The Male Response

by Brian W. Aldiss

Marginally sf, how the indecisive Soames-Noyes is sent by his company with a computer to the newly-free black state of Goya in Africa, where he becomes entangled with women and witch-doctors. Forerunner to the Horatio Stubbs stories - book was banned in SA as being obscene, objectionable or undesirable.

Genres: Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Pseudonyms: Jael Cracken, Peter Pica, John Runciman, C.C. Shackleton, Arch Mendicant, & "Doc" Peristyle.

Brian Wilson Aldiss was one of the most important voices in science fiction writing today. He wrote his first novel while working as a bookseller in Oxford. Shortly afterwards he wrote his first work of science fiction and soon gained international recognition. Adored for his innovative literary techniques, evocative plots and irresistible characters, he became a Grand Master of Science Fiction in 1999.
Brian Aldiss died on August 19, 2017, just after celebrating his 92nd birthday with his family and closest friends.

Brian W. Aldiss Group on Good Reads

Reviews

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soames Noyes is sent to oversee the installation of a computer in Umbalathorp, the capital city of the New African Republic of Goya. Whilst there, he experiences the strangeness of a new way of living and is caught up in a conspiracy to overthrow the government.

Aldiss' novel is a satirical look at the post colonial world and Noyes is the poster child for the old empirical overlords. With such a hectic pace, it is easy to overlook some of the shortcuts Aldiss employs to get readers from A to B.

[Timothy · Rating 1 out of 5]

oddly, a book that is simultaneously better than expected and even worse than expected (not the expected SF, but Aldiss' second non-genre novel) ... the good news is that, though the tawdry cover art and the salacious blurbs on all the handful of editions (and the terrible, awful, dreadful title) suggest otherwise, the book is actually conceived as a serious satiric novel of ideas ... the bad news is that the book is so, so, so bad ... I suspect that Aldiss is attempting a concoction of mid century English writers, many I am not familiar with and, sadly, his recipe results in something entirely repellent ... that Aldiss even goes so far as to attempt to lipstick this pig with the name dropping of Aldous Huxley and Graham Greene should have been a fineable offense ... the tone deaf racist, misogynistic, homophobic colonialist white dude goes to Africa narrative is an incredible miscalculation that boggles the mind - what could possess someone, even someone as effortlessly prolific as Aldiss, to spend months of their life writing this? ... more importantly, what could possess someone, even someone who reads a hundred novels a year as I do, to spend a couple of days reading this?

[Andy Raptis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was going to give this book three stars. It had some good parts while others were a bit of a drag. The extra star is for the amazing finale.

[Manny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a nice opening. An African tribal chief walks into an IBM salesroom sometime in the 60s, and says he wants to buy a computer. (This was before laptops, the Internet, etc). "Certainly, sir!" says the smooth salesman. "And what kind of machine would sir want?" The chief has his answer prepared. "I want a RED one!" he says eagerly.

Is this racist? It might be, but the way the book develops you pretty much have to give Aldiss a pass, as the Westerners are made to look every bit as silly. More a collision of cultures novel, and a reasonably good one.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting book that deals with sexual repression of an British man. He goes to Africa and finds that life is very different there. It's well written but he took an entire novel to say the same thing that Hemingway did in "The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber".

[Marko]

I have the german edition: O Cyrika