Great Wheel [Hardcover]

Ian R. Macleod (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 1997

Although Father John has lost his faith, he gamely administers medicine and prayers to the people of a Borderer town in what was once northern Africa. He wonders why so many of them are dying of bludrut-myeloid leukemia-and suspects that the koiyl leaf, chewed as an opiate, may be the reason. Investigating, the priest from Europe encouneters politics and poverty, finds the love of a Borderer woman, succumbs to the power of a drug, questions a first world grown too perfect in its biotechnology-and at last makes his peace with the pain of personal loss.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Set in a future in which humankind is served by a multitude of sophisticated machines, MacLeod's accomplished first novel describes a world much different from ours yet instantly recognizable in all important ways. Father John, sent to what was once Northern Africa, labors gamely to heal the sick and bring the word of Christ into the lives of the pagan Borderers, natives forced to live outside the boundaries of European civilization. Noting that a large number of the natives are dying of the same disease, myeloid leukemia, he starts to investigate a native plant that the people use as an intoxicant. Although banning the koyil leaf would seem to be a logical solution to reducing the large number of deaths, Father John encounters realpolitik, which dictates that moral decisions are secondary to maintaining the status quo. Father John's life is complicated by nagging doubts about the validity of his faith and his attraction to a Borderer woman. MacLeod's somewhat bleak vision of the future is energized by his evocative writing and his ability to create realistic characters who struggle mightily with questions of belief, love, life, and death.
-?Nancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

By about 2170, the Endless City occupies the entire coast of North Africa; its Borderers live in poverty and squalor under a perpetual cloud generated by global warming and climate control. Though Father John Alston (``Fatoo''), of the Pandera presbytery, has lost much of his faith, he continues to offer the Borderers spiritual comfort and such medical aid as much as he is able (his own implants keep him safe from Borderer ailments, but the reverse isn't true). The Borderers chew a leaf, koiyl, similar to coca, that John suspects may cause cancer. Helped by Laurie Kalmar, a European-educated Borderer computer-net expert, he finds that the leaf from one particular source is dangerously radioactive. After he and Laurie become lovers, John visits home--where his once- genius brother, Hal, having monkeyed with his implants, has lain in a deathly coma for 20 years--and decides to leave the priesthood. Upon his return to the Endless City, his relationship with Laurie collapses; he tracks down the distribution of the deadly koiyl, which he begins to use himself, falls ill, returns home, recovers, allows Hal to die and, recognizing that his life is a spiritual journey, recovers his faith. Despite the highly unlikely extrapolation from now to then, especially the improbably secular North Africans: a thoughtful, sometimes wrenching, noteworthy debut. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 1st edition (August 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0151002932
• ISBN-13: 978-0151002931
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,453,251 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and engaging, but too wordy, August 2, 2002

By 

Michael (Guilford, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Great Wheel (Hardcover)

This novel is a triumph for first time novelist Ian R. Macleod. The plot development is top notch, matching the character progression. The best thing about this novel is also it's downfall, the detailed description. Although it is obvious Macleod has a talent for imagery, his used of adverbs can become trying on the reader, forcing him/her too slow down and find out what it is they just read at times. I recommend this this work to all, just watch out for long sentences with atom bombs of interesting words.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The sacred and the profane, August 6, 2000

By 

Robert Bragaw (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Great Wheel (Hardcover)

In a world where viruses are manipulated to protect the first worlders, and a leaf is chewed to control the third worlders, it is comforting to note that faith exists at all, and that the delving into questions of faith is still a worthy topic for discussion. The loss and recovery of faith is the most basic of human stories, which is why this book appealed to me so much. Could it be that the conflict of faith is exascerbated by the separation of the sacred and the profane? Are the concepts of sacredness and profanity useless societal constructs that when torn down lead to a much fuller realization of the potential of the human spirit? This book begins to examine these crucial questions.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well respected short story author's first novel., August 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Great Wheel (Hardcover)

Stories by macleod have been in various yr's best for years. Sadly people don't subscribe ,or even know about, magazines like Asimov's (www.asimovs.com) or interzone. This is considered to be one of the best 1st sf novels of its year. Very British ,with scot elements, but some say the african cultures more detailed. It describes a world ravaged by eco-collapse where 1st & 3rd worlders are almost untouchables to each other. Probably worth a try, but I think macleod's on the literary end of the sf spectrum so it's probably not easy reading.