Burnell, a culture preservationist, travels throughout the world appealing to the masses to consider the detriment of war and human folly, and trying to locate a ten-year piece of his memory that has been stolen and sold as soft porn.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Completing the loose series that Aldiss calls the "Squire Quartet" (Life in the West; Forgotten Life; Remembrance Day), this rather discursive, near-future tale follows the wanderings of Roy Burnell, a British architectural historian. Ten years of Burnell's memories are stolen by EMV ("e-mnemonicvision") thieves in Budapest, and while he tries to resume his life he also searches for a copy of the memory "bullet" that will restore his lost years. His desultory search, broken up by unsought adventure in Central Asia, carries Burnell through an early-21st century world in which life appears very familiar, though many of our current troubles (ethnic wars, poor economies) persist or have gotten worse. The plot is perfunctory, but plot is rarely Aldiss's strong suit or point. What's really offered here is a witty, well-observed travelogue that reveals the state of the world, as well as a fascinating exploration of character. A fin-de-siecle atmosphere pervades; Burnell and those he meets ruminate on the nature of memory and personality, history and human nature, the "moral emptiness" of modern times and their compensatory pleasures. Aldiss weaves these thoughts into a delightful and sometimes harrowing story, proving once again that science fiction can illuminate vital matters of the present as effectively as any genre.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Aldiss' latest is the final volume of his Squire quartet, a series of loosely interconnected novels following many characters through a twenty-first-century landscape of insidious new technology and international political turmoil. Here, the protagonist is Roy Burnell, a British architectural expert whose eclectic researches take him across the shifting borders of a war-torn former Soviet Union. While vacationing in Budapest, Burnell becomes the prey of underground neurosurgeons who skillfully steal and edit his memories to sell on the black market, where the latest entertainment craze involves experiencing selected events from other people's lives. With 10 years of his life now missing, Burnell's only choice is to continue working while tracking down his stolen memories, the loss of which, he discovers to his surprise, has as many benefits as drawbacks. Writing with his usual command of language and his uniquely inventive perspective on humanity's all-too-probable future, Aldiss demonstrates once again why his voice is one of the most respected in science fiction. Carl Hays
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
He still has it,
This review is from: Somewhere East of Life (Paperback)
Generally when you go to read books by authors who are years past their absolute peak works you're not expecting much. Thus far Aldiss has wowed me with NonStop and the Helliconia Trilogy and while this book didn't make me proclaim it as the savior of literature, it's a darn fine novel and can easily go toe to toe with most of the new authors that show up every year or so. The idea here is that poor Roy lives in a very near future in a world much like ours, where he acts as a preserver, taking pictures and documenting old churches and the like before the civil unrest in the area reaches it and it gets bombed into oblivion. In any event, Roy unfortunately gets ten years of his memory stolen by folks who package them into "bullets" and sell them to people who want to experience the lives of other people, currently the newest illegal craze. Roy, adrift and confused, now has to try and put his life back together while dealing with the fact that not only does he have an ex-wife but he doesn't even remember being married at all, while at the same time trying to find his memories so he can get them back. The plot takes a bit of an episodic spin at that point, which is probably the best way to go since it gives Aldiss a chance to show his world off and make some comments about the world we live in. Roy travels from danger spot to danger spot, running into violence and warlords, armies and relics, all the while trying to figure out just what effect the last ten years had on him and just what went wrong with his ex-wife. Definitely engaging, always thought-provoking, this is all too often overlooked in his list of decent books, don't make a mistake and miss this.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A bit disappointing from so great an author.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Somewhere East of Life (Paperback)
The New York Times Book Review said that "Mr. Aldiss is now in competition with nobody but himself." In Somewhere East of Life, Brian Aldiss does the impossible and loses.What stands out is not that Somewhere East of Life is a bad book (it's not), but that it's decidedly "eh". The chapters fall quickly into place; after the first four or five, every other one is as bland as a flat 7-Up. Moreso than that, Aldiss fails to live up to the potential of the story; getting ten years of your life stolen and made into porn brings to mind several other story ideas that would have made Somewhere East of Life a much better book than it is. Perhaps I should leave it at that; it's a decent story soured by the fact that it COULD and SHOULD be better.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Illuminating,
By
This review is from: Somewhere East of Life (Hardcover)
I should say up front that Brian Aldiss connects with me in a way that no other author does. His observations seem to me sharper and his conclusions spot-on. In his Squire Quartet he takes a far more meandering approach which I found most rewarding in this novel. The action is sparse and rarely truly exciting and yet it is a real page-turner. As usual, Aldiss paints an all-too familiar picture of all our lives and hopes and dreams amidst a selfish, uncaring world yet manages to make us feel profoundly good to be a part of it. I've read most of his numerous works and find this to be right near the top of my favourites list, despite being altogether different from the kind of science fiction I generally enjoy.
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