Customer Reviews

On Wings of Song

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

 

 

For me, "On Wings Of Song" is among one of the best books I've ever read. It transcends such concepts of genre and manages to become something quite different. This book should appeal to all, but especially the young as its themes of escape, rebellian and success deal explictly with the perils of growing up. It is interesting too how Disch paints such a division between American states in the future, but it is not done in usual future prediction style. This book will make you think about where you're heading in life.

Disch has done it again! Surpassed himself with this gem of a book! Daniel Weinreb is a creation beyond belief. Never have I sympathised so much with a character. This book is so subtly layered that everytime I read it, I find something new. The concept is original and I'm envious that I didn't think of it! Disch's style is also enviable. He is everything a writer should aspire to. Certainly this is his best novel. Disch is a Maestro, the language is at his command. It's fabulous the way he mocked Norberg at the end of the novel - however frustrating the ending was. If Disch is reading this: Did he ever get to fly? This novel deserves ten stars out of five

This was Disch's first SF novel in a long time when it came out in '79. Some consider it to be his best work, but I don't know about that. I certainly thnk it's great, and that it deserved the 1980 John W. Campbell award for best novel of the year that it won, though. It's a shame it didn't win a Hugo or a Nebula, this is far superior to Arthur C. Clarke's "The Fountains of Paradise."

If you liked 334, you'll probably like this. Disch's greatest strength has always been his social commentary. This book is an excellent example.

In addition, recently a lot of books by this publisher (Carrol & Graf) have been going out of print (BOO!). So you might not have long to get your hands on it in a normal book store.

Still, you should read Camp Concentration first, to see if you like Disch's style. If you like it, go for his other two classics (this one and 334).

There is no way not to enjoy this clever book "On Wings of Song". I found Daniel Weinreb to be a 21st century Holden Caufield, from "Catcher in the Rye". Life on the inner city edge also reminded me of Denis Johnson's "Jesus' Son".

Disch's future America, a politically divided nation of secular excess on either coast, divided by a conservative theocracy in the middle, is almost too real to be funny.

On another level the book is about enlightenment and Daniel's efforts to reach nirvana, where the soul becomes a fairy and zones out for centuries contemplating electric motors. Daniel is also totally devoted to his young wife as she lays in a coma while her soul flits and flirts around the world in a state of ecstasy which he only imagines (until the final pages of the book).

Someone needs to make this classic science fiction work into a movie. Colin Ferrell or Matt Dillion would both do a great job playing Daniel in his quest to leave conservative religious middle America and not only escape to less repressive societies but also to experience the state of being a fairy, divorced from the human body and in a state of perpetual enlightenment.

Disch traverses the spectrum in his subjects, but but not in his skills. He is consistently top notch. In my opinion, this is his best. It falls somewhere between The Priest and The Brave Little Toaster. If you enjoyed "334", I am sure this will please you even more. Although it is science fiction, I am truly loath to put it in that category, because it trancends the genre. It is a brilliant piece of work.

On Wings of Song was one of my favorite reads as a young adult as it severely questioned many of the Midwestern sensibilities to which I was accustomed and brought home the fact that America was big enough in which to "soar around". This was originally serialized in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, which was where I first read and enjoyed it, and it was gratifying to know it had garnered recognition and awards in the science fiction community.

Though the novel makes reference to "fairies" and is where I had first learned of castrati (Ouch!), I'm a little taken aback by the notion seemingly proffered by a few that this is a "gay" novel. I'm as straight as an arrow and thoroughly enjoyed this novel of sheer wish-fulfillment, social commentary, and escapism. Whether or not many of its elements might be metaphorical to the gay lifestyle is immaterial.

I had been a fan of Disch's literate writing mainly through his fine short story collections, though I was generally put off by his novels Camp Concentration and 334 (I might have to revisit them). Despite its fantastic elements, On Wings of Song is a relevant and accessible novel with an adventurous, talented, and caring young protagonist--a fine read from beginning to end that will hopefully remain in print.

First off, there's been commentary that this might be a gay novel. It's a bit hard to refute from at least the cover of the book I had that had a grinning young male in some flighty outfit flying around Manhattan. It's a bit of an awkward cover, but has the World Trade Towers on it that we all know are no longer there. Reading through the book, there's nothing that comes out definitively that would make it gay, although there's nothing that refutes it either. There are a number of adult passages with same sex sexual situations, and these make up a good portion of the theme of the book, more so than the science fiction aspects, but nothing that wouldn't make this a broad genre spectrum novel, even for mature young adults, which does seem to be the main target audience.

However even with the above, don't let that, or the upbeat title, or the chippy cover fool you into thinking this is a gay (1920's gay), happy novel. Actually it's quite a morose, depressing story. One cannot help but think how much of this is autobiographical since it's quite a bitter story as well. The 1970's was a time of dystopian theme's in numerous science fiction novels and this is no exception. It attacks Iowa quite specifically, I don't know what it is about Iowa at that time. It was used as a dark ages conclave in more than a few novels. I've been to Iowa, and it's a state like any other state in the union. In fact, the town around the University of Iowa was quite sexy, something that `visionary' novels didn't see coming. Also the heavy dystopian aspects may have been more in place in an early 70's novel, but at the end of the 70's typically this was wearing off. In the book there is some commentary of hope and changes for the better, but this just was a time that became worse for the protagonist. For a genre, science fiction, that's supposed to be visionary they really missed the boat on the optimism and economic upturn of the 80's. It seems that that blindsided everyone, except perhaps for President Reagan. Although there will still be those that'll disparage the spectacular performance of the stock market of the 80's, then will plug the performance of the stock market of the go-go 90's.

After the protagonist's time in a heavy handed Iowa, he spends a fair amount of time as a bohemian or of the glitterati in New York City and oscillates between destitution and fame & fortune. (For those interested in this aspect of the story without the sci-fi aspects consider renting The Extra Man.) What ironically does not occur much, despite the cover's title, is flying... whether on `wings of song' or wings of anything. So the science fiction connection here is thin. The flying on wings of song represents a joyous emergence of the soul out of the body, and this experience is so intoxicating that many do not return to their bodies for quite a while, if at all. There are some legal issues with the soulless body left behind that the novel delves into. The terminology used for this flying soul lets one wonder about the metaphor for flying although the most obvious cannot help to be considered. These souls are called `fairies' and are smallish winged creatures, think of Tinkerbell, although not able to be viewed by anyone. However, not everyone is able to fly; it apparently takes the right balance of relaxation, artistic ability, chi, whatever to achieve flight. So the bohemian/glitterati lifestyle predominates with the concept of flying coming out now and then.

It seems the few reviewers here read this novel as a child and it really touched them. I cannot comment on that, but this novel hasn't really held up well to the test of time, so a first time reading or a re-reading may not be as enjoyable as it may have been. It's mildly compelling, so it may be a decent read if found cheap at a book sale or while stuck on a layover, but not quite at the level to seek out. 3 stars, 359 pages.

This book is best read by young people with active imaginations. Thomas Disch's talent and way with a phrase carries such readers through an interesting, original plot, and vivid characterizations. Many of his sentences indeed have the same impact as a jazz phrasing, as one print reviewer said.

Coming back to it in midlife, the book impresses only with the above technical aspects. The escapist theme now seems immature, and the oppressive society of the midwest from which the hero escapes is just Disch--and a thousand other transplants thinking that they are destined for bigger things--sticking his tongue out in the rear view mirror on his way to The Big Time. At the end, the villain guns down the hero, and then recites the Pledge of Allegiance. How silly is that? People who imagine themselves to be the brains or conscience of America really should lay off mocking people who are America's backbone.

The soaring dude on the cover of my old copy looks a lot like Tom Cruise, though...Maybe we'll see a movie of this someday.

Disch's over-inflated diction plods on for an impossibly padded 350-something pages. Disch appears to have gargled a thesaurus and then regurgitated it all onto paper.
Although, to be fair, "Song" does bring up certain philosophical questions, such as, "If God is just, why did he allow this book to be published?" or "Does Disch's prose truly stop time or simply make it feel that way?" or "Will 'Song' fit under that stilted leg on the picnic table so it stops wobbling?"