The Book of Strange New Things

Loving this book so far–I think that Faber has pulled off something pretty amazing–this is a book that has devout Christian characters throughout, but is also a book that both atheists and fairly devout religious people can dig into and enjoy. No hard-and-fast answers (at least so far–I have 100 pages to go), lots of humans-being-human, and some almost magical-realism-sci-fi going on.

Originally posted on bluchickenninja.com.

First of all I will say I got a copy of this book from Netgalley and I was only 25% through when I went out and bought a physical copy. I really enjoyed this book. It was a fascinating look at what could happen to religion if humans found life on another planet. But I have to admit I really liked the fact that you don't have to be religious in any way to enjoy this.

It brings up so many moral questions. Is it right to preach to these aliens when they barely understand human language. Is it right to give them medicine when its not clear if the aliens even understand what its for. I couldn't help but feel that these characters were breaking the Prime Directive in some way, even though its from Star Trek. One of the most interesting questions was brought up by one of the characters. Jesus died for our sins but did he die for these alien's sins as well.

Not only is this book a really interesting look at religion its a fantastic science-fiction novel too. The main character Peter is able to communicate with his wife back on Earth via a messaging system and we find out that all sorts of natural disasters have been occurring back on Earth. So we also see how Peter is torn between teaching the aliens about Christianity and worrying about his relationship with his wife and everything that is happening back on Earth.

I really enjoyed this book. The only problem I had was that the ending was very anti-climactic. I was left with more questions than answers about the situation back on Earth. But still a good read.

Peter is een ex-alcoholieker die parochiepriester geworden is, ergens in Engeland. We zijn ergens in de niet-zo-verre toekomst, en een soort mega-coporatie, USIC, doet allerlei.

Onder meer ook het uitbaten van een kolonie (maar noem het geen kolonie, noem het een “gemeenschap”) op een verre planeet, “in partnerschap” met een intelligent ras.

Peter en zijn vrouw doen, met vermoedelijk veel andere kandidaten, mee aan een selectieprocedure om Christen missionarissen te worden op die planeet, Oasis. Peter is geselecteerd, zijn vrouw niet.

(De reis er naartoe is niet zwaar uitgelegd, maar het duurt niet lang, en er is een manier om e-mail-achtig in bijna-real-time te communiceren tussen Aarden en Oasis.)

Peter komt toe, en na een periode van acclimatiseren, gaat hij voor het eerst naar de dichtsbijzijndste stad van de aliens. Zijn teamgenoot deeld medicijnen uit, de inboorlingen (“Oasans”) geven er voedsel voor in de plaats, het wordt duidelijk dat Peter een priester is, en dan gebeurt dit:

The Oasan reached out one hand, and, with an unmistakably tender motion, stroked Peter's cheek with the tip of a glove. ‘We pray Jeสีuสี for your coming,' he said.

[...]

‘The book? You have the book?' the Oasan repeated.

‘Uh . . . not on me right now,' said Peter, chastising himself for leaving his Bible back at the base. ‘But yes, of course. Of course!'

The Oasan clapped his hands in a gesture of delight, or prayer, or both. ‘Comforรี่ and joy. Glad day. Come back สีoon, Peรี่er, oh very สีoon, สีooner than you can. Read for uสี the Book of สีรี่range New Thingสี, read and read and read unรี่il we underสีรี่and. In reward we give you . . . give you . . . ' The Oasan trembled with the effort of finding adequate words, then threw his hands wide, as if to indicate everything under the sun.

Sometimes, I feel as though your leaving caused things to fall apart.

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I really enjoyed this one. The plot was interesting and engaging. The story unfolds ultimately to express a particular wisdom in simplicity exhibited in regard to alien life that is encountered.

The story has a couple of flaws that dampened my experience. The most prevalent of these flaws unfortunately involve the believability of the main character.

That character and his spouse seem a happy couple at the outset but they're separated when he's assigned work on a distant planet. A series of (email) exchanges throughout the story are integral to the ensuing plot. Her messages initially convey some ups and downs, but eventually we learn that life on Earth is becoming tenuous at best.

Meanwhile the protagonist is of a very different mindset. Removed from the chaos on the home planet, he develops a regard and fascination for the alien life and becomes engrossed in his work.

These exchanges between the couple, were often rich and well done. They reflect their shifting emotions and some of the nuances of their relationship. Eventually he is so fascinated by his new friends that he struggles to maintain empathy and relate to his partner's experience. The author effectively convey the complexity of his struggles and the character is brought to life in his sense of compassion and desire to establish relationships with newfound, exotic friends. What becomes apparent is that along with his devotion to his mission there's a distinct naïveté in his relationships with his human cohorts.

And herein lies the problem. There is a distinct disconnect between the protagonist's past and current self. His backstory is he was once a duplicitous, clever and resourceful drug addict who eventually cleaned up his act after meeting his wife. He then found God and became a minister, an entirely plausible scenario.

But I found it difficult to believe that one with such a past can become so naive as he was, to his detriment. As the story unfolds, the guy seems to be a 'babe in the woods' in his dealings with co-workers.

I also had trouble with some aspects of his faith. I can allow for blind faith to a certain extent, but I have a problem when an otherwise relatable character uses prayer as the anecdote and remedy for all of life's troubles.

If you're looking for the type of sci-fi with plausible, visionary applications of technology, this isn't that. This is more of a study of human behavior, the complexities of a husband-wife relationship and the challenges that come with tumultuous changes that life sometimes brings.

There is plenty in this story that makes it worthwhile. Including many of the secondary characters, the work environment and culture that is created on that distant place.

this is a worthwhile read that I highly recommend!

I am not yet sure what I think. Therefore, I will confine myself to a few remarks.

Although Peter's Christian tradition is very different than mine, and has a vocabulary and way of talking about “religion” that is very different from the ways I am accustomed to, I found the dialog by him and his wife to be honest and real. I do not know anything about the author at all, but so often when writers who are not specifically Christian try to write Christian characters' dialog, it is cringe-inducing. Faber knows the people who is writing about, at least, if he is not one of them. I would never find myself talking like Peter, but I know lots of folk who do, and Faber is not mocking them.

I am grateful that the book did not wind up being a hatchet job on the Christian Faith. It's OK that there is doubt and uncertainty, but it strikes me as honest and realistic, not malicious.

Faber brings into question what we mean when we talk about what we talk about as Christians, and I appreciate that.

That is enough for now. Maybe after some thought I will produce a more helpful review.

Very interesting concept, and I love the author's other work, but this one constantly felt like it was on the cusp of something without delivering it. There's colonialism, space travel, climate change, missionary work, alien languages, exploration of cultural differences, religious belief, religious transformation, long-distance communication - so much to grasp onto. There could be a thriller version of this which focuses on uncovering the company's mysterious strategy to secretly create a haven off earth, populated and serviced only by carefully selected emotionally docile and passive personnel. There's the social scifi version which tries to understand how the Oasians history and beliefs and how their world changed through the encounter with the people from Earth. And there's the allegory one where Earth's explorer's are mirrors for biblical characters spreading the word of God. But maybe this is just a story about how to communicate with one's loved ones in order to maintain a healthy relationship.

So this book leaves me slightly confused and disappointed, despite having such an intrigueing setup. I also have to confess that I just really disliked the main character from the moment he stepped onto the planet and revealed that he literally had done zero research into the world and its inhabitants which he set out to indoctrinate.

Short Review: A missionary goes to an alien world to find aliens hungry for Christianity.

The alien setting is useful to take out some of the distractions of missionary enterprise to humans, but this is really more about the missionary's (Peter) marriage and internal issues than the evangelism. The author is actually an atheist, but the Christianity internal to the book is far better than a lot of christian fiction that I have read.

It is really hard to talk about the book without a bunch of spoilers. But the story is more about ideas than action. It does drag a bit in the middle, which is why 4 and not 5 stars, but I do think it is a very well written book.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/book-strange-new-things-michel-faber/

Peter Leigh is a Christian minister sent to the planet “Oasis”. He's replacing the last minister who had mysteriously “gone native”.

Christian missions in foreign lands are fraught with problems and the spectre of past indiscretions but here the natives hunger for the “technique of Jesus” and to learn from the “Book of Strange New Things”. It's a rare seduction to be so readily embraced, the Oasans going so far as to halt trade with the human settlers until a replacement minister arrives. While Peter's every word falls on devout ears his wife back at home finds no succour in his messages while her world seems to fall apart in his absence. Food shortages, riots, natural disasters, economic ruin and tragedies both global and close to home plague her.

Author Michael Faber is himself an atheist but never treats minister Peter Leigh as a caricature and avoids the obvious. He treats his faith with sincerity and we have a minister who truly believes.

I don't often consider the author when I read but here, with a book shot through with rich metaphor, I can't help it. An atheist who lost his wife to disease prompting him to call this his last book - writing about faith, vast insurmountable distances, the problems of success shared as another suffers. (Faber is also the author of Under the Skin recently made into a movie starring Scarlett Johansson) This thing works on so many levels.

It's not quite sci-fi, it's not quite literature, what is it?

It's fine. Couldn't get past the similarities to Speaker of the Dead.

The proper sci-fi elements were by far the weakest part and the aliens are such broad caricatures of “happy natives” it can start to feel weird if you think about it too long.

Engrossing and captivating, this novel was a big hit for me. Despite the obvious comparisons to The Sparrow, one of my all-time favorites, The Book of Strange New Things was able to hold it's own & become a winner in it's own right. My only complaint - I want to know more! It feels like the story of Oasis still has many unanswered questions - I would read book 2!

This book was really interesting. Yeah, great review, Phyllis. Let me try again. I've been having a hard time solidifying my thoughts on this book, perhaps because there are many ideas swirling around, much like the air on the fictional planet. While there are elements of science fiction to the novel, there are also meditative sections that were very zen, despite Peter's Christianity. This is not shoot-em-up style SF.

A few reviewers have complained about the Oasans' seemingly quick conversion. However, we are told a number of times that the number of Jesus Lovers is under 100, which is a very small percentage of the settlement. There are often small groups interested in what alien cultures have to offer, with humans the aliens this time. Peter was just beginning to crack the language barrier towards the end of the story, so whose to say what else he might have learned if he spent more time with the Oasans?

So, does anyone think that Bea was really writing the emails Peter received, or is it possible that USIC was actually writing them in an attempt to convince Peter that Earth was better left behind? The neverending stream of earthly disasters communicated via Shoot when all other current events were censored struck me as odd. True, long distance relationships don't work, but that's not the moral of this story.

So, not my best review, but I overall recommend this even if you're not typically into SF.