Customer Reviews

Ralph's Journey

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

 

 

I bought this novel a few months ago and finally got around to reading it, boy was I in for a surprise, as it has excellent character development, plot, and great writing style. The book begins when Ralph, the main character, has his car break down in front of Honest John's used car lot, back in the 1950's. There begins a long lasting friendship, which leads to many things. In this book you will read about the new and used car business, love, the promise of current and future science, and the meaning of life, with the underlying theme calling us to question everything. I love the philosophy of the main characters, clearly ahead of it's time.

This book will keep your interest, in fact, if it was'nt for having to stop to eat or work, I would have read it in one sitting. If you only read a handful of books this year, I would certainly include this one. It is one of those rare books, that when I finished reading it, I mulled it over in my mind a day or two afterwards, as it's message was so powerful. To me, the only flaw in this novel was that the ending seemed to be a trifle rushed.

I found this book interesting, not so much as a piece of fiction, though it is entertaining as that, but because of its unusual philosophical perspective. Death has always been a fact of life and something we've had to accept whether we liked it or not. This book explores the contrary premise that death may be overcome scientifically, through future medical and other advances. (A relative handful of other books, both fiction and nonfiction, also deal with this theme.) For persons not able to survive to this future there's cryonics--having your remains frozen at clinical death and stored for the day that science can both reanimate you and restore your youthful health. Sound crazy? Yes, but a lot of science-fictional themes are more outlandish and less plausible scientifically. In the story Ralph and his fiancee Becky, who are young people of the 1950s as the story opens and religious skeptics, decide on the cryonics option. It ends up working for them but they face some interesting challenges before and after. It should be understood that this is a book about getting to the future more than having gotten there, a straight fictional piece with a science fictional twist at the end. Most of the action concerns Ralph's life in the 20th century and his efforts to reach the future (his "journey"), not what transpires when he does finally succeed. This is an emphasis I appreciate since it relates to the concerns of here and now. A look at the recent past I found nostalgic (betraying my middle age, but so be it), and a glimpse into a future in some ways strange, but overall reassuring.

This book will keep you reading. It made me want to learn more about Cryonics.

The description of this book as presented here on Amazon and on the back of the book all take place in the last 20 pages! Up to then it's the story of a car salesman. I thought the extensive character build-up was to give depth to the people after they are revived, but all they do is say Hi! With a fasinating subject like this why on earth would you devote almost the entire book to the story of a car salesmans life? I felt ripped off.

I found this book interesting, not so much as a piece of fiction, though it is entertaining as that, but because of its unusual philosophical perspective. Death has always been a fact of life and something we've had to accept whether we liked it or not. This book explores the contrary premise that death may be overcome scientifically, through future medical and other advances. (A relative handful of other books, both fiction and nonfiction, also deal with this theme.) For persons not able to survive to this future there's cryonics--having your remains frozen at clinical death and stored for the day that science can both reanimate you and restore your youthful health. Sound crazy? Yes, but a lot of science-fictional themes are more outlandish and less plausible scientifically. Anyway, in the story Ralph and his fiancee Becky, who are young people of the 1950s as the story opens and religious skeptics, decide on the cryonics option. It ends up working for them but they face some interesting challenges before and after. A look at the recent past I found nostalgic (betraying my middle age, but so be it), and a glimpse into a future in some ways strange, but overall reassuring.