Customer Reviews

Up the Walls of the World

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James Tiptree Jr. tells a fascinating tale of bizarre aliens and flawed humans in the novel "Up the Walls of the World". On Earth, a burned-out doctor leads a government project to test a group of higly dysfunctional human telepaths. On the wind-world of Tyree, a group of aliens try to stave off the destruction of their sun by a creature know as the Destroyer. To save themselves, they could jump into the minds of the human psychics, but should they? Should they sacrifice the lives of a few people to save their own race from destruction? Such moral questions lie at the heart of Tiptree's work. Tiptree (aka Alice Sheldon) does a fantastic job of portraying the pain and pathos of the humans, and the society and culture of the Tyree, all with the intense, poetic prose that she is so well known for. A deep and beautiful work.

This book is way too complex to do justice in 1000 words or less, but trust me, it is a great work. I love the way everything comes together in the end, with each of the characters getting both what they want, and their just desserts! The style is classic Tiptree, poetic and beautiful. When my son was a newborn and required three feedings a night, I used to nurse him while reading this book...and I read it four times, and found something fresh in it each time.

Tiptree employs lyrical, gorgeous prose throughout this novel of destruction and rebirth. There are telepathy and psychic phenomena, alien body-snatching and parental love, youthful energy and the exhaustion of old age. So many themes resonate throughout this gorgeously written, ambitiously imagined, and perfectly realized novel. A must-read for all fans of science fiction.