Customer Reviews

The Ugly Little Boy/the Widget, the Wadget, and Boff

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I enjoyed Asimov's novella Ugly Little boy & so I tried the novel. The authors ,I'm guessing, did an intersting approach to collaboration. Rather than trying to merge their different styles (something that would've been very difficult) they ,once again I'm presuming, wrote 2 stories & connected them. The Neanderthal story of where the child came from is pure silverberg, the future tale of where the boy ended up is a great deal like the original novella so it's pure Asimov. This works because asimov's original story was about the child being "a fish out of water" & silverberg does a good job of showing the "waters" he came from. Therefore the contrasting styles are almost necessary. In novel form it becomes a story of a child going from a Silverbergian world (Which in my experience means beautiful, passionate, melancholy, dangerous, & in this case primitive) to an asimovean one (Which I'm more experienced with: rational, shiny, techy, & in this case a bit cold). This approach makes the contrast between the primitive & the futuristic more real. It will please fans of prehistoric romance & futuristic fiction. Also it's just a great story about being thrust to a place where you don't fit in, but where you find people to care about anyway. Recommended & I wouldn't mind other collaborations using this technique. If ,of course, they really did use the technique I described. I'm almost certain they did, however.

Two of our most famous sci-fi authors, Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg got together to produce a great "what if" story exploring how technology of a make-believe 21st-century lab could go far enough to bring right back a child from 40,000 years ago to live with a caregiver in a bubble.

Miss Fellowes, who had been hired under very strict regulations to watch the prehistoric boy, had a kind of a sharp tongue and sometimes acted like a demented soccer mom, especially when nosey scientists and the media eagerly flocked over to gawk at the kid and make a big fuss over him. But she had fallen into love with the strange-looking Neandertal child and thus would never want to part with him.

The little boy named "Timmie" had turned out to be such a charming little angel in spite of his "unsightly" prehistoric appearance. And he had also ended up facing a very uncertain fate, especially with a scientist who brought him over, yet didn't intend to keep him forever, an overzealous child advocate who screamed bloody "child abuse", and a worried nurse who feared that he wouldn't survive in a prehistoric environment after a few years of learning to read and eat with a fork.

In addition to Timmie's heartwarming adventure in the modern times, we also get glimpses of the prehistoric tribe that he had left behind, which was now facing its own dangers forty thousand years back.

Asimov in his introduction to the short story, put it as a "tear-jerker" and his second favoutite story. It is my all-time favourite though - a wonderful read. The novel is good - there is some expansion on the Neanderthal times from where the boy is brought as a specimen to today's world. But what is truly relevant here is the way the maternal feelings grow in Nurse ???(whats her name) and how mutual love develops between the two. The finale is brilliant. I would recomment all to read this one. There is nothing special in the "Silververg" part as I see it. The short story of Asimov is what carries the thing through - and so, you may as well read the short story. Its his finest tale.

"The Ugly Little Boy" is a book about a little boy named Timmie (Skyfire Face), who got kidnapped from his native tribe and was shipped to the future. Even though a Neanderthal, Timmie managed to master all the abilities a modern boy his age should have. With the help of his dedicated nurse/mother he even learned to read. But the media didn't care; to them he was a simple ape-boy and nothing else. It just proves that prejudice is stronger than acceptance. I recommend this boook very much to readers of all ages.

This review is for the Sturgeon short story, not the Asimov cover. (It is a double, with the 2 stories backed-to-back in a paperback.) I first read The {widget},The {wodget}, and Boff many many centuries ago. Even then I knew that it said something important about the human condition, and that that was it's intent. I was too young though to really get it. Twice over the years I've tried to find it, and finally, thanks to Amazon, I now own my own copy. The setting for the story is dated, as are the social strata depicted, but the real message is not. It is a very short read, but one of Theodore Sturgeon's best.

The [Widget], the [Wadget], and Boff

Little Robin Martin is three years old and has lived for as long as he can remember in a small boarding house. The other people who live there are to him a part of his environment which he accepts totally. There is of course his mother Sue Martin who works as a nightclub entertainer. There is Sam and "Bitty' Bittelman who own the boarding house, quietly look after their guests and pay special attention to Robin when his mother is asleep or working. There is Anthony O'Banion, a lawyer from a 'good' family, who has become Robin's special buddy. There is Phil Halvorsen who works in vocational guidance and has a very observant and inquisitive mind. There is Mary Haunt who works as a secretary at the local radio station, but who has her heart set on being a movie star. There is Reta Schmidt a nervous and uptight school librarian. Then there is Robin's special friends "Boff" and "Googie" who nobody else sees but who he believes in with a certainty of a child. Observing all of these people are two aliens who wish to know if the human species uses "Synapse Beta sub Sixteen", which is vital to long term species survival. In order to speed up their scientific work the aliens decide, against their better judgment, to run an experiment, so they tinker with their "new-model [widget]" and their "[miserable] [primitive] [battery]-powered [wadget]" and commence meddling with the lives and minds of their human subjects.

Theodore Sturgeon is one of the 'classic' authors of science fiction and horror, but he is unfortunately now largely ignored. Here is an excellent chance to remedy any ignorance you may have and take up my own thirst for the 'oldies-but-goodies'. In this novella Sturgeon delves into the human mind. He depicts the struggles that make us all to fragile, yet which we overcome day by day in our efforts to grow. There may not really be a "Synapse Beta sub Sixteen" to magically help us solve these problems, yet we never the less do solve them, sometimes coming to the answer unconsciously, even at the snap of a finger. The psychologist Rollo M ay has in fact written the book <The courage to create> about the unusual phenomena of suddenly having the answer to a complex problem drop fully formed into ones consciousness. By writing on this theme of human consciousness Sturgeon raises the work far above those science fiction stories that simply rely on depict advanced technology as a background for adventure. This novella says something to us about who we are as people. It speaks to our real lives, rather than just our fantasy world.

Sturgeon keeps the story interesting by, each chapter, telling a new story about one member of the boarding house. This way we are constantly presented with new material to capture our imagination. This way we also learn, at a convenient pace, about the backgrounds of the five boarders. Handled in another way the story might have been too complex for the reader to understand and gain an empathy for so many different people. Sturgeon writes with wit and sympathy for all his characters (including the aliens), but also includes tension, surprise and high drama in the narrative. Being just sixteen short chapters long this novella would make a good choice if you have just one day free for reading.



The Ugly Little Boy

Miss Fellows is a nurse and very businesslike in her profession. She has answered a job advertisement from Stasis, Inc. but during the interview realizes that she still does not know exactly what the business does or what her job will entail. The only requirement seems to be that she be able to look after a child, any child, even an ugly one. Miss Fellows has dealt with disfigurement and feels she is competent for the job. Immediately after the interview she is taken by Dr. Hoskins, the head of the company, to the place where her work will commence. Here she is to witness the final experiment culminating fifty years work. She finds herself looking from above down into a suite of basically empty rooms. There are men near her working on electronic machines. At first there is a hubbub of voices speaking into microphones, then silence, then the sudden wail of a child. Miss Fellows is propelled down a stairwell and into the empty rooms and there she finds the child, but no ordinary child. Miss Fellows finds she is to look after a three year old Neanderthal who has been whisked away from the frightening past into the safe, but sterile, future. The experiment has been a brilliant success, but there is one catch. The Neanderthal child can never leave the few rooms where the experimental conditions remain finely in balance.

Isaac Asimov is an excellent writer and this long short-story is no exception. Here Asimov takes up the theme of the coldness and unfeeling calculations of science when it is run as a business, motivated by profit rather than a desire to benefit man. We all can maintain a sense of our own professionalism, but is this an excuse to stop feeling, to stop being human? As with Sturgeon's novella above this story simply uses technology as a background to a wholly human, and self-revealing tale. We learn something about who we are and the world we live in. This is science fiction at its best. Although this story was first published way back in 1958 it is still amazingly relevant.

In just sixty pages Asimov manages to make us feel for his characters, growing as they grow, building to the final emotional climax. The reader really understands Miss Fellows, the Neanderthal boy and Dr. Hoskins. Without preaching in any way Asimov makes his point wholly through the action and dialogue. We are easily carried along by Asimov's narrative. This story would serve admirably if you want to be entertained for two hours, or so.

This book reads as if it were written by two people who never talked to each other. Two stories -- one with great prose and characterization, very readable. I can guess who wrote that part. The other boring prose, tedious plot, and unreadable -- after I while, I just skipped those parts. I have never read Silverberg before, and I am not going to, after this. The 3 stars are for what I think is Asimov's part.

"A remarkably moving and chilling tale of what happens when past and present collide..." A charming and nostalgic trip into the past when SciFi really had a plot...

The Ugly Little Boy is a book that was recommended to me by a local librarian. Although I did borrow this that day, I did comment to her that sci-fi was not my favorite. Boy, was I wrong! The book gripped me from the beginning paragraph and held me right until the end. I found it to be just magnificent! If this is sci-fi, I want more! It has been at least three full years since I've read it but when I heard of your review contest I knew that I had to review this book. I would recommend this to anyone even if they swear not to like reading sci-fi. As far-fetched as the concept of the book seems to be, the authors managed to not only make it believable but maybe even possible! If I were Siscle and Ebert I'd give it 'two thumbs up!'

This is a book about a woman who becomes the 'mother' of a neanderthal boy and how she copes with the differences between him and the other children and also how the world is still full of prejudice and unjustness, even in the future. It is a really good book and I suggest you read it. If you have read this book and like it, I suggest you try the book Eva, because it is a lot like this book. (Also if you read and liked Eva you would most probably like this book