Customer Reviews

Godshome

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Those who have arrived at Robert Sheckley's literary doorstep via one of his t.v. or movie-based science fiction serial novels (Deep Space Nine, Aliens, Babylon 5) are sure to experience major disorientation with "Godshome." But those who are already acquainted with the brilliantly original writing of this masterful, erudite nutcase will be delighted to encounter vintage Sheckley--complete with a shaggy dog storyline, chuckleheaded characters, and biting, unrelenting, Swiftian wit. Robert Sheckley is to science fiction what Botticelli was to the Renaissance--a maverick original who's impossible to compare with anyone else in his time, but without whom, the era would be less rich. With "Godshome," Sheckley is not content merely to satirize human folly; he brazenly satirizes existence and the very universe itself, by pairing together, as he always does, mundanity and magnitude in a wacky cosmic tango. "Godshome" is a fun, thoughtful read and I highly recommend it.

My immediate thought after finishing this book was that Robert Sheckley should apologize for wasting so many words. While well-written, this book was a disappointment to say the least, and irritating to say the most. It jumps from Neat Concept to Neat Concept without bothering to do more than touch upon them briefly. We're dragged from one scene to the next in a careless, offhanded fashion. Characters appear onstage, have a few lines, and are gone, without any sort of depth to them. It's like channel-surfing on a ten-second interval, which is about how long some of the chapters take to read. The book moves with increasing speed, tossing plot to the wind in an increasingly frustrating way, with little rhyme or reason, culminating in a mindbogglingly confusing ending which leaves a lot to be desired. I will admit, however, that it's a well-written book. It just left me unsatisfied and frustrated. As a parody, or a comment on the way the universe works, it's a good read. As a serious work of fiction, it's not. Robert Sheckley tosses away more good concepts, any of which could hold a book up on their own, than some authors use in an entire trilogy. Ultimately, I must admit that I don't regret reading this book. I merely regret spending the money to buy it in hardback. Casual readers, be thus advised.

Robert Sheckley has written some great, absurd satire, so I'm interested when he comes up with something new. I enjoyed the early chapters of this book, but as it went along, it simply lost focus, randomly introducing and abandoning characters and situations. It was clever in many ways, but the disintegrating structure lost me.

Sheckley wrote many short stories in the 1950's and 60's, and some say those were his best work. It has probably always been a challenge for him to hold a long story together. But some of his novels have been great -- my favorites are "Mindswap" and "Journey of Joenes". Most of his work is out of print, but it's worth looking for if you've got a taste for the absurd.

This book had some interesting ideas and situations in it, but the author never bothered to bring closure to any of it. The focus shifts bewilderingly from character to character without much in the way of a unifying plot to it. The final pages are a stopping point rather than an ending or resolution. It was extremely frustrating to have spent the time reading this book, only to seemingly watch the whole thing come apart by the finish and result in nothing.

I won't be reading this author in the future. And I'd suggest the publisher hire better editors.