Freedom Beach

by James Patrick; Kessel John Kelly, John Kessel

Editorial Review - Kirkus Reviews A hard-working but indecisive and only intermittently intriguing reality-puzzler that displays flaws typical of collaborative a nebulous main theme, a confusion of purposes, and a general lack of finn control. Shaun Reed wakes up one morning at Freedom Beach, an escape-proof tropical resort run by mysterious machines representing the ""dreamers""; they say Shaun is there voluntarily for a psychiatric cure but, with no recollection of his previous life, Shaun isn't convinced. During real-seeming dreams, Shaun is given back selected memories--or is fed plausible inventions; Shaun isn't sure which. Also, in a literary-games vein, he becomes a character in various dream-parodies (of Marlowe, Aristophanes, Raymond Chandler), during which he must confront the suicide of girlfriend/wife Myrna. Although Shaun has never written anything, he calls himself a writer; Freedom Beachers are forbidden to write--but Myrna leaves him a poem as a sort of suicide note. Eventually, Shaun escapes from Freedom Beach back to the reality of 1986--where, suddenly, the ubiquitous ""dreamers"" (in the utopian sense) are in control of the world, apparently doing good deeds. Shaun remains unpersuaded, though the dreamers tell him he can change things if he doesn't like them; and finally he starts to write. The main problem is just what all this adds up to, or indeed whether it adds up at all. So, what with the vague psychologizing (self-help, 1980's style) and the parable-like feel (unconvincing utopian leanings), the upshot is a tangled but lightweight and fugitive drama.

Genres: Science Fiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1985

Reviews

[Bruce · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have liked Kelly and especially Kessels other work, but after digging this out of my box of old books and starting a reread I quit after the 20 page chapter combining Marx brothers with Faust. Skimming through the rest it's a slow reveal on someone's rather ordinary life and a dreamlike therapy environment. Yawn. Can't say how it all works, out, don't remember, and don't care enough to even page to the end.

In the past I hung on to books like this because of the difficulty in obtaining them and the rarity I perceived. I see now that no one is ever going to read my amazing sci fi book collection but me, so I am getting rid of stuff I don't want to read again. Some things are obvious and some require resampling-- this one failed that closer examination.

[Lord Humungus · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I read this. The few things I do remember about this book is it was a slog to read and patently uninteresting.

[TalkinHorse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Considering that this book has gone out of print and other reviews are unenthusiastic, I guess it won't stand the test of time. Nevertheless, it struck a special chord, and it stays in my mind. It's a fantasy in which a man named Shaun Reed finds himself trapped at an Eden-like resort. He has no memories of his past, and the only clue as to why he's there is a cryptic plaque signed by "The Dreamers". Is this a vacation? A radical form of therapy? An experiment? Brainwashing? As Shaun wrestles against the limits of his paradise/prison, he drives towards an understanding that remains just out of reach, while his sleep is flooded with troubled memories and eerie fantasies.

The essential appeal is not the mystery of "The Dreamers" who did this to him (although that's certainly an intriguing question), but rather in Shaun's struggle with himself; a psychological struggle. I'm drawn to novels with a psychological edge, and these two writers, early in their careers, came together to do a superb job with this one. It touched me and continues to touch me. Am I the only one?

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has been on my "to read" shelf for nearly 40 years. I finally decided to tackle it because I wanted something different, and this book is pretty unusual. A man named Shaun wakes up at a resort or clinic with nearly no recollection of who he is or how he got there. This is very frustrating to the woman that just climbed out of his bed. He meets the other apparent patients at Freedom Beach and learns that they are undergoing therapy under the direction of the dreamers. The book alternates between Shaun's day-to-day existence at Freedom Beach and a series of bizarre dreams that he has that may be part of his therapy. Gradually, he learns more about his past and his fellow patients. Any more information would risk major spoilers. This is clearly a fix-up novel as several chapters were published as stand alone stories in SF magazines. Overall, I'm glad that I read the book, but I can't imagine that I would reread it. This is solid thought provoking SF with some similarities to the works of Philip K Dick.

[Doodles McC · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this fantasy book as a teenager. Sean Reed gets caught up in dream worlds.

[Shyue Chou Chuang · Rating 2 out of 5]

The volume starts off with the typical Twilight Zone scenario, a mystery of people stranded in a mysterious place with the protagonist having no memory as to why he was there. This is followed by a chapter set in 1973 with two college kids who were apparently also the two characters in the first section. After which, this is followed by bantering between two odd characters set in a period piece set in Germany, with comedic word associations and misunderstandings, a sort of a cross between absurdist comedy and a comedy of errors, the latter being rather Elizabethan perhaps. There are other episodes in which the protagonist, Shaun Reed, found himself in, including a rather turgid long piece with him as a private eye investigating a Raymond Chandler, and also another where he met Emily Bronte. All these so-clever tricks struggle at a narrative describing the tribulations of Reed who had lost his ex-wife in a suicide and also the mystery of the dreamers who had conjured this state of affairs. Ultimately, everything seeks to explain Freedom Beach, which is the title and the original premise.

Upon looking at the copyright, one learns that some of the pieces had originally appeared in various publications including Amazing Stories. This seems to be a novel that is stitched up from several previously published short stories. The prose is clear and readable but the tiresome jokes and absurdism do not really work, it comes across as rather juvenile, contrived and unfunny. If one enjoys dry humour or even absurdist humour, there are far better volumes than this. Part of the conceit is also that of a struggling writer who attempts to write and also that of an English professor, perhaps, this is a knowing acknowledgement to the two writers of this volume.

A tedious read, ultimately, rather dissatisfying.