a Strange Land. Gateway came about 15 years later, and the 70s were a fantastic time for the genre, in my opinion. Your mileage may vary, but I think it's important that you know where I'm coming from as a reader. At any rate, I was engrossed by the humanity, or vulnerability, of the characters in this book. It's not something you see very often in the genre. While characters in an Asimov or Clarke novel (God love them) may only serve to move the plot, Pohl lets the plot move around them; the central conflict is within. So this may actually turn off the escapist reader. But this is still firmly science fiction, as it explores speculative ideas as a necessary part of the story. Nothing today can approximate the Gateway space station; only on a smaller scale, at best. It's a story of desperation that also carries science fiction's famous "sense of wonder." It's something every star gazer has felt, and Pohl nails it. Unfortunately, he isn't as adept in psychiatry as he is spinning yarns, and the sections with Bob talking to his therapist feel slightly dull compared to the sharpness of Gateway station and its occupants. But only by comparison. It's also one of the few books I've ever re-read.
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21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
First or second on my list of Great SciFi Experiences, January 13, 2005
Read this years ago, haven't forgotten a word. Astounded that nobody's made a movie of it -- can't think of a more cinematic novel. Because of its odd structure and unexpected humor, some might think it just plain strange -- but rarely has the intensity ratcheted up, for me, as highly as in this one book. Only caveat is this, and let me be absolutely clear: Do. Not. Read. The. Sequels.
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