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The Curiosity
Michael Crichton meets The Time Traveler's Wife in this powerful debut novel in which a man, frozen in the Arctic ice for more than a century, awakens in the present day.
Dr. Kate Philo and her scientific exploration team make a breathtaking discovery in the Arctic: the body of a man buried deep in the ice. As a scientist in a groundbreaking project run by the egocentric and paranoid Erastus Carthage, Kate has brought small creatures-plankton, krill, shrimp-"back to life." Never have the team's methods been attempted on a large life form.
Heedless of the consequences, Carthage orders that the frozen man be brought back to the lab in Boston, and reanimated. As the man begins to regain his memories, the team learns that he was-is-a judge, Jeremiah Rice, and the last thing he remembers is falling overboard into the Arctic Ocean in 1906. When news of the Lazarus Project and Jeremiah Rice breaks, it ignites a media firestorm and massive protests by religious fundamentalists.
Thrown together by circumstances beyond their control, Kate and Jeremiah grow closer. But the clock is ticking and Jeremiah's new life is slipping away. With Carthage planning to exploit Jeremiah while he can, Kate must decide how far she is willing to go to protect the man she has come to love.
A gripping, poignant, and thoroughly original thriller, Stephen Kiernan's provocative debut novel raises disturbing questions about the very nature of life and humanity-man as a scientific subject, as a tabloid plaything, as a living being: A curiosity.
Dr. Kate Philo and her scientific exploration team make a breathtaking discovery in the Arctic: the body of a man buried deep in the ice. As a scientist in a groundbreaking project run by the egocentric and paranoid Erastus Carthage, Kate has brought small creatures-plankton, krill, shrimp-"back to life." Never have the team's methods been attempted on a large life form.
Heedless of the consequences, Carthage orders that the frozen man be brought back to the lab in Boston, and reanimated. As the man begins to regain his memories, the team learns that he was-is-a judge, Jeremiah Rice, and the last thing he remembers is falling overboard into the Arctic Ocean in 1906. When news of the Lazarus Project and Jeremiah Rice breaks, it ignites a media firestorm and massive protests by religious fundamentalists.
Thrown together by circumstances beyond their control, Kate and Jeremiah grow closer. But the clock is ticking and Jeremiah's new life is slipping away. With Carthage planning to exploit Jeremiah while he can, Kate must decide how far she is willing to go to protect the man she has come to love.
A gripping, poignant, and thoroughly original thriller, Stephen Kiernan's provocative debut novel raises disturbing questions about the very nature of life and humanity-man as a scientific subject, as a tabloid plaything, as a living being: A curiosity.
481 pages, ebook
First published July 9, 2013
282 people are currently reading
8721 people want to read
About the author
Stephen P. Kiernan
10 books1,017 followersStephen P. Kiernan's latest novel is THE GLASS CHATEAU, out June 20 and available for pre-order now.
Stephen's most recent book is UNIVERSE OF TWO, a love story set in 1944, amid the development of the atomic bomb. Charlie is a young math whiz drafted into the Manhattan Project, where his duty tests his morals. His sweetheart Brenda, prohibited for security reasons from knowing what he's doing, sees these ethical hesitations as weakness, and urges him to be a soldier, be a man. After the war, Charlie feels culpable for thousands of deaths, while Brenda feels guilty for making him contradict his conscience. Together they spend the rest of their lives seeking redemption -- and they find it.
Stephen also wrote THE BAKER'S SECRET, the story of D-Day from the French perspective: what it was like to live in occupied Normandy with no rights, little food and less hope, until one day hundreds of thousands of soldiers and sailors arrive to fight for liberation.
He's author of THE HUMMINGBIRD, about a hospice nurse whose husband has returned from his 3rd deployment in Iraq with PTSD, and she is determined to help him heal. It is a story about loyalty, patience, and fierce love.
Stephen's first novel was THE CURIOSITY, a scientific thriller and a love story across two centuries. The book came out in numerous foreign editions, and it is currently in development as a television series.
Stephen worked for decades as a journalist, winning over 40 awards. His first book, LAST RIGHTS, was a nonfiction expose of the overly aggressive medical treatment most people receive in the last chapter of their lives, with many suggestions for ways of providing more humane care. His second non-fiction book, the Silver Nautilus Award-winning AUTHENTIC PATRIOTISM, describes the potential for national renewal through nonpartisan civic engagement and volunteerism.
A graduate of Middlebury College, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Iowa's Writers Workshop, he lives in Vermont.
Stephen's most recent book is UNIVERSE OF TWO, a love story set in 1944, amid the development of the atomic bomb. Charlie is a young math whiz drafted into the Manhattan Project, where his duty tests his morals. His sweetheart Brenda, prohibited for security reasons from knowing what he's doing, sees these ethical hesitations as weakness, and urges him to be a soldier, be a man. After the war, Charlie feels culpable for thousands of deaths, while Brenda feels guilty for making him contradict his conscience. Together they spend the rest of their lives seeking redemption -- and they find it.
Stephen also wrote THE BAKER'S SECRET, the story of D-Day from the French perspective: what it was like to live in occupied Normandy with no rights, little food and less hope, until one day hundreds of thousands of soldiers and sailors arrive to fight for liberation.
He's author of THE HUMMINGBIRD, about a hospice nurse whose husband has returned from his 3rd deployment in Iraq with PTSD, and she is determined to help him heal. It is a story about loyalty, patience, and fierce love.
Stephen's first novel was THE CURIOSITY, a scientific thriller and a love story across two centuries. The book came out in numerous foreign editions, and it is currently in development as a television series.
Stephen worked for decades as a journalist, winning over 40 awards. His first book, LAST RIGHTS, was a nonfiction expose of the overly aggressive medical treatment most people receive in the last chapter of their lives, with many suggestions for ways of providing more humane care. His second non-fiction book, the Silver Nautilus Award-winning AUTHENTIC PATRIOTISM, describes the potential for national renewal through nonpartisan civic engagement and volunteerism.
A graduate of Middlebury College, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Iowa's Writers Workshop, he lives in Vermont.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 953 reviews
August 15, 2013
Actual rating: 2.5
The writing is good, the narrative style not confusing, despite the fact that we are getting the story from four separate points of views. The premise is intriguing, but the delivery was rather dull and failed to hold my interest. This was a really long book. I have no problems with long books at all, but I do feel that they need to be worthwhile of the time I choose to invest in them. While this story was good, even interesting at times, I didn't feel like the time I devoted to reading it was well-spent, and I had to really restrain my compulsive book-switching self to continue focusing my attention on this story.
The premise: present-day United States. The head honcho of the "Lazarus Project" is Dr. Erasmus Carthage. Dr. Kate Philo is just an afterthought (more on that later). Amidst a rash of complaints on the ethical issues of reanimating frozen creatures, the Lazarus Projects brings back a man frozen during the turn of the century, a 38-year old judge, Jeremiah Rice. What follows is a lot of media focus and a lot of attention on the entire project due to the nature of playing god and the overwhelmingly awkward love story of Kate and Jeremiah.
I found the idea of reanimation from a frozen state interesting, even if the explanations of the book doesn't quite cover the topic so thoroughly and credibly as I would have liked. There's a lot of scientific issues that prevents our current scientific progess from doing so, I won't go into details (yawn) but a lot of the problems has to do with the destruction of the cell membrane if it is frozen improperly. This book tries to explain it, and does a decent enough job for me to leave off a long-windedrantcriticism of the process. The science backing is decent within this book, but I just wished there was more of it. That is why I hesitate to compare this to other authors like Michael Crichton and Robin Cook, who cover topics like these so much more plausibly and thoroughly within their books.
The characters: Our three modern-day characters are all painfully tropey and recycled. Our revived character did not feel like a realistic portrayal of a man from his time period.
Dr. Kate Philo: She is, literally, perfect. Thirty-five years old, a genius, impeccably educated, and exceptionally beautiful to boot (with an ah-maaaazing ass). The problem I have with Kate is that she does not feel like a scientist. Instead of being the truly essential "Yale-credentialed biologist" that she is, Kate is more like the token woman on the team. She does nothing. Kate makes some speeches and talks to the media. In no way did I get the feel that she contributed a major role on the team that was involved in the Lazarus project. Kate is Jeremiah's babysitter. She is a nurturing nurse, who watches over him as he revives. She is not a scientist. Kate is soft, she is emotional, she is there to provide the "woman's touch." No, thank you. I like my female characters stronger than that.
Falling in love and pursuing a relationship with your subject? That is a bigger ethical violation for me than reviving the frozen. Fucking insta-love, man. Kate watches over Jeremiah as he is being awaked from his comatose state after being revived, and her behavior is all sorts of creepy. She doesn't even know Jeremiah at all.
"I leaned down...who can say what possessed me? Call it curiosity, call it wonder. I brought my face closer to his neck, nearly to his chest, felt his presence. This man was not an abstraction but an actuality. Never in my life did I feel clearer about wanting to know about something. I took a good deep sniff.
His skin was warm, like any man’s.
I noticed something then, a grittiness on my hand. I rubbed my thumb and pinkie against each other; there were granules like sand. I brought my forefinger to my mouth. I tasted.
Sure enough: salt."
Talk about a frozen dinner!
Dr. Erastus Carthage: The "egotistical bastard." The quintessential scientist. Cold-hearted and utterly focused on fame and results, no matter who gets hurt along the way. His narrative was annoying for me, he refers to himself as "you." The narrative tries to make him into an impersonal, royal sort of character, and it worked quite well in that I never connected with him as a person, and I liked him not at all. He is so utterly sure of himself, so condescending, so patronizing, so disdainful of anyone who is not himself.
"Exposure, credibility, fame. There is a prize they give out in Sweden for people like you...Yes, you are a generous man. Let them come and learn. The Erastus Carthage Academy for the Advancement of Humanity. Nice ring to it. Dignified. Perhaps Harvard would offer your academy a home. Or MIT."
Daniel Dixon: The stereotypical bluff, alpha-male jackass of a reporter with a full media access to the Lazarus Project (and an ulterior motive). He's unlikeable, despite the author's attempt to make him more relatable with a tragic backstory.
"That is the only reason I took this gig—to tear [Dr. Carthage] down. And may I just say, the trip has had precious few compensating amenities. Dull food. No booze...The only perk, come to think of it, the only real bonus for a dog like me, is the perfectly shaped, wonderfully toned, and tragically unattainable derriere of one Kate Philo, Ph.D."
Jeremiah Rice: The revived man. His narrative is more...poetic than the rest, which I suppose is an attempt at giving us the feeling that he is a character from the late 19th century. To me, Jeremiah's character was never realistic. His adjustment to today's world was too quick to be believable. I will not go into his story, but Jeremiah's acceptance of Kate and her role (coming from his time era), and his relationship with her despite his past made him an ultimately unbelievable character for me. Still, I enjoyed his story, his character, and his part of the narrative more than anyone else within this book.
Recommended for readers with a lot of time on their hands, and patience for flawed characters.
"Hey, doc, what are you expecting today?"For me, this was a lot more Time Traveler's Wife than Michael Crichton. There is a fair bit of science thrown at us initially, but this is not a book to read if you want to ponder about the innermost workings of science. It is more narrative storytelling than anything else. "Thriller" & "Science Fiction?" That's a stretch.
He halts like a soldier, turns slowly to me. "I expect us to replace God."
The writing is good, the narrative style not confusing, despite the fact that we are getting the story from four separate points of views. The premise is intriguing, but the delivery was rather dull and failed to hold my interest. This was a really long book. I have no problems with long books at all, but I do feel that they need to be worthwhile of the time I choose to invest in them. While this story was good, even interesting at times, I didn't feel like the time I devoted to reading it was well-spent, and I had to really restrain my compulsive book-switching self to continue focusing my attention on this story.
The premise: present-day United States. The head honcho of the "Lazarus Project" is Dr. Erasmus Carthage. Dr. Kate Philo is just an afterthought (more on that later). Amidst a rash of complaints on the ethical issues of reanimating frozen creatures, the Lazarus Projects brings back a man frozen during the turn of the century, a 38-year old judge, Jeremiah Rice. What follows is a lot of media focus and a lot of attention on the entire project due to the nature of playing god and the overwhelmingly awkward love story of Kate and Jeremiah.
I found the idea of reanimation from a frozen state interesting, even if the explanations of the book doesn't quite cover the topic so thoroughly and credibly as I would have liked. There's a lot of scientific issues that prevents our current scientific progess from doing so, I won't go into details (yawn) but a lot of the problems has to do with the destruction of the cell membrane if it is frozen improperly. This book tries to explain it, and does a decent enough job for me to leave off a long-winded
The characters: Our three modern-day characters are all painfully tropey and recycled. Our revived character did not feel like a realistic portrayal of a man from his time period.
Dr. Kate Philo: She is, literally, perfect. Thirty-five years old, a genius, impeccably educated, and exceptionally beautiful to boot (with an ah-maaaazing ass). The problem I have with Kate is that she does not feel like a scientist. Instead of being the truly essential "Yale-credentialed biologist" that she is, Kate is more like the token woman on the team. She does nothing. Kate makes some speeches and talks to the media. In no way did I get the feel that she contributed a major role on the team that was involved in the Lazarus project. Kate is Jeremiah's babysitter. She is a nurturing nurse, who watches over him as he revives. She is not a scientist. Kate is soft, she is emotional, she is there to provide the "woman's touch." No, thank you. I like my female characters stronger than that.
Falling in love and pursuing a relationship with your subject? That is a bigger ethical violation for me than reviving the frozen. Fucking insta-love, man. Kate watches over Jeremiah as he is being awaked from his comatose state after being revived, and her behavior is all sorts of creepy. She doesn't even know Jeremiah at all.
"I leaned down...who can say what possessed me? Call it curiosity, call it wonder. I brought my face closer to his neck, nearly to his chest, felt his presence. This man was not an abstraction but an actuality. Never in my life did I feel clearer about wanting to know about something. I took a good deep sniff.
His skin was warm, like any man’s.
I noticed something then, a grittiness on my hand. I rubbed my thumb and pinkie against each other; there were granules like sand. I brought my forefinger to my mouth. I tasted.
Sure enough: salt."
Talk about a frozen dinner!
Dr. Erastus Carthage: The "egotistical bastard." The quintessential scientist. Cold-hearted and utterly focused on fame and results, no matter who gets hurt along the way. His narrative was annoying for me, he refers to himself as "you." The narrative tries to make him into an impersonal, royal sort of character, and it worked quite well in that I never connected with him as a person, and I liked him not at all. He is so utterly sure of himself, so condescending, so patronizing, so disdainful of anyone who is not himself.
"Exposure, credibility, fame. There is a prize they give out in Sweden for people like you...Yes, you are a generous man. Let them come and learn. The Erastus Carthage Academy for the Advancement of Humanity. Nice ring to it. Dignified. Perhaps Harvard would offer your academy a home. Or MIT."
Daniel Dixon: The stereotypical bluff, alpha-male jackass of a reporter with a full media access to the Lazarus Project (and an ulterior motive). He's unlikeable, despite the author's attempt to make him more relatable with a tragic backstory.
"That is the only reason I took this gig—to tear [Dr. Carthage] down. And may I just say, the trip has had precious few compensating amenities. Dull food. No booze...The only perk, come to think of it, the only real bonus for a dog like me, is the perfectly shaped, wonderfully toned, and tragically unattainable derriere of one Kate Philo, Ph.D."
Jeremiah Rice: The revived man. His narrative is more...poetic than the rest, which I suppose is an attempt at giving us the feeling that he is a character from the late 19th century. To me, Jeremiah's character was never realistic. His adjustment to today's world was too quick to be believable. I will not go into his story, but Jeremiah's acceptance of Kate and her role (coming from his time era), and his relationship with her despite his past made him an ultimately unbelievable character for me. Still, I enjoyed his story, his character, and his part of the narrative more than anyone else within this book.
Recommended for readers with a lot of time on their hands, and patience for flawed characters.
September 2, 2013
For me, this was an interesting story idea. A man found flash frozen in an Arctic Ocean ice burg by a group of scientists is sent to Boston, MA where he is brought back to life. I am not a scientist, so I wasn’t concerned with the viability of the truth in the facts. Cryogenics is commonly used in fertility issues; women are able to freeze their eggs; men can freeze sperm. So this story idea held some weight with me. Plus, it’s fiction, which for me, mean entertainment. Kiernan had his story told from four narrators: Kate Philo the trusting and well-meaning scientist; Daniel Dixon the obnoxious news reporter; Erastus Carthage the smarmy nefarious scientist heading the research; and Jeremiah Rice, the 1906 frozen man who was a Judge from Lynn MA and brought back to life. Each narrator has an authentic voice. The story flows well. It’s very well written and fun to read. I enjoyed the Judge’s reaction to pop culture. Kiernan skillfully uses the Judge to make the reader see how silly our culture is and how we’ve become anesthetized to some of our bounty and fortune. The Judge was taken to a supermarket and he saw people with tattoos, multiple piercings, scantily clad and he asks, “Has America become a tribal place?” I enjoyed the Judges narrations best. Religious fundamentalists become involved, the science is questioned, plus the Judge starts having some physical reactions from the “thawing procedure”. It’s a great and entertaining book.
August 30, 2013
I enjoyed reading this book. The writing is good and the characters are interesting. Unfortunately the huge plot holes and problems make me want to introduce the author to the basic services provided by librarians. The basic premise includes a science project to "re-animate" flash frozen creatures. They hit a payload when they find a man on an arctic expedition who had fallen overboard 100 years ago and is now the perfect first human subject for their process. The process works so well, the man does not only come back to life but actually regain consciousness and is barely freaked out by being dropped into the world 100 years after his last memory. I can stomach all of this but what I can't figure out is how this group of dedicated brilliant scientists couldn't figure out who this guy is, months after he is walking around with them, they can't find out if he has any living relatives. They don't know anything about his former life and the world he lived it...Geez, we are talking about tracing a family tree back 100 years...this really isn't that big of a challenge. Even though I enjoyed the writing, I just kept feeling shocked by the "big questions" in the book that would be SO easy to answer with an Internet connection, or a telephone and a number for a public library.
June 2, 2025
The story’s premise could be considered a compelling one. It presumes to be about a man frozen in the Artic Ocean and found by scientists in 2006. Who then reanimate him by bringing him back to life in a future he is not familiar with nor aware of, since the time of his ‘drowning’ occurred in 1906.
The story is told through multiple voices, which include the head scientist, the reporter, the frozen man, we come to know as Jeremiah; and, specifically Kate, a biologist who has been relegated to the night shift to watch over him in the ‘lab.’ Through their voices we can see that Jeremiah is regaining his memory, and Kate and he are becoming close. Which may be a conflict, considering this is a time when science wants ownership over their own masterpiece ‘Frankenstein’ experiment.
I wasn’t sure I was going to read this one because when I first looked it up on Goodreads, I only saw low star reviews and DNF’s for the book. I couldn’t help but ask myself as to whether I should invest in reading it.
But I have been a typical fan of magical realism. Which this story seems to show signs of, with hints of science fiction. After all, has there really been a human brought back to life after being frozen in the Artic Ocean for 100-years?
Curious, I chose to read it. I found myself focused mostly on Kate and Jeremiah’s chapters in the beginning. I wanted to know them. And, how they would navigate this circumstance they found themselves in. I wondered what their outcome would be.
Kate was certainly concerned when she shared…
“It felt like the rules were designed to prevent my efforts, or anyone’s, to humanize the poor lab creature we’d awakened.”
Kate found herself doing everything she could to introduce Jeremiah to this new world of 2006. She showed compassion for him as a human spirit trying to reconnect him to living and the industrialized advanced world progress. As readers, we can’t help but feel Jeremiah’s reaction to 2006 when he shares…
“Humanity, you’ve been busy.”
But more than anything, I was interested in Kate and Jeremiah. Which led me to wonder too if this book might also be a romance, as well. Was Kate’s character hinting at it?
“…when love comes into your life, it calls upon your whole being to be worthy. If you rise to that challenge, it will plant roots and you will blossom.”
So why the low reviews? I recognize that we all see books differently. Feel them at different times when we read them. I know I am one of the worst moody readers I know. But could the combination of the 3 genres of magical realism, science fiction and romance have set this story on the wrong path? I really wanted to know. So, I kept reading.
With the media and religious fundamentalists questioning the ethics of the research, it was interesting to ‘watch’ the firestorm ignite. What happens when scientists mess with the dead? What are the ethics of this research?
And, for those of us who may have held out for a well-crafted romance, what will Kate’s actions do to her life and eventually Jeremiah’s?
This is a thoughtful, introspective read which may create discomfort for some readers, and moments of pause for others. A read that should make for interesting group discussion.
3.5 stars
The story is told through multiple voices, which include the head scientist, the reporter, the frozen man, we come to know as Jeremiah; and, specifically Kate, a biologist who has been relegated to the night shift to watch over him in the ‘lab.’ Through their voices we can see that Jeremiah is regaining his memory, and Kate and he are becoming close. Which may be a conflict, considering this is a time when science wants ownership over their own masterpiece ‘Frankenstein’ experiment.
I wasn’t sure I was going to read this one because when I first looked it up on Goodreads, I only saw low star reviews and DNF’s for the book. I couldn’t help but ask myself as to whether I should invest in reading it.
But I have been a typical fan of magical realism. Which this story seems to show signs of, with hints of science fiction. After all, has there really been a human brought back to life after being frozen in the Artic Ocean for 100-years?
Curious, I chose to read it. I found myself focused mostly on Kate and Jeremiah’s chapters in the beginning. I wanted to know them. And, how they would navigate this circumstance they found themselves in. I wondered what their outcome would be.
Kate was certainly concerned when she shared…
“It felt like the rules were designed to prevent my efforts, or anyone’s, to humanize the poor lab creature we’d awakened.”
Kate found herself doing everything she could to introduce Jeremiah to this new world of 2006. She showed compassion for him as a human spirit trying to reconnect him to living and the industrialized advanced world progress. As readers, we can’t help but feel Jeremiah’s reaction to 2006 when he shares…
“Humanity, you’ve been busy.”
But more than anything, I was interested in Kate and Jeremiah. Which led me to wonder too if this book might also be a romance, as well. Was Kate’s character hinting at it?
“…when love comes into your life, it calls upon your whole being to be worthy. If you rise to that challenge, it will plant roots and you will blossom.”
So why the low reviews? I recognize that we all see books differently. Feel them at different times when we read them. I know I am one of the worst moody readers I know. But could the combination of the 3 genres of magical realism, science fiction and romance have set this story on the wrong path? I really wanted to know. So, I kept reading.
With the media and religious fundamentalists questioning the ethics of the research, it was interesting to ‘watch’ the firestorm ignite. What happens when scientists mess with the dead? What are the ethics of this research?
And, for those of us who may have held out for a well-crafted romance, what will Kate’s actions do to her life and eventually Jeremiah’s?
This is a thoughtful, introspective read which may create discomfort for some readers, and moments of pause for others. A read that should make for interesting group discussion.
3.5 stars
November 15, 2015
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
A copy of The Curiosity was provided to me by William Morrow for review purposes.
Blog Tour Date 7/18/2013
'And what is life but a little row in a small boat, every moment leaving what we know, every stroke unable to see where we are headed?'
The Curiosity tells the tale of a scientific voyage to the Arctic with the intent to find various sea creatures that died encased in ice. Possessing the ability to bring plankton "back to life" the scientists intend to continue studying this process in hopes to actually keep them alive for extended periods of time. Everything changes when they find a man frozen deep in the ice instead.
This story is told from various different points of view, which doesn't always work for me but was extremely well done in this case. Each individual has a very distinctive voice and character. Daniel Dixon is a very stereotypical, sleazy-type reporter in charge of covering the latest news of the experiment. Erastus Carthage is the boss behind the research and is an incredibly snobby and arrogant man. Kate Philo is one of the head scientists and one of the only people to form a bond with Jeremiah. Jeremiah was born in 1868 and while on an Arctic voyage was pitched overboard and was presumed dead until he was found frozen in ice over a century later.
This was an immensely well-written tale, that was an absolute pleasure to read. The words had a beautiful flow to them and his descriptions were quite impeccable. What I found especially talented was how the author managed to include much of the necessary back story on his characters without it being a massive info-dump. He managed to weave their past into the story without evidence of the stitches.
'When I pause in my exertions to understand the here and now, and contemplate the severing of that kindness, that mercy, the ache is so acute I half expect to see some place on myself that is bleeding.'
In addition to the beauty of the words and his writing style in general, the story itself was brilliant and original. A man was found encased in ice, had been there for over a century and scientists possessed the ability to bring him back to life. Not only did they restart his heart but he inevitably woke up and began his life anew. The politics surrounding his return to the life of the living was extensive and did become taxing after a while but still managed to ring true for how a situation such as this would be handled in the world today.
Although everything was explained well in a scientific sense, I can't help but feel it wasn't given a proper ending. It's such an ambitious and thrilling plot I felt it was leading up to something that never quite transpired. The final chapter does serve as a sufficient ending, but when questions that arose are only given single sentence answers I found myself hoping for more. Despite this, I am immensely glad to have had the opportunity to read this. The Curiosity is an incredibly unique mix of science, romance, and the paths that simple curiosity takes us in life.
A copy of The Curiosity was provided to me by William Morrow for review purposes.
Blog Tour Date 7/18/2013
'And what is life but a little row in a small boat, every moment leaving what we know, every stroke unable to see where we are headed?'
The Curiosity tells the tale of a scientific voyage to the Arctic with the intent to find various sea creatures that died encased in ice. Possessing the ability to bring plankton "back to life" the scientists intend to continue studying this process in hopes to actually keep them alive for extended periods of time. Everything changes when they find a man frozen deep in the ice instead.
This story is told from various different points of view, which doesn't always work for me but was extremely well done in this case. Each individual has a very distinctive voice and character. Daniel Dixon is a very stereotypical, sleazy-type reporter in charge of covering the latest news of the experiment. Erastus Carthage is the boss behind the research and is an incredibly snobby and arrogant man. Kate Philo is one of the head scientists and one of the only people to form a bond with Jeremiah. Jeremiah was born in 1868 and while on an Arctic voyage was pitched overboard and was presumed dead until he was found frozen in ice over a century later.
This was an immensely well-written tale, that was an absolute pleasure to read. The words had a beautiful flow to them and his descriptions were quite impeccable. What I found especially talented was how the author managed to include much of the necessary back story on his characters without it being a massive info-dump. He managed to weave their past into the story without evidence of the stitches.
'When I pause in my exertions to understand the here and now, and contemplate the severing of that kindness, that mercy, the ache is so acute I half expect to see some place on myself that is bleeding.'
In addition to the beauty of the words and his writing style in general, the story itself was brilliant and original. A man was found encased in ice, had been there for over a century and scientists possessed the ability to bring him back to life. Not only did they restart his heart but he inevitably woke up and began his life anew. The politics surrounding his return to the life of the living was extensive and did become taxing after a while but still managed to ring true for how a situation such as this would be handled in the world today.
Although everything was explained well in a scientific sense, I can't help but feel it wasn't given a proper ending. It's such an ambitious and thrilling plot I felt it was leading up to something that never quite transpired. The final chapter does serve as a sufficient ending, but when questions that arose are only given single sentence answers I found myself hoping for more. Despite this, I am immensely glad to have had the opportunity to read this. The Curiosity is an incredibly unique mix of science, romance, and the paths that simple curiosity takes us in life.
December 9, 2024
The Curiosity, by Stephen Kiernan is a unique, compelling, provocative novel. It begs to question not only the boundaries of science on society and the ethical dilemmas that arise, but the very essence of humanity, love and loss…even greed.
Told through the eyes of four extremely different and distinct characters, Stephen Kiernan forces us to contemplate what happens when the effects of science are no longer hypothetical. It makes us question the profound consequences and complications that might ensue in the here and now.
Through the eyes of Judge Jeremiah Rice we regain the simple beauty that is life, while the book gives us a very satirical look at our times. We hear the language and properness befitting of his period…with his reactions filled with almost childlike naivete and innocence, as well as learning his insights into our modern world. One cannot help fall in love with him and everything he represents that is good in the world.
Is it possible we have come so far technologically that we are no longer aware of the most important thing of all; the sheer magnificence of love, of honor of…our heart?
Jeremiah Rice reminds me of my father in so many ways. I, an adult orphan who misses my parents (true soul mates) so terribly and can feel the weight of his losses as I shed tears along with him. Oh how I would have loved to discuss this book with my father, both erudite, poetic/romantic and a man of science. I am a fast reader yet did not want this book to end.
Though I could have done without the stereotypes of certain characters, or inconsistencies…I put this book down while still wanting to read…for the one reason and reason alone…I did not want to turn the last page. An unforgettable read that will haunt me for a long time. I’m glad it is being made into a movie coming to the big screen in the future. I know I can't wait to see this one even though I know the book is usually better. I will miss you Jeremiah…as I miss my wonderful Dad.
Told through the eyes of four extremely different and distinct characters, Stephen Kiernan forces us to contemplate what happens when the effects of science are no longer hypothetical. It makes us question the profound consequences and complications that might ensue in the here and now.
Through the eyes of Judge Jeremiah Rice we regain the simple beauty that is life, while the book gives us a very satirical look at our times. We hear the language and properness befitting of his period…with his reactions filled with almost childlike naivete and innocence, as well as learning his insights into our modern world. One cannot help fall in love with him and everything he represents that is good in the world.
Is it possible we have come so far technologically that we are no longer aware of the most important thing of all; the sheer magnificence of love, of honor of…our heart?
Jeremiah Rice reminds me of my father in so many ways. I, an adult orphan who misses my parents (true soul mates) so terribly and can feel the weight of his losses as I shed tears along with him. Oh how I would have loved to discuss this book with my father, both erudite, poetic/romantic and a man of science. I am a fast reader yet did not want this book to end.
Though I could have done without the stereotypes of certain characters, or inconsistencies…I put this book down while still wanting to read…for the one reason and reason alone…I did not want to turn the last page. An unforgettable read that will haunt me for a long time. I’m glad it is being made into a movie coming to the big screen in the future. I know I can't wait to see this one even though I know the book is usually better. I will miss you Jeremiah…as I miss my wonderful Dad.
July 7, 2013
I received a review copy of The Curiosity, a copy I ordered, honestly, because the cover amused me. I read the first 20 pages or so at the doctor's office and wasn't sold. I told someone the next day I would give it another 15 pages and then if it didn't grab me, I'd give it up. It not only grabbed me but took me for a wild and astounding ride. I'm not that into science or imagining future scientific discoveries, but the concept of this fascinated me. I often say I don't like stories that switch points of view, but this does so in every chapter, between four different characters. Because it was clearly delineated who was speaking, it didn't bother me at all and, in fact, enhanced the story. I was 10 pages from the end of the story and still had no idea how it would end. Who would live or die? Was it true, or had it all been a lie? Who would rise to the top? Could we someday end up here, with all of its ethical implications? This is a fabulous read, with characters and plot twists that will invade my thoughts in the days ahead. Read it, and cultivate your curiosity, for this amazing world, for those you love and for yourself.
May 29, 2016
Wow! I waffle between giving this 4 and 5 stars. I'm pretty sure this will be a book that I want to read again. I underlined so many profound thoughts.
At first, I did not turn into the concept that different chapters were from different characters viewpoints. Shortly after I grasped that concept, I understood the title of the book (as it pertained to the book - reading it as an e-book does not allow the opportunity to read end flaps to introduce the story).
This story of a team of scientists who discover a man frozen in a block of ice in the Arctic. There are definite "good guys," a very definite bad guy, and several characters who like to cross the double yellow line.
This book is enough for me to read anything Mr. Kiernan writes. Now, on to The Hummingbird.
At first, I did not turn into the concept that different chapters were from different characters viewpoints. Shortly after I grasped that concept, I understood the title of the book (as it pertained to the book - reading it as an e-book does not allow the opportunity to read end flaps to introduce the story).
This story of a team of scientists who discover a man frozen in a block of ice in the Arctic. There are definite "good guys," a very definite bad guy, and several characters who like to cross the double yellow line.
This book is enough for me to read anything Mr. Kiernan writes. Now, on to The Hummingbird.
August 13, 2013
NPR's book critic said this was a fun book, a page turner. It is anything but. Weak, cliche-ridden characters, boring plot despite an interesting premise, just plain BAD writing. I almost never drop a book, even a lousy one, without finishing it, but tried as I might to continue slogging through The Curiosity, I couldn't get past its overwhelming lameness. I finally threw in the towel. That was one of the best decisions I've made all summer.
September 18, 2016
4.5 Stars
Wow! Wow! Wow! I so loved this story.
First of all, I love biology, science, and anything medically related. The Curiosity, has all three and sooo much more....morality, ethics, politics, selfishness, greed, jealousy, and many of the gentler words: compassion, humanity, kindness, and love.
I listened to the audiobook which consisted of four incredibly talented narrators, they drew me in and kept me near. I just didn't want to stop listening to their story. I was mesmerized, I was enchanted, and I was hooked.
Stephen J. Kiernan did an amazing job of building layer upon layer upon layer, until he created this beautiful castle in the sand.....
Wow! Wow! Wow! I so loved this story.
First of all, I love biology, science, and anything medically related. The Curiosity, has all three and sooo much more....morality, ethics, politics, selfishness, greed, jealousy, and many of the gentler words: compassion, humanity, kindness, and love.
I listened to the audiobook which consisted of four incredibly talented narrators, they drew me in and kept me near. I just didn't want to stop listening to their story. I was mesmerized, I was enchanted, and I was hooked.
Stephen J. Kiernan did an amazing job of building layer upon layer upon layer, until he created this beautiful castle in the sand.....
April 9, 2013
THE CURIOSITY by Stephen P. Kiernan
Every now and then I get a little excited when I discover a new and raging talent who not only has the ability to tell a well written story but rescue the reader from the influx of cookie cutter novels filling not only the internet but bookstores as well.
Thanks to the kindness of the Senior Marketing Director at William Morrow, Tavia Kowalchuk I was honored to receive an advanced readers copy of what I believe to be the most talked about thriller since last summer’s GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn.
Due in July of this year……
THE CURIOSITY by Stephen Kiernan has all the makings of not only a great ‘beach read’ but even better will have tongues wagging at every ‘book club’ that catches wind of this fine novel.
Told in various voices by all the major players of this timely and moral situation,
THE CURIOSITY begins it’s challenge of gracefully upending both ends of the spectrum when it comes to just how far should science play God.
On a scientific expedition in the Arctic funded by an organization called the Lazarus.
Project it is fueled by an egotistical businessman Erastus Carthage, Dr; Kate Philo and her team discover a man buried deep in the ice. Against better judgment they bring the man dressed in clothes from a different era back to their lab. Using all the scientific knowledge at their disposal they attempt to bring’ the curiosity’ back to life.
At various times throughout the story the reader is introduced to the man in ice and he is given a voice while still frozen. His name is Jeremiah Rice and how he came to be frozen in the ice and his life before 1906 makes for ingenious storytelling.
I can hear the book clubs now discussing all of the questions raised by not only the characters but also what the reader feels when man tramples into God’s territory.
Part thriller, part love story, this literary gem has all the makings of updating Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN. Both testing the boundaries of science, both relying on the talents of the author’s to guide the reader to seek their own ‘what if’ or ‘what would you do’ conclusion.
Every now and then I get a little excited when I discover a new and raging talent who not only has the ability to tell a well written story but rescue the reader from the influx of cookie cutter novels filling not only the internet but bookstores as well.
Thanks to the kindness of the Senior Marketing Director at William Morrow, Tavia Kowalchuk I was honored to receive an advanced readers copy of what I believe to be the most talked about thriller since last summer’s GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn.
Due in July of this year……
THE CURIOSITY by Stephen Kiernan has all the makings of not only a great ‘beach read’ but even better will have tongues wagging at every ‘book club’ that catches wind of this fine novel.
Told in various voices by all the major players of this timely and moral situation,
THE CURIOSITY begins it’s challenge of gracefully upending both ends of the spectrum when it comes to just how far should science play God.
On a scientific expedition in the Arctic funded by an organization called the Lazarus.
Project it is fueled by an egotistical businessman Erastus Carthage, Dr; Kate Philo and her team discover a man buried deep in the ice. Against better judgment they bring the man dressed in clothes from a different era back to their lab. Using all the scientific knowledge at their disposal they attempt to bring’ the curiosity’ back to life.
At various times throughout the story the reader is introduced to the man in ice and he is given a voice while still frozen. His name is Jeremiah Rice and how he came to be frozen in the ice and his life before 1906 makes for ingenious storytelling.
I can hear the book clubs now discussing all of the questions raised by not only the characters but also what the reader feels when man tramples into God’s territory.
Part thriller, part love story, this literary gem has all the makings of updating Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN. Both testing the boundaries of science, both relying on the talents of the author’s to guide the reader to seek their own ‘what if’ or ‘what would you do’ conclusion.
May 26, 2014
Oh wow, what an amazing, uplifting, absolutely brilliant book. One to keep. A great premise and a beautiful story, combined with amazing writing makes for a page turning read. I did not want this book to end. I savored every page and wanted more. The different voices are brilliantly portrayed. I loved Jeremiah and Kate and their developing relationship. This book also raises questions about ethics and humanity and ultimately, of what really is the measure and value of a human life. Even the scientific parts were impeccably researched and flawlessly told. I loved Gerber and even understood where Dixon was coming from. Even with Carthage, in the end, we understand why he was being so foul. I am going to reread this book again, in case I missed something. Brilliant. Highly recommended.
Pg 7: '...telling a tale of beauty is a form of mourning.'
Pg 111: 'Who would not wish to dine at the tables of discovery?'
Pg 164: 'Evolution is life's striving toward God.'
Pg 191: '...the man from the past held me close against his side, as if I was the only thing to keep him from falling off the face of the earth.'
Pg 200: 'They had no plan beyond ambition.'
Pg 207: 'The horn of plenty has arrived on this earth and it was displayed like a shrine.'
Pg 240: 'the heart knows truths that cannot be altered by the sequence of events.'
Pg 463: 'When love comes into your life, it calls your whole being to be worthy.'
Pg 7: '...telling a tale of beauty is a form of mourning.'
Pg 111: 'Who would not wish to dine at the tables of discovery?'
Pg 164: 'Evolution is life's striving toward God.'
Pg 191: '...the man from the past held me close against his side, as if I was the only thing to keep him from falling off the face of the earth.'
Pg 200: 'They had no plan beyond ambition.'
Pg 207: 'The horn of plenty has arrived on this earth and it was displayed like a shrine.'
Pg 240: 'the heart knows truths that cannot be altered by the sequence of events.'
Pg 463: 'When love comes into your life, it calls your whole being to be worthy.'
June 15, 2013
I enjoyed this book. I felt I really understood the motives and emotions behind each character's actions. Jeremiah was a lovable character and the baseball chapters were especially heart-warming. These things kept it from being a 5 star rating:
1. I found the way the lab treated Jeremiah unbelievable. Informed consent laws would insure his right to be fully informed on the medical care he was getting. Also, the initial court ruling that deems Jeremiah the lab's property was unbelievable. (Minus one star)
2. I didn't understand why it was a big surprise to Kate that Jeremiah might meet the same demise as the revived krill. I'm no scientist and I thought it was obvious. I feel like it should have been something she worried about from the start. (Minus one star)
3. The random Christian-bashing remarks rubbed me the wrong way. I remember some remark along the lines of "It must be hard when reality messes with your faith" and being offended. If someone were to be revived from the past, I wouldn't take it as an affront to my faith and to assume so was off-putting.
1. I found the way the lab treated Jeremiah unbelievable. Informed consent laws would insure his right to be fully informed on the medical care he was getting. Also, the initial court ruling that deems Jeremiah the lab's property was unbelievable. (Minus one star)
2. I didn't understand why it was a big surprise to Kate that Jeremiah might meet the same demise as the revived krill. I'm no scientist and I thought it was obvious. I feel like it should have been something she worried about from the start. (Minus one star)
3. The random Christian-bashing remarks rubbed me the wrong way. I remember some remark along the lines of "It must be hard when reality messes with your faith" and being offended. If someone were to be revived from the past, I wouldn't take it as an affront to my faith and to assume so was off-putting.
July 21, 2013
I loved this book! It was one of those books that once you start, you keep wanting to read, but keep putting down because you don't want it to end. I thought that the author did a great job with the different "voices" he used to tell the storie(s). He captured the love of science, the allure of baseball, the fascination with technology, the competitveness of the press, the skepticism of the public, and the attraction between two people. The story pulled you in, and put you smack dab in the middle of the loneliness of this man who has been revived from 1906, but has lost everything near and dear to him. And even through all this, the novel quietly makes you realize that you should stop and appreciate all the loveliness of nature, because there is never a better time to do it than right now. We carelessly live each day, assuming that there will be many more. What an incredibly skilled writer! I highly recommend this terrific novel and hope that Stephen Kiernan has plans to write many more.
April 30, 2013
Each year a handful of people who are dying decide to take the chance that in the future someday there might be a cure for what is slowly killing them now and have their bodies frozen just before their death. But is it possible for that to really happen? Does science possess the skill to reanimate a person who was frozen or it is possible that the body can never fully recover from being place in suspended frozen animation?
Dr. Kate Philo has been searching the Arctic Ocean in hopes of finding out those very answers. She and her team have been harvesting what they classify as hard ice in icebergs found floating in the Arctic Ocean. She hopes to find what she calls as a "candidate berg," one that is five times larger than any prior find, and one that is at least 91.7 percent of the berg being underwater. Today's find is 93.151 and not only that, they have discovered a large carbon signature bigger than anything they have found to date. All their subsequent discoveries have been shrimp, plankton, krill which have been reanimated at the Carthage Institute. Yet none of the species have lived but a few seconds before succumbing to what is believed the end of their life cycle anyway. These poor creatures simply were frozen while still alive and thus never really died to begin with.
Dr. Kate Philo believes that they have discovered frozen solid in one of the deep hard ice veins, a seal or large whale. What they soon discover will shock the entire team and possibly bring about one of the largest moral and ethical debates in the world of science, a man! But is it possible to reanimate a human? Does this go against everything the world believes when it comes to life after death? Is science attempting to play God?
In the debut novel, The Curiosity by author Stephen P. Kiernan, Dr. Kate Philo is about to be thrust into a world she never dreamed possible. It will put her at odds with everything she faces about her morals and the ability to put the needs of what the lab is calling "Subject One" above her own and even risk her job. It seems that all Erastus Carthage cares about is making more money and gaining more fame, and nothing will stop him from obtaining all he desires even if it means exploiting Subject One for his own means. He is the financial catalyst behind all the research and the reanimation attempts on Subject One and he will remove anyone who tries to stop him. He even has the media under his financial control enabling a sole reporter, Daniel Dixon the exclusive rights to all press releases on Subject One's reanimation.
I received The Curiosity by Stephen P. Kiernan compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review and received no monetary compensation for a favorable one. I was immediately drawn to the story because it promises a story about Michael Crichton meets The Time Traveler's Wife which I absolutely LOVED and wondered how this would all play out to reanimate a man frozen in ice who died over a 100 years ago. What would he think of the world today? What are the implications from a religious side in dealing with this idea of bringing someone possibly back to life?
I have to hand it to author Stephen P. Kiernan for completely captivating me! The premise is amazing and I think he hit this one out of the park. The novel is divided among the characters, Dr. Kate Philo, Daniel Dixon, Erastus Carthage and Jeremiah Rice as known as Subject One. He makes you really despise Erastus Carthage who is simply motivated by greed and fame, the slimy newspaper reporter, Daniel Dixon who has a fascination with the female body and does not go out of his way to hide it, Dr. Kate Philo who is the only one who sees Jeremiah Rice as a person and not some lab rat and Jeremiah Rice, a judge from the late 1800's who is challenged between wanting to make the most of his second chance and fighting simply to stay alive long enough to make it count.
I rate this book a 4 out of 5, simply based on the language content and sexual references made by certain characters in the book. I would have rated it a 5 out of 5 if these were left out but see the authors need to include them based on his character development. It does allude to the theory of evolution in regards to Erastus Carthage's team which believes they are simply doing what they are called to discover and feel no moral obligation to Jeremiah Rice, as a person as he continues to refer to him as Subject One no matter what happens. To Erastus Carthage, Jeremiah Rice is simply a large lab rat at his disposal. The best parts of this book are the conversations between Kate and Jeremiah as she shows him the new world and all that we've done in the last 100 years since he "died." It really is quite eye opening to see things from his point of view and also quite sobering as well to see despite all our advancements, we really are a violent and morally loose world. This is a wonderful novel and one you won't want to miss! The best part is that this will soon be made into a movie coming to the big screen in the future. I know I can't wait to see this one!
Dr. Kate Philo has been searching the Arctic Ocean in hopes of finding out those very answers. She and her team have been harvesting what they classify as hard ice in icebergs found floating in the Arctic Ocean. She hopes to find what she calls as a "candidate berg," one that is five times larger than any prior find, and one that is at least 91.7 percent of the berg being underwater. Today's find is 93.151 and not only that, they have discovered a large carbon signature bigger than anything they have found to date. All their subsequent discoveries have been shrimp, plankton, krill which have been reanimated at the Carthage Institute. Yet none of the species have lived but a few seconds before succumbing to what is believed the end of their life cycle anyway. These poor creatures simply were frozen while still alive and thus never really died to begin with.
Dr. Kate Philo believes that they have discovered frozen solid in one of the deep hard ice veins, a seal or large whale. What they soon discover will shock the entire team and possibly bring about one of the largest moral and ethical debates in the world of science, a man! But is it possible to reanimate a human? Does this go against everything the world believes when it comes to life after death? Is science attempting to play God?
In the debut novel, The Curiosity by author Stephen P. Kiernan, Dr. Kate Philo is about to be thrust into a world she never dreamed possible. It will put her at odds with everything she faces about her morals and the ability to put the needs of what the lab is calling "Subject One" above her own and even risk her job. It seems that all Erastus Carthage cares about is making more money and gaining more fame, and nothing will stop him from obtaining all he desires even if it means exploiting Subject One for his own means. He is the financial catalyst behind all the research and the reanimation attempts on Subject One and he will remove anyone who tries to stop him. He even has the media under his financial control enabling a sole reporter, Daniel Dixon the exclusive rights to all press releases on Subject One's reanimation.
I received The Curiosity by Stephen P. Kiernan compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review and received no monetary compensation for a favorable one. I was immediately drawn to the story because it promises a story about Michael Crichton meets The Time Traveler's Wife which I absolutely LOVED and wondered how this would all play out to reanimate a man frozen in ice who died over a 100 years ago. What would he think of the world today? What are the implications from a religious side in dealing with this idea of bringing someone possibly back to life?
I have to hand it to author Stephen P. Kiernan for completely captivating me! The premise is amazing and I think he hit this one out of the park. The novel is divided among the characters, Dr. Kate Philo, Daniel Dixon, Erastus Carthage and Jeremiah Rice as known as Subject One. He makes you really despise Erastus Carthage who is simply motivated by greed and fame, the slimy newspaper reporter, Daniel Dixon who has a fascination with the female body and does not go out of his way to hide it, Dr. Kate Philo who is the only one who sees Jeremiah Rice as a person and not some lab rat and Jeremiah Rice, a judge from the late 1800's who is challenged between wanting to make the most of his second chance and fighting simply to stay alive long enough to make it count.
I rate this book a 4 out of 5, simply based on the language content and sexual references made by certain characters in the book. I would have rated it a 5 out of 5 if these were left out but see the authors need to include them based on his character development. It does allude to the theory of evolution in regards to Erastus Carthage's team which believes they are simply doing what they are called to discover and feel no moral obligation to Jeremiah Rice, as a person as he continues to refer to him as Subject One no matter what happens. To Erastus Carthage, Jeremiah Rice is simply a large lab rat at his disposal. The best parts of this book are the conversations between Kate and Jeremiah as she shows him the new world and all that we've done in the last 100 years since he "died." It really is quite eye opening to see things from his point of view and also quite sobering as well to see despite all our advancements, we really are a violent and morally loose world. This is a wonderful novel and one you won't want to miss! The best part is that this will soon be made into a movie coming to the big screen in the future. I know I can't wait to see this one!
September 8, 2013
The book did not engage me as much as I had hoped. For some reason I did not really connect with any of the characters enough and that made the book hard reading, especially the first half while the story builds. But there were at least three or four times when I stopped reading and became lost in thought based upon ideas presented by the author, in service to his novel. One in particular, the idea that mankind doesn't really get wiser over a 100- year period just keeps busy. Meaning progress continues (buildings get built, empty spaces are filled and our world gets noisier) but our ethical or moral development has not grown or developed much in the past 100 years. Later the author, thru the thoughts of one of the characters, expresses the idea that perhaps our moral development decreases exponentially the further we get in time from our less socially developed selves. Good science fiction explores philosophy and ethics in ways that less creative works are unable to fully exploit. This book hits some really high notes in that regard. The attempt at a love story or other details were not as engaging as they might have been. Or as they might be, in the author's next works of fiction. I hope there will be more. This book apparently was triggered by a James Taylor song; so hopefully he has had other ideas bubbling up for awhile now.
May 7, 2016
This book reminded me a lot of Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, and even The Man who Fell to Earth. It is a very good rendition of the old theme of the outsider coming into our lives to show us what we're really like and give us a fresh perspective on the better and worse parts of our society. This time, it is a man brought back to life after being frozen at sea more than a hundred years ago. As he opens his eyes and begins realizing all that has changed during his "dead" time, we learn more and more about ourselves - the scientific achievements, the plenty we take for granted, the greed, the madness of media and internet, etc., etc. This is not really new, but is very well-written, enjoyable mainly for the great character building and suspense. The ending is very much known throughout the book, but still manages to be moving and fulfilling.
December 5, 2013
I am in love with this book. Jeremiah Rice is such a wonderful, miraculous character, perhaps because he is so lovable, perhaps because he brings a sense of wonder to the world in his perspectives, living on borrowed time, of the beauty and incredible miracles all around us, happening every day. I suppose one could say that he is too "good", that he is a little one-dimensional, but I would love to believe that there are people like him (not necessarily reanimated frozen 150 year olds) out there in the world, who believe in being noble and just, polite and kind to others. I was okay with Jeremiah's one-dimensionality. More than okay.
I also love Dr. Kate, his foil and beloved. She is a more complex character in that she feels love and selfishness, anger and fear like the rest of us.
I didn't think I would like Dixon, the staff reporter, but I love his backstory that so affects his present day life.
Erastus Carthage, the chief scientist is almost unbelievable in his use of the royal we and the interesting way he is written in the second person to convey just how deeply struck upon himself he is. This too is his fatal flaw, as you will come to find out. He is almost laughable but more often irritating and shocking at the treatment of all the other "unworthies" around his "greatness". He is literally a legend in his own mind.
Above all though, I want to say how deeply I enjoyed this book with its fascinating premise. Stephen P. Kiernan, you had me at "I was already wide awake when they came for me."
Happy reading all!
I also love Dr. Kate, his foil and beloved. She is a more complex character in that she feels love and selfishness, anger and fear like the rest of us.
I didn't think I would like Dixon, the staff reporter, but I love his backstory that so affects his present day life.
Erastus Carthage, the chief scientist is almost unbelievable in his use of the royal we and the interesting way he is written in the second person to convey just how deeply struck upon himself he is. This too is his fatal flaw, as you will come to find out. He is almost laughable but more often irritating and shocking at the treatment of all the other "unworthies" around his "greatness". He is literally a legend in his own mind.
Above all though, I want to say how deeply I enjoyed this book with its fascinating premise. Stephen P. Kiernan, you had me at "I was already wide awake when they came for me."
Happy reading all!
July 22, 2013
Could be one of my favorite books of 2013. A polar expedition trying to find icebergs with hard ice where they can hopefully locate small marine animals to try to reanimate. An eccentric OCD scientist, Carthage, obsessed with being the first to reanimate & keep alive the krill and shrimp they are finding....then on this one expedition they discover a man frozen in an iceberg. Off we go on a fascinating twist on the Frankenstein story of reanimation. But this is so different. The cast of characters you love or hate. Kate, the brilliant scientist who bonds with Judge Jeremiah Rice (the reanimated man from 1906 that she found in the ice). Dixon, the reporter who has exclusive access to the process from beginning to end; Gerber & Billings, scientists working with Kate who just may have the key to the reanimation problem.....how to keep the reanimated living more than a set number of minutes/days. The story is revealed chapter by chapter by Kate, Carthage, Judge Rice & Dixon. Just a fascinating read. Couldn't put it down.
September 24, 2018
I bought this book at chapters. I enjoyed reading it. It had a good story to it. It is my first book by this author. It took me longer than normal to read this one because some of the chapters were long. I hope to read more books by this author.
October 14, 2013
What if your last memory was today and your next conscious moment was 100 years from now? When Dr. Kate Philo finds a man's body flash-frozen in the Arctic, she's hopeful they might be able to revive him with the new scientific discoveries she has helped pioneer. When a living, breathing, thinking, feeling man survives the brutal revival process, the scientific team hadn't considered what would come after that.
Kate tries to advocate for the newly-awakened and overwhelmed Jeremiah Rice, while forces on all sides of this miracle impose on Jeremiah's new life. As he struggles to comprehend his new reality, protesters clambor for the end of this experiment. A global audience devours web videos and photos and demands more from Jeremiah.
Jeremiah deeply ponders his unique life, the losses he can finally mourn, and the beauty of the daily life that was before unseen to him. The extraordinary relationship between Kate and Jeremiah and the universal human experience is truly the heart of this story.
This book has similarities to The Time-Traveler's Wife, Timeline, and The Impossible Lives of Great Wells. It has the same heartbreak as Time-Traveler's Wife, but so many more ethical issues than Timeline or The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells had. Highly recommended to all readers!
Kate tries to advocate for the newly-awakened and overwhelmed Jeremiah Rice, while forces on all sides of this miracle impose on Jeremiah's new life. As he struggles to comprehend his new reality, protesters clambor for the end of this experiment. A global audience devours web videos and photos and demands more from Jeremiah.
Jeremiah deeply ponders his unique life, the losses he can finally mourn, and the beauty of the daily life that was before unseen to him. The extraordinary relationship between Kate and Jeremiah and the universal human experience is truly the heart of this story.
This book has similarities to The Time-Traveler's Wife, Timeline, and The Impossible Lives of Great Wells. It has the same heartbreak as Time-Traveler's Wife, but so many more ethical issues than Timeline or The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells had. Highly recommended to all readers!
July 21, 2013
I so wanted to like this. I was promised a Michael Crichton kind of book, which I took to mean a well developed scientific story with some complex ethical issues. It started out with good potential, but the was so much of the human/ethical story that was never developed.
Questions about autonomy - does the frozen man who is reanimated "belong" to the lab that brought him back to life?
Questions about life itself - really, why are the people protesting? What are they protesting?
Questions about science and scientists - did they really have no plan for what to do with the guy? Did they really push the scientist to do the historical research to find out who this man was, and did they really wait until he'd been alive for a couple months to wonder about his past life?
And the Time-travelers Wife? Hardly. While we have a man from another time, he makes a lot of predictable judgements about the here-and-now. After being barely awake and in the present time for a week or two, he comments on how much everyone works and is too busy. Really? He hadn't been out of the lab yet.
He's overwhelmed by the grocery store. I did enjoy, however, when he went to Fenway Park.
Questions about autonomy - does the frozen man who is reanimated "belong" to the lab that brought him back to life?
Questions about life itself - really, why are the people protesting? What are they protesting?
Questions about science and scientists - did they really have no plan for what to do with the guy? Did they really push the scientist to do the historical research to find out who this man was, and did they really wait until he'd been alive for a couple months to wonder about his past life?
And the Time-travelers Wife? Hardly. While we have a man from another time, he makes a lot of predictable judgements about the here-and-now. After being barely awake and in the present time for a week or two, he comments on how much everyone works and is too busy. Really? He hadn't been out of the lab yet.
He's overwhelmed by the grocery store. I did enjoy, however, when he went to Fenway Park.
March 1, 2014
Hm. Engaging read, and I liked the alternating viewpoints.
Unfortunately, though, early on there is a description of Jeremiah and his big bushy sideburns. Which made me picture Wolverine. Which led to my mental casting of Hugh Jackman in the role. Which led, of course, to remembering that movie he was in several years ago with Meg Ryan- the one where she was a modern gal and he had travelled through time (I can't remember the name of it). It fit perfectly, especially all those scenes of Kate showing Jeremiah the modern world and his stiff, naive formality with everything, and because I thought that movie was so silly, it made this story feel a little silly, too. So there you have it.
Unfortunately, though, early on there is a description of Jeremiah and his big bushy sideburns. Which made me picture Wolverine. Which led to my mental casting of Hugh Jackman in the role. Which led, of course, to remembering that movie he was in several years ago with Meg Ryan- the one where she was a modern gal and he had travelled through time (I can't remember the name of it). It fit perfectly, especially all those scenes of Kate showing Jeremiah the modern world and his stiff, naive formality with everything, and because I thought that movie was so silly, it made this story feel a little silly, too. So there you have it.
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April 21, 2021This book is boring as all hell. I tried and tried with this one. I purchased this book on my Kindle back in 2014. I tried getting through it then until other things caught my attention. A couple of weeks ago I picked my Kindle up for the first time in a year and I stumbled across it again. I figured, “hey! I’m 4 years older, wiser, and a hell of a lot more patient; why not give this another shot?” (Exactly 4 years later, might I add). Bless my optimistic heart... this book is still not my cup of tea. Sorry not sorry.
March 9, 2020
The Curiosity had been sitting on my shelf for far too long. I had read and loved The Hummingbird and The Baker's Secret, but I had neglected this novel. This story of a man who had fallen from a ship in the Arctic circle over 100 years ago and is found by a scientific expedition looking for flash frozen animals to reanimate is beautifully written and compulsively readable. My fellow book club members all enjoyed it very much. The characters were vividly described and the scientific details were interesting without becoming tedious and nerdy. As a bonus, Stephen joined our book club via Skype and provided background details which made the book more enjoyable. He was also very funny and we had a very lively discussion! Next up for the group is The Baker's Secret and I am so looking forward to The Universe of Two which is being published in early May.
February 25, 2017
I quite enjoyed this book, it is probably in the science fiction genre, and even though I wouldn't normally gravitate to sci-fi, I am finding that there is a whole spectrum of sci-fi. In The Curiosity, a scientific research team is looking for hard ice in the Arctic, b/c if they find it, they will also find shrimp, krill, and other small life that has been frozen but not died, and so they can "reanimate" it by jolting awake the cells' latent energy. On the journey, however, they discover a man encased in the hard ice and attempt to reanimate him. He is from the turn of the 20th century, and the book is set in present-day and really addresses many moral and ethical questions, which I found quite fascinating. The story is told from 4 perspectives: the woman scientist who makes the discovery of the man (alas, also falls in love with him and partially loses her scientific focus, struggling with ethical issues; the man leading the overall research; a journalist with exclusive access to the team; and the man encased in ice (this is not a spoiler as he is reanimated at the beginning of the book!). Set in Boston and surrounding area, quite a compelling read.
September 15, 2013
This was an incredibly great read, I enjoyed it immensely. I liked that the author made the whole scientific part of the story entirely plausible.
The whole premise is just intriguing; bringing back a man who has frozen in hard ice for over a hundred years. Bringing a frozen body back to life is not all that unbelievable, because it has happened in real life. In fact, many times, though I can't account for the accuracy of the articles.
However, bringing back a person who has been frozen for a hundred years... now that's interesting! It's like Sleeping Beauty, but after the kiss. You know how the story ends after "...and they lived happily ever after"? This is the story of what happens after. Well, not really.
Jeremiah Rice's story is as far from Sleeping Beauty as you can get, and he was brought back by science, not a kiss. Obviously though, we can't help but be curious about how people who lived in the 20th century would think about our technology-filled lives now. All the cars, airplanes, computers, iPhones, wide-screen TV... it would be overwhelming to take in all at once.
Not to mention, of course, the huge culture shock itself; the immodest fashion nowadays compared to way back when, the vulgar everyday language a lot of us speak in without thinking twice, the fact that there's actually a black president now when a hundred years ago, blacks were seen as slaves.
Seeing these things through Jeremiah's eyes are interesting, sure, but there's more to the story than that. The story is told in a few other POVs, one which was told in a second-person narrative and influenced my feelings of the character very much, and there are other characters who I really feel for as well.
This is definitely one of my favorite books in 2013. I thought it was very well-written, and honestly, I can't praise the whole second-person narrative POV enough. It just made me take a step back and really look at the person who was "speaking". It looks like this might be made into a movie as well, and I look forward to watching it on screen.
The whole premise is just intriguing; bringing back a man who has frozen in hard ice for over a hundred years. Bringing a frozen body back to life is not all that unbelievable, because it has happened in real life. In fact, many times, though I can't account for the accuracy of the articles.
However, bringing back a person who has been frozen for a hundred years... now that's interesting! It's like Sleeping Beauty, but after the kiss. You know how the story ends after "...and they lived happily ever after"? This is the story of what happens after. Well, not really.
Jeremiah Rice's story is as far from Sleeping Beauty as you can get, and he was brought back by science, not a kiss. Obviously though, we can't help but be curious about how people who lived in the 20th century would think about our technology-filled lives now. All the cars, airplanes, computers, iPhones, wide-screen TV... it would be overwhelming to take in all at once.
Not to mention, of course, the huge culture shock itself; the immodest fashion nowadays compared to way back when, the vulgar everyday language a lot of us speak in without thinking twice, the fact that there's actually a black president now when a hundred years ago, blacks were seen as slaves.
Seeing these things through Jeremiah's eyes are interesting, sure, but there's more to the story than that. The story is told in a few other POVs, one which was told in a second-person narrative and influenced my feelings of the character very much, and there are other characters who I really feel for as well.
This is definitely one of my favorite books in 2013. I thought it was very well-written, and honestly, I can't praise the whole second-person narrative POV enough. It just made me take a step back and really look at the person who was "speaking". It looks like this might be made into a movie as well, and I look forward to watching it on screen.
September 7, 2013
I quite enjoyed The Curiosity, and finished it in one sitting. Erastus Carthage has discovered a way to reanimate small sea creatures such as krill that were frozen in what is called "hard ice," and Dr. Kate Philo and a team of scientists are on a ship sent into the Arctic Circle in search of an iceberg that has hard ice in it to see if they can find more frozen creatures for Dr. Carthage to bring back to life. In addition to the scientists, Daniel Dixon, a journalist, has been invited along to document their findings for a science magazine. They find the perfect iceberg, and in it lies the body of a man! They bring the man back and determine to bring him back to life, just as they have been doing to the krill and shrimp, which have only lived for very short periods of time. After he is successfully brought back to life, they learn that the man is Jeremiah Rice, a judge who had sailed into the Arctic seeking more evidence of Darwin's theory of evolution in the creatures that inhabit that area. The book is told from the varying viewpoints of the aforementioned characters, but this does not detract from the storyline at all! The country is in an uproar over the ethics and theology of bringing Jeremiah back to life, Dr. Carthage seeks to exploit Jeremiah to get further funding for his research, and Kate is falling in love with a man who, like the krill, may only have weeks to live. I thought this was a very poignant book and definitely found myself immersed in the different characters and their private thoughts. It kind of reminded me of another book about humans found frozen in ice that I have read, Blood and Ice, although that was more in the paranormal category. The book certainly provided food for thought considering all the scientific advances happening every day!
September 28, 2014
This book has me sold by the cover alone, although upon reading the novel I have to say that, while striking, the image is in fact erroneous, shoes should be boots and button should be brown. Alas, the was only the least of what was off about it. The concept of it is great, but any science over ethics dilemmas, any sociological implications get lost and buried under a steaming pile of cheesy romance. Basically I think all the things I didn't care for in this book are exactly what made it so popular and so quick to sell the movie rights. The moral of the book...beauty is all around us, take time to appreciate it...is laid on so, so thick. The egomaniacal evil lead antagonist is a cartoonish cliché, his obsequious assistant is a cliché, the vulgar amoral journalist is a cliché, come to think of it even the leading lady celibate driven scientist with her hair up is a cliché as well. The story isn't overly original in itself, there is an inherent romance in falling in love with someone from another time. It's been done cinematically, it'll be done again, it'll probably make a fairly entertaining movie, but I expect more from a book than trite repetitive sentiments and a heavy handed moral. The most curious thing about Curiosity is that it was essentially chicklit with some science and drama thrown in for good measure and if I didn't see the author's name and photo, I would have never guessed him to be a man. So yeah, this book did not live up to it's cover art or praise, it was a decent read, adequate to well written, but in retrospect one might want to just wait for the movie.
May 27, 2013
The story of the reanimation of a man believed to have died in 1906 in the frozen arctic waters is a masterful combination of science thriller and love story. Told from four different perspectives; the journalist covering the story, the scientist who discovered the body in the ice, the egotistical genius at the head of the project and the reanimated man himself, Jeremiah Rice, this novel explores the very human side of science and those involved in its study. The voice of Jeremiah Rice is written with such a fine hand, giving the character the formality and substance that make him so believable as a man that has come from the early 20th century. His insight into modern day life is powerful without being preachy. Although the ending is foreshadowed at the beginning of the novel the path that takes you to that end is one that is filled with beautiful, thought-provoking style that keeps you turning the pages to the inevitable ending. ”
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