Customer Reviews

Golem 100

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

 

 

This book represents all of Bester's trademarks - psychology. twisted humor, fast action, eccentric characters - taken to the extreme. The book is about a group of bored rich houswifes who dabble in magic to avert tedium and manage, without their knowing, to actually summon a demon. A small group of misfits - BLaise Shima, a scent expert, Gretchen Nunn, a detective, and Inspector Ind'dni, hunt for the source of the Demon who terrorizes the city.
The Science in this science fiction book is psychology, mainly Jungian psychoanalysis. In this book the world of the collective subconcious comes to life.
The world in Golem^100 is the sort of demented corporate-run future described in Bester's earlier work, The Computer Connection. Here it's described in even darker tones.
There's a lot of dark humor in Golem^100, and some of it may not be to everyone's liking - if you're offended by necrophilia jokes don't read this book. If you can stomach some VERY graphic violence (with innards all over the place), twisted humor and a plot that involves mutants, demons and radioactive drugs, read this book. While not a masterwork, it's a very original, inventive, thrilling read.

This is the first Bester book I have read - I've always disliked the juxtaposition of humor and horror, so there is much for me to dislike in Golem100. Quick synopsis: Several horrible murders occur in New York of 2175, and 3 dissimilar personalites come together to try to find the culprit. Golem100 occasionally succeeds as a detective/crime novel, and I found it hard to put down. It is NOT science fiction - it's more of a hallucinogenic-psycho-drama set in the future. Some of the stylistic devices are very inventive. I've heard that this book is hard to fathom - I didn't find it a difficult read, but be prepared to have your intellect taxed. It's basically a pornographic version of "Fantasic Planet".

This old book doesn't quite have the immortal greatness of Bester's two masterpieces, The Stars My Destination and The Demolished Man. Those two classics deserve to be rediscovered due to their sheer relentless weirdness and Bester's very strange and vivid imagination. After one has digested those two novels, Golem^100 becomes a little easier to handle, though that weirdness is still there in spades. This one does have Bester's most fully-realized and well-crafted characters, as these unique personalities try to battle an interdimensional demon by trying to travel to its world, through the use of weird drugs and esoteric rituals. Bester does incredible things with human (and inhuman) psychology here, as mind expansion starts to cross the lines between psychic realms and even between good and evil. The illustrated portions of the novel, highlighting trips to these dark realms, could be better artistically, but this is a very audacious method of visual storytelling. Note that this book does have some scenes of horrendous brutality and degradation that could be a turn-off for some readers, and a few sections written in stream-of-consciousness or hipster slang are getting pretty dated. But this is another case of Bester's truly cracked and bizarre imagination, and his very small number of novels places him far above sci-fi writers who have written dozens and dozens. But sometimes you really have to wonder what this guy was on... [~doomsdayer520~]

With too much time on their hands, a group of well to do ladies conspire to summon the devil. This they unknowingly do, unleashing a chain of unlikely and gruesome murders. During the outbreak of the murders the perfume designer, Blaise Shima, who has an extraordinary sensitivity to odours, is drawn in by way of the strong smell of death that is coincidental with the creature / Golem that the ladies have set loose.

Police investigator, Subador Ind'dni is baffled by the killings but learns the truth when he is eventually confronted by the strange goings on between Blaise Shima and the Psychodynamicist, Gretchen Nunn, who has been employed by Blaise Shima's employers to discover why their top perfume designer is acting oddly.

Attempts to destroy the Golem appear to have succeded, but Gretchen Nunn is ultimately a replacement to the ladies that instigated the problem, and Subador Indin'dni becomes the Golem.

Much of this book is very similar to Iain M Banks' material, a couple of sections pretty much a precursor to sections of Use of Weapons and Against a Dark Background. The opening chapter is similar to John Updike's, The Witches of Eastwick. Overall, Golem 100 was a straightforward read apart from a few parts toward the final pages, which were a bit tiresome and which can be skimmed through. A section in which a number of murders were taking place was awkwardly handled: the break from Suabador Indin'dni to a sequence of murders and back again, taking a page or two to figure out what the intended effect was supposed to be, since it was a stylistic divergence from the preceding text.

All of the illustrations worked okay, but were sometimes a little confusing because they were either post or pre sync to the text.

In general, Golem 100 is a well put together piece of work all the links well thought through and convincing. The satirical aspect of the book was - I'm afraid to say - dependant upon events that I've forgotten the relevance of, making this aspect of the book little more than slightly comedic. Doubtless there are others, who will be better informed than myself, and more appreciative of Alfred Bester's intentions...

That's it - throw it far from you, and back slowly away from it. Easy does it - you don't want to arouse its ire, for it could surely suck us all into the giant, gaping hole that is _Golem 100_.

Seldom have I ever tipped my head sideways in that confused puppy look more often than I did whilst reading this book - it is, and I'm positive it's supposed to be this way, full of non-sequitors and jump cuts which make absolutely no sense. Couple that with the bizarre drawings, and the completely nonsensical ending, and you've got a recipe for a migraine right there. There wasn't much of anything about this book that was entertaining - a few bits were intriguing, but it was not by any means "enjoyable." I picked it up because I was curious about Bester's writing, and I stuck through it til the end, just in case there was some hugely clever way he wrapped it all up and made it sensical. Alas, none was there.

I don't believe there are words to describe this book fully - you'd have to have an all-senses lexicon to do the hideousness justice. Y'know, something that could pull in visual, auditory, and olfactory input, in addition to a paragraph or so of the book's text, all in one assaultive packet of data.

Very rarely do I ever think, "sweet mother, _there's_ time I won't ever get back" after reading a book, even a bad one. I'm of the opinion that everything I read enriches me, in one way or another. This one? No way. No enrichment here. I want my time back!!! I mean, I would rather poke myself in the eye with a sharp stick (repeatedly!) than have to read this horrible piece of trash again.

I keep it on-hand just to remind me of how awful it is, just in case (after a few more years pass) I ever think "Gee, maybe I should reread that again in case I missed something." I tell you, I assuredly did miss something, because nothing could suck that hard, but you know what? I don't care! I never want to see the inside of that book again! In fact, I have stapled a photograph of myself pulling my hair out inside the cover, just in case I ever do pick it up.

So, to review: Run away! Put it down! Put it through the shredder! For the love of Mike, DON'T READ IT! Don't waste the time!! Honestly!!!!!!