Dear me!
🤬
In a far future, some human beings have developed the ability to “jaunte” – to travel long distances by the power of their mind. This has led to major changes in how society operates, as rich men have to find ever more elaborate ways of securing their properties against jaunting invaders, and of keeping their womenfolk safe from potential rapists jaunting into their rooms at night. For some reason (I have no idea why – maybe he told me, maybe he didn’t – I don’t care) this has all led to interplanetary war between the inner and outer settlements in the solar system. In the midst of all this, Gully Foyle is trapped all alone on a wrecked ship in the middle of space and when another ship passes by and refuses to rescue him, he swears revenge.
This has very high ratings on Goodreads and lots of people claiming it’s the best book ever written in the history of this galaxy or any other. I guess they must all like following a bunch of despicable people doing despicable things for no logical reason. Some SF novels suggest that humanity will improve as we continue to evolve – others, and this is one of them, suggest that humanity has no redeeming features whatsoever and will gradually revert to a sort of savagery. For some reason, the latter seem to be respected more than the former, in the era of modern SF anyway. This, I now remember, is why I hate most SF from the late 50s, 60s, and 70s. Bad taste pulp.
Gully rapes the first woman to put in an appearance in the book. This is pretty much a signal for the casual misogyny that runs throughout. All the women are possessions and sex toys, rising or falling in the social order by virtue of whose daughters they are, who they sleep with, or who they are raped by. They are not all victims though – they are just as vile and vicious as the men on the whole. Torture and murder are the norm in this society, not to mention genocide. How can any reader possibly care about the outcome for any of these characters? Beats me. I certainly felt that they would all be improved by death.

Trying to see what all the 5-starrers (mostly men) saw in this that I didn’t, it appears that in fact they love all the things I hated. They love that Gully is disgusting – it seems to enthral them that he is viciously violent without compassion or regret. Some of them suggest that he becomes good in the end – hmm, depends on your definition of good. They buy into the collapse of society brought about by jaunting, as if it’s to be expected that if we could break into other people’s houses and rape their daughters, we would. They seem to understand why jaunting has led to interplanetary war – odd, since the point of jaunting is that no one has found a way to jaunte through space. They claim it’s an SF version of The Count of Monte Cristo – I haven’t read it, so I’ll take that as a warning not to.
Clearly I’m not on the right wavelength for this one, and I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. If you want to read about a vile man doing vile things in a vile society, highly recommended!
I would have taken convincing to want to read this, and I’m very happy to be convinced to not even put it on the list. Enjoyed your review though!
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Ha, I must say I’m delighted to have finished the SF section of my Classics Club list and there are very few of them on my second list! I’m afraid it’s just not a genre I can get properly into – not after about 1950 anyway…
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This sounds awful (and like you say reminiscent of so much of what’s worst about the SF of this period) – I’m eyeing my CC list nervously now as I have another of Bester’s novels on there.
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I’d forgotten why I stopped reading SF many years ago, but including a few on my CC list has really reminded me! Anything after about 1950 is quite likely to have this effect on me, with very few exceptions. Hopefully the one you have will work better for you than this did for me! 😀
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Yuck! This book sounds horrible. Even the cover is ugly.
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All the stuff about the facial tattooing really annoyed me too – what we’d now call “cultural appropriation” and not at all in a good way!
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Oh, my, FictionFan! Just……..Yikes! I’m sorry to hear you were so disappointed in this one, but honestly, I can see why! I’m no expert (at all!) in SF, but this one just does sound terrible. Thanks for cherry-picking.
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Ugh! These modern SFs that I included on my Classics Club list have reminded me why I stopped reading SF years ago! There are some notable exceptions, but on the whole it just doesn’t work for me as a genre. Too male-orientated, apart from anything else!
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Ugh, sounds amazingly awful. I do enjoy your reviews of crappy books though 😁
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Haha, I have to get rid of the bitterness somehow or it might fester… 😉
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right, I found it difficult to read your review so full marks to you for getting through the book, I’m going to pretend it’s never happened, I hope you can too!
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Haha, happily my memory is so bad it’s already fading – another couple of boxes of medicinal chocolate and it’ll be gone… 😉
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😣😣😣😣😣 No thank you!
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😂 Very wise!
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This does sound horrible! It’s not a book I would have thought about reading anyway, but now I’ll be sure to continue avoiding it. However, The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favourite books and now I’m curious to know what the similarities are, as this doesn’t sound anything remotely like it!
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I’m glad you’re defending The Count – I was hoping people would persuade me out of my ban! I don’t know much about it except the broad outline of the plot, and to be honest I couldn’t understand the comparison either. It left me feeling the Count must have been horrible though, if they’re comparing him to Gully in this one!
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This sounds like it appeals to the same people who tell others it’s their own responsibility to lock their doors at night to be safe. Basically, they are revealing that the only thing that keeps them from raping and stealing is that locked door, not any sort of internal morality or compassion for others. I’ve never heard of this book but I’ll be happy to avoid it.
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Ha, yes, exactly! I’d like to think most of us wouldn’t break into other people’s houses even if we could! But sadly in this society no one seemed to have any kind of morality whatsoever – ugh!
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Oh dear! However did you get to the end of this one?
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Haha, it was the last SF on my Classics Club list and I was determined to get through it so I wouldn’t have to replace it with another one – I’m so glad my SF section is finished! 😉
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Congratulations on braving through it 😀
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Haha, thank you! Some books do make me feel I deserve a medal… 😉
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🏅🥇
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😂 Thank you!
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You are cracking me up again. Not that I would want to read this novel in the first place.
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Haha, I have to get the bitterness out or else it might fester… 😉
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Me too sometimes
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This sounds horrible! I’m a little worried since I do have some 50s/60s sci-fi in my TBR, but at least it’s mostly well-known stuff. Who knows, this might be well-known, too, but not to me. It certainly won’t go on my list.
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There is some SF from that era that I enjoy but it’s usually from people who started much earlier and were still writing – the newcomers seemed to be setting out to shock. I’ve just popped over to look at your list – I haven’t read all the SF entries but you’ll be safe with CL Lewis, Wyndham, Asimov, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Philip K Dick and Clifford D Simak (I think, though I’ve only read one of his books, so who knows)! You might or might not enjoy them, but none of them are disgusting! 😀
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I think you’re right with that reasoning. The Lewis books will be a re-read for me, so I’m looking forward to a more “mature” take on them. 😉 At least I know to avoid The Stars My Destination!!
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I tried the Lewis books many years ago and couldn’t get on with them at all, though I can’t really remember why not now. Maybe I’ll try them again too, if your reviews inspire me… 😀
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Well, they do have a lot of religious undertones, but I remember liking them at face value, as well. It’s been 40 years since I read them!
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Maybe it was the religious stuff then, though usually I either don’t notice it or don’t mind it, so ling as it’s not too preachy. I’ll be interested to hear what you think of them this time round, when you get to them!
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Dear oh dear, this sounds terrible, and definitely not something I am remotely tempted to try. Interesting and a bit worrying though that most of the 5 star reviews have come from male readers.
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You know, it often worries me when I look at book reviews just how divided they are by gender. I often read books that are on the “male” end of the spectrum – always have – but somehow with SF the divide is too great even for me, and I don’t like what it says about society that we still go off into our separate corners so much, if you know what I mean…
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Yikes! This sounds like…a literal nightmare. Moving on…
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Haha, yes, move on quickly – that’s the wisest decision! 😀
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When I saw your one angry-face rating, I knew I was in for a treat, FF, and you didn’t disappoint me! Oh, dear, is right. This sounds like a hot mess! I’m surprised you braved your way through it without punting it against a wall. Perhaps you were fooled by those who claimed to love it, so you decided to see if it would redeem itself at the end. Nope!
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Haha, I was determined to finish it so I wouldn’t have to pick yet another one to complete my Classics Club list! I won’t be sorry to see the back of modern SF though – I tried! Still, it’s always fun writing a ranting review… 😉
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Ugh. Those people must be reading an entirely different Count of Monte Cristo, I can’t see the least similarity.
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I’m glad of that – I was hoping some of you might leap the The Count’s defence since I’ve always meant to read it! Knowing the vague outline of the story I must admit I couldn’t see what comparison there was myself…
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Yuck! Don’t let these losers put you off from reading The Count of Monte Cristo! It’s fabulous. And no rape (that I remember!)
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I’m so pleased to hear that! I was hoping some of you might leap to The Count’s defence since it’s one I’ve always meant to read one day. Knowing the vague outline of the story I must admit I couldn’t see how the two books compare at all!
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Not something I would ever have picked up to begin with and I’m not entirely sure how it ended up on your TBR but I’m sure glad it did because I love your negative reviews 😄
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Haha, adding a bunch of SF novels to my Classics Club list seemed like a good idea ta the time, but ugh! Some of them have been truly awful! Thank goodness this was the last one… 😉
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Oh, my. One for the discard pile. I’m so sorry you suffered through it.
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Still, at least it means I’ll never have to read it in the future… 😉
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