Tom O'Bedlam [Paperback]

Robert Silverberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2001

"I know more than Apollo

Fort oft when he lies sleeping

I behold the starts at mortal wars

And the wounded wekin weeping."

--Tom O' Bedlam's song

Tom, like the medieval Tom O'Bedlam, can't decipher the meaning of the images plaguing his mind. Much like the wondering and mad Tom of the medieval ballad, the Tom O' Bedlam of 2103 doesn't know what to make of the images that keep cluttering his mind. To preserve the last shred of his sanity and keep these never-ending wonders a secret, he feigns insanity. But then a probe that has traveled over four light years away transmits the very pictures that have been haunting Tom's dreams.

In this post-industrial world on the verge of a total collapse, Tom has become humanity's spokesperson to the distant planet that may be his world's salvation.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Some bibliophiles might argue that a book written less than 20 years ago hasn't quite yet earned the title of "classic," but Robert Silverberg's "world in chaos" novel Tom O'Bedlam is being touted as such, here reprinted and updated by the Hugo- and Nebula Award-winning author. It's the "definitive text," Silverberg writes, minus its original editor's revisions, and it tells a haunting tale of wisdom masked as madness and the search for answers to life's great questions.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: Olmstead Press (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587541165
• ISBN-13: 978-1587541162
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,836,656 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars His Masterpiece, March 3, 2002

By 

Movieman (Hampton Roads, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tom O'Bedlam (Mass Market Paperback)

One of the most beautiful, thought-provoking sci-fi novels ever written. To put it quite simply, this book is brilliant; easily ranks as one of Silverberg's best novels...

Written during Robert Silverberg's artistic/creative peak (the 1980's), this book deals with the complex issues of personal faith, spiritualism and religion... it is at times violent, passionate, poetic, sensual, symbolic & profound... and it will leave you speechless...

Silverberg also introduced some of his most sympathetic, likable characters here... anyone who has ever faced an obstacle or dealt with a disability (mental or physical) will surely find inspiration in the character of Tom.

I've had my hardback copy for 15 years; it's one of my all-time favorite novels and I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning what GOOD sci-fi is all about.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting and powerful, April 10, 1999

By 

Joseph F. Mays (Louisville, KY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tom O'Bedlam (Mass Market Paperback)

Probably the best book Silverberg has written, in my opinion. Left me thinking for weeks about the nature of religion and humanity's relationship to the unknowable. It doesn't offer any easy answers, but rather poses the *real* questions better than almost any book I know of -- and knowing what the questions really are is the most important step in finding the answers.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An original concept deftly handled, June 19, 2009

By 

Scott FS (Sacramento, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Tom O'Bedlam (Paperback)

This is a very different book by the science-fiction master, Robert Silverberg. It's set in a world that has been decimated by war and a declining civilization, peppered with abandoned cities and ruin countryside. The titular character wanders over California (including a destroyed 'great city' Sacramento, a case may be made that it's already well on its way to ruin...). He sees fantastic visions of a beautiful, but utterly alien landscape, peopled with haunting aliens.

I don't think this is Silverberg's best work (The Majipoor Chronicles, Nightwings, Sailing to Byzantium, Dying Inside), but that still puts it well above the norm.

Tom O'Bedlam refers to a famous poem about a wandering man, probably crazy, definitely a beggar, with a dangerous air about him, claiming to be late of Bedlam (the prototypical mental hospital in England). Mr. Silverberg took inspiration from the poem since he cites passages of said in the book.

In any case, the thing I liked best about the novel was the fantastic imagery of what appears to be a very advanced civilization that comes to Tom. The visions become more and more real and distinct as time goes on, and they appear to want to use Tom as a weird sort of liaison between the fantastic and the profane of Earth.

Recommended. It's a fresh concept with a few disturbing elements thrown in.