Special Deliverance [Import] [Paperback]

CLIFFORD D. SIMAK (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: METHUEN; New Ed edition (1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0413535606
• ISBN-13: 978-0413535603
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,416,346 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simak's _Pilgrims's Progress_, August 28, 2002

By 

OAKSHAMAN "oakshaman" (Algoma, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Special Deliverance (Mass Market Paperback)

This little allegorical novella is Simak's _Pilgrim's Progress_. He is using simplified symbolic characters to explore the human condition. He dumps them into a strange world on an involuntary journey to solve a puzzle for survival, with no instructions. All is mystery, but with a hint that an omnipotent (but unknown) power must be behind it all. Sounds alot like life, doesn't it?

As for the symbolism of the characters, the Brigadier (from a world of perpetual, mechanised warfare) is a extraverted thinker. The Parson (from a grim theocratic world) is an extraverted feeler. The Engineer (from a stable, but static, world where the British Empire never ended) is an introverted thinker. The Poet (from a world of perpetual Greek rennaisance) is an introverted feeler. Altogether, they represent the divisions of the entire human race. They come across as pretty obnoxoius at times, but that is because they are all "unbalanced" aspects of a whole and healthy personality. Simak's view here is that we need to integrate all these views, if not in each of our own personalities, then in one society by recognising and appreciating each others strengths and working together.

Oh yes, the other two principle characters are both classic "outsiders." The main character is a professor/reporter type that principly observes, occationally advises, but has no real social power. The Robot, is also an outsider and represents the working class- the people who do the actual labor, but who have no actual control or power in the society. It is interesting that these outsiders are the two most decent and sympathetic of the cast.

All-in-all, a most satisfying little morality play.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, if somewhat naive, June 25, 2001

By 

Mark M. Fox - See all my reviews

This review is from: Special Deliverance (Mass Market Paperback)

While the main action of the book takes place on a kind of a board-game world where the superior race of non-humans representing the sort of the galactic Greenpeace conducts trials to see which humans from countless alternative Earths qualify to make a fresh start at bettering themselves, the actual message of the book lies deeper than solving alien puzzles. The adventures of the band of complete strangers trying to survive in an unfamiliar and, for the most part, unfriendly world underscores the importance of interpersonal communications and the need for certain character traits without which an individual cannot survive and live a meaningful life. The book is an engaging mixture of Freudian and Darwinian concepts, although the characters are a bit cartoonish, and the narration is a bit flat at times.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly Special!, April 11, 2004

By 

Waldo7 (Gardner, Ks United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Special Deliverance (Mass Market Paperback)

This is my favorite s/f novel of all- much like Tolkien - a must read . The story works at several levels; you are simply absorbed. It still has the same magic every time I read it.
So good it hurts!!