Shame of Man (Geodyssey, Volume 2) (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "The Great Rift of East Africa is a fascinating region..." (more)
Key Phrases: hunt ape, water folk, ebony horse, Desert Flower, Seren Jaoch, Captain Ittai (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

That Anthony has attempted to write a multicultural work is laudable, if bemusing. Yet Anthony clearly cares about this book and, as in Isle of Women, the first volume in this series, imbues its serious, ambitious text with the frenetic action and joie de vivre for which he is known. Covering several thousand years, Anthony presents sets of similarly named characters in assorted situations and cultures. The always left-handed but never sinister Hugh and his wife Ann (and variant names thereon) are the good couple, while Bub and Sis do ill from Neanderthal times up through the near-future. Anthony can't quite manage to present any character who comes off as truly evil-Bub never rises above caricature, while Sis has several redemptive moments-but the effort here is honest, one whose spiritual antecedent appears to be Will Cuppy's The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody. There are moments when the Anthony that many condemn comes through, mostly in the early sections (for example, when a woman whose baby is killed before her eyes immediately has sex with the killer), but, overall, this is an encouraging work. There's enough action to satisfy Anthony's Xanth readers, while those who stopped reading him around the time of Macroscope may be pleasantly surprised by what they will find here.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Spanning the ages from humanity's primate roots to the 21st century, a series of connected stories traces the development of civilization and its environmental repercussions in this companion volume to Isle of Women (Tor Bks., 1994). The use of similar names for the protagonists in each tale evokes the universality of the human experience, while the author's choices of locale-the Orkney Isles of 1500 B.C., the Levantine Coast of 1000 B.C., southern Japan of the third century A.D.-provide a refreshing smorgasbord of cultures. Filled with fascinating anthropological speculation, Anthony's latest novel showcases both his passionate convictions and his storytelling talent. This deserves a wide readership.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 380 pages
• Publisher: Tor (Tom Doherty); First Edition edition (October 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312858116
• ISBN-13: 978-0312858117
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,907,348 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 2 in The Geodyssey Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Illuminates eight million years of history, April 13, 2001

By	Arinwalt - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shame of Man (Geodyssey) (Mass Market Paperback)

The second Geodyssey volume from Piers Anthony, 'Shame of Man' follows the lives of Hugh and Ann, illuminating as they do eight million years of history. The self-contained formula of 'Isle of Woman' is maintained; however, characters from that novel usefully return as occasional backdrop. The scenery remains wonderfully varied, with the narrative opening in the Great Rift Valley and continuing as far afield as Vietnam, Newfoundland and Scotland's Orkney Islands.The strongest of the twenty scenarios occurs 3,000 years ago, around the time of King David. Anthony's choice of Philistine characters here illustrates his approach: he doesn't always avoid the history textbooks' ground, but is nonetheless loath to retread conventional paths. Thus we see Japan visited in the third century AD, and on Genghis Khan's rise to fame we see an enemy's colossal misjudgment where other authors might substitute triumphant slaughter. The requisite Mediterranean setting is not Rome but New Carthage; similarly, when the story touches down in 1862 the siege is not of Richmond but of Shanghai, where millions died in the Taiping rebellion.Anthony expresses concern that global catastrophe lurks around the corner, and this is brought home to the reader most clearly in the microcosm of Easter Island (neatly sandwiched between Genghis and Scheherazade). Indeed, even the characters gradually become aware of it. The future of the sensible ones is glimpsed in Tasmania half a century hence. The use to which they put their technology, and their need to do so, is rich food for thought.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It changed my outlook on life. Highly recommended!, April 20, 1999

By	[e-mail] (CLeveland, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shame of Man (Geodyssey) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book really makes you think about how our insticts guide us and human existence in general. It caused me to realize a lot of things I had taken for granted. Excellent!

4.0 out of 5 stars 2nd Book in Series , August 7, 2008

By	Shannon M. Mcgee "Confuzzled Books" (PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shame of Man (Geodyssey) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is sequel to Isle of Woman, which I did like a lot This one was good but not as good as the first. Shame of Man mostly revolved around the character Hue, or Hugh or other variations of his was used also. Revolving around one character made it different from the first book because the first had two main characters and it was more of a love story. This one was more about struggles of man versus evil or man vs. survival. There was more history and mythology involved in this also, which I found in parts were kinda of dry and hard for my thought process. I had a problem with trying to figure out in each chapter reincarnation, who was who because their names changed slightly each time to fit the area a time period. It also had characters from the first book in the series so I was trying to remember them as well and sometimes coming up blank. Then there was new character to which I would try to figure out if I had met them yet. So that made it a little frustrating. I still like the book and the thought of the way it is written but whether I will read the third one in the series, Hope of Earth, is up in the air. On one side I really liked Isle of Woman but on the other Shame of Man was only so so. Maybe it was just the fact that the story was man vs. evil and that there is always a balancing act between the two and not yay good won! I don't know resembles life to much for me. Yet if it had been yay good wins I probably would have said predicable.