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Four for Tomorrow
It has also been published in the UK as A Rose for Ecclesiastes.
Introduction by Theodore Sturgeon
The Furies (1965)
The Graveyard Heart (1964)
The Doors of his Face, the Lamps of His Mouth (1965)
A Rose for Ecclesiastes (1963)
Introduction by Theodore Sturgeon
The Furies (1965)
The Graveyard Heart (1964)
The Doors of his Face, the Lamps of His Mouth (1965)
A Rose for Ecclesiastes (1963)
191 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1967
15 people are currently reading
1186 people want to read
About the author
Roger Zelazny
749 books3,918 followersRoger Joseph Zelazny was an American fantasy and science fiction writer known for his short stories and novels, best known for The Chronicles of Amber. He won the Nebula Award three times (out of 14 nominations) and the Hugo Award six times (also out of 14 nominations), including two Hugos for novels: the serialized novel ...And Call Me Conrad (1965), subsequently published under the title This Immortal (1966), and the novel Lord of Light (1967).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
August 4, 2014
It's been five decades since these four stories first appeared, but they seem just as fresh and innovative today as they did then. "A Rose for Ecclesiastes" and "The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth" are undisputed classics, widely known and often reprinted. "The Furies" and one of my personal favorites, "The Graveyard Heart," are also brilliant pieces, very thought provoking and representative of the best work that's ever appeared in the field. This edition also includes a nice introduction from Theodore Sturgeon.
October 22, 2014
Oct2014: Reading with the Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy group
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
Introduction 1967 essay by Theodore Sturgeon
was pretty good. Kind of convoluted, but I agreed with a lot of what he said about Zelazny's writing.
The Furies 1965 novelette by Zelazny
featuring Sandor Sandor, Benedick Benedict and Lynx Links, has always been my favorite story in this collection. Zelazny switches my sympathies around like a mixer. Who is right? Anyone? The characters & the differences in the style are interesting, too.
The Graveyard Heart 1964 novella by Zelazny
While this has often been touted as a great story, I just don't get the attraction. A note of interest, the name of the poetry collection in this story is his, one he submitted to a contest at Yale. He didn't win & later decided there wasn't any money in it, but used some of those poems in this story.
The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth 1965 novelette by Zelazny
This is set on Venus as the last story is set on Mars. It's not a true Venus, but a romanticized one - a fishing story of courage & memories, a need to prove oneself.
The way he slowly introduces the character is wonderful. I think I was over halfway through before he really became clear. That slow revelation while the action keeps rolling makes the story far more interesting.
A Rose for Ecclesiastes 1963 novelette by Zelazny
I don't know why this story is last since it was the first published, but they appear in reverse order. Zelazny said he really wanted to write a story about the old Mars of SF, the one ERB, Bradbury & others had written of, but there was time pressure. The Mariner Mars mission was launched in 1964. He felt that he couldn't write this sort of story after it had brought the real Mars into public awareness.
It's not a bad idea to read up a bit on Ecclesiastes before reading this story if you're not familiar with it. Before reading this, my knowledge stopped at a few quotes & the Byrd's song, so I read the SparkNotes:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/oldtest...
& skimmed the NIV version, which seemed to be the easiest to read. It's free online here:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?...
They do help bring the point into clearer focus, but aren't necessary.
Original Review: This book was titled "Four for Tomorrow" in the U.S. & both editions contain the same 4 stories.
The title story is one of his most famous stories & rightfully so. It's another story set on a fictional Mars, with a dying Martian race & Earthmen to study them. It doesn't sound too appealing - more hackneyed than anything. It is nothing of the kind. It's touching - a romance mystery. 'Rose' also appears in his collection "The Lamps of His Mouth, The Doors of His Face" as well as in a couple of other anthologies.
My favorite story in the collection is "The Furies". Imagine the Greek Furies in the far future when man is on many planets.
Well worth reading.
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
Introduction 1967 essay by Theodore Sturgeon
was pretty good. Kind of convoluted, but I agreed with a lot of what he said about Zelazny's writing.
The Furies 1965 novelette by Zelazny
featuring Sandor Sandor, Benedick Benedict and Lynx Links, has always been my favorite story in this collection. Zelazny switches my sympathies around like a mixer. Who is right? Anyone? The characters & the differences in the style are interesting, too.
The Graveyard Heart 1964 novella by Zelazny
While this has often been touted as a great story, I just don't get the attraction. A note of interest, the name of the poetry collection in this story is his, one he submitted to a contest at Yale. He didn't win & later decided there wasn't any money in it, but used some of those poems in this story.
The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth 1965 novelette by Zelazny
This is set on Venus as the last story is set on Mars. It's not a true Venus, but a romanticized one - a fishing story of courage & memories, a need to prove oneself.
The way he slowly introduces the character is wonderful. I think I was over halfway through before he really became clear. That slow revelation while the action keeps rolling makes the story far more interesting.
A Rose for Ecclesiastes 1963 novelette by Zelazny
I don't know why this story is last since it was the first published, but they appear in reverse order. Zelazny said he really wanted to write a story about the old Mars of SF, the one ERB, Bradbury & others had written of, but there was time pressure. The Mariner Mars mission was launched in 1964. He felt that he couldn't write this sort of story after it had brought the real Mars into public awareness.
It's not a bad idea to read up a bit on Ecclesiastes before reading this story if you're not familiar with it. Before reading this, my knowledge stopped at a few quotes & the Byrd's song, so I read the SparkNotes:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/oldtest...
& skimmed the NIV version, which seemed to be the easiest to read. It's free online here:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?...
They do help bring the point into clearer focus, but aren't necessary.
Original Review: This book was titled "Four for Tomorrow" in the U.S. & both editions contain the same 4 stories.
The title story is one of his most famous stories & rightfully so. It's another story set on a fictional Mars, with a dying Martian race & Earthmen to study them. It doesn't sound too appealing - more hackneyed than anything. It is nothing of the kind. It's touching - a romance mystery. 'Rose' also appears in his collection "The Lamps of His Mouth, The Doors of His Face" as well as in a couple of other anthologies.
My favorite story in the collection is "The Furies". Imagine the Greek Furies in the far future when man is on many planets.
Well worth reading.
March 11, 2013
In a status update earlier today, Booknut 101 suggested that Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series could be summed up by the question "How can I get a vampire to fuck me?" It's a good line, but, as I said, I disagree. Really, I think that Meyer is asking a more important question, which I would paraphrase roughly as: "How can I best sell my body and soul to become a member of the elite few who are really in charge?" She takes it for granted that most people would like to do this, given the chance.
The exchange reminded me of Zelazny's 1965 story The Graveyard Heart, which features in this collection. It's set in a near-future world where cryogenic technology has been perfected to the point where people can easily be frozen and revived at will. The most exclusive social group in the world is the Party Set. Members stay frozen most of the time and only come alive one or two days a year, when they attend fabulous parties. It is extremely difficult to become a member of Party Set. Not only do you have to be very rich, you must also be approved by the Set's autocratic and willful leader, the Doyenne.
Alvin, a young engineer, meets the beautiful Leota and instantly falls in love with her. There are practical problems: she is both a member of Party Set and also the girlfriend of another member, a famous poet.
October 12, 2020
Хм, странно ми се вижда решението на издателство Бард да изтърве предговора от Теодор Стърджън, когато е решило да включи Четири истории от утре в луксозното томче Смъртта и светлината, просто защото той е неизменна част от подборката, пък и в малко над половин дузина странички утвърденият фантаст ни дава полезни съвети какво точно да очакваме от прозата на ярко изгрелия на литературния небосклон негов по-млад колега. Също така подредбата на четирите новели е променена. В оригинала, и във въпросното първо издание на Дамян Яков от 1998, тя е следната: 1. Фуриите 2. Сърцето на гробищата 3. Вратите на лицето му, лампите на устата му и 4. Роза за Еклисиаста (за сравнение при бардовци е 3, 4, 1, 2), а тя определено е от значение - например, макар и да е най-ранната от четирите творби, последната е най-зрялата и завършена във всеки един аспект, и като че ли среща най-възторжени отзиви сред читателите, включително и при мен стана така. Оттам насетне всичко е без забележка - преводът на Комата, луксозното оформление, качествената хартия... направо примирах от удоволствие, докато разлиствах страниците. Няма да се спирам върху сюжетите, достатъчно ревюта има в goodreads-профила на сборника, ще кажа само, че винаги вземам под внимание годината на излизане на дадено произведение, а тези, писани преди повече от половин век (в интервала 1963-1965) звучат все така авангардно шантаво и забавно. Зелазни е бил енциклопедист с чутовни познания в най-различни сфери и препратките в творбите му са десетки, трудно могат да бъдат уловени само с едно изчитане... А оценката ми трудно може да бъде различна от максимален брой звезди.
June 11, 2024
I had read one Zelazny book prior to this collection which I didnt overly love. This one was alot better.
This edition contains four short stories and an introduction by Theodore Sturgeon. My favourite is definitely the last story called A Rose for Ecclesiastes. A poet learns the ways of Martians engulfing their literature, customs and beliefs to in turn translate this into English. As he becomes more ingrained with the people and falls in love he may have a chance at changing the Martians way of life and prevent there extinction. It's a profound read with a heartbreaking ending.
Overall I give this 3.5 stars down to 3 for Goodreads.
This edition contains four short stories and an introduction by Theodore Sturgeon. My favourite is definitely the last story called A Rose for Ecclesiastes. A poet learns the ways of Martians engulfing their literature, customs and beliefs to in turn translate this into English. As he becomes more ingrained with the people and falls in love he may have a chance at changing the Martians way of life and prevent there extinction. It's a profound read with a heartbreaking ending.
Overall I give this 3.5 stars down to 3 for Goodreads.
October 13, 2021
Since I have read the four stories in his "Complete Works" collection, I think I qualify as having finished this book as well.
August 29, 2015
Четири новели от Роджър Зелазни писани през 60 години, събрани от Теодор Стърджън и с невероятен предговор от него.
Зелазни ми е любим автор и имам крайно субективно мнение за произведенията му, но тези четири истории са невероятни. Представят четири визии за бъдещето, макар и на заден план, защото отпред са си съвсем човешки и неподвластни на времето. На кратко:
Фуриите:
Стърджън - Зелазни ви кара да му повярвате до край и си тръгва, без изобщо да се е уморил, като ви оставя задъхани със сюжета в ръка.
Аз - Писана по време на разгара на виетнамската война, историята се развива в едно бъдеще, в което човечеството е завладяло космоса и в вечната борба за ресурси, прави, това което може най-добре - унищожава, поробва и потиска чужди раси и им изпомпва ресурса, но има един, който е обявил война на алчните и с терористични прийоми се бори с тях. Естествено няма никакъв шанс срещу силните на деня. Зелазни засяга наболялият тогава въпрос за агресията, която поражда агресия, който сега е даже по-актуален, от колкото тогава. Няма добри герои в тази новела, и лоши няма. Има само човеци.
Сърцето на гробищата:
Стърджън - На��-великият дар, поднесен от фантастиката на литературата. Никога вече няма да гледате на света със същите очи.
Аз - В ерата преди реалити шоутата с измислени звезди и воайорски маси почитатели, в наше време тази новела удря право в десетката заболялото телевидиотено съвременно племе. КОлко от живота си би пожертвал за да влезеш в "Елита"? Ставаш ли повече от човек там, или те вълнуват същите човешки проблеми? Напред ли вървиш, или изоставаш с часове?
Трент Зелазни казва, че баща му имал две големи любови. Първата е фантастиката, а втората поезията. Тук двете се преплитат по невероятен начин.
Вратите на лицето му, лампите на устата му:
Стърджън - Главното тук са размерът и скоростта, и това, което става в умовете и сърцата на хората.
Аз - Другите фантастични разкази за лов на морски гиганти, копират едно към едно китоловна експедиция. Този е нещо съвсем различно и внимателно обмислено, но ловът на меркурианския Моби Дик е само фон, както и в книгата на Мелвил. Основното е историята на един човек загубил всичко в преследването на химерата си и една жена, която ще направи всичко за да го върне в настоящето.
Роза за еклисиаста:
Стърджън - Ако астрономически невероятното развитие на действието ви достигне, то ще ви смели на кайма...
Аз - Няма да каже нищо повече. Трябва да се прочете.
Чиста проба фантастика от Зелазни, с чудесен превод от Комата. Прескочила теста на времето и удоволствие да я четеш и препрочиташ.
По една звездичка за всяка от историите и една за подбора и предговора на Теодор Стърджън. Няма как да дам по-малко.
Зелазни ми е любим автор и имам крайно субективно мнение за произведенията му, но тези четири истории са невероятни. Представят четири визии за бъдещето, макар и на заден план, защото отпред са си съвсем човешки и неподвластни на времето. На кратко:
Фуриите:
Стърджън - Зелазни ви кара да му повярвате до край и си тръгва, без изобщо да се е уморил, като ви оставя задъхани със сюжета в ръка.
Аз - Писана по време на разгара на виетнамската война, историята се развива в едно бъдеще, в което човечеството е завладяло космоса и в вечната борба за ресурси, прави, това което може най-добре - унищожава, поробва и потиска чужди раси и им изпомпва ресурса, но има един, който е обявил война на алчните и с терористични прийоми се бори с тях. Естествено няма никакъв шанс срещу силните на деня. Зелазни засяга наболялият тогава въпрос за агресията, която поражда агресия, който сега е даже по-актуален, от колкото тогава. Няма добри герои в тази новела, и лоши няма. Има само човеци.
Сърцето на гробищата:
Стърджън - На��-великият дар, поднесен от фантастиката на литературата. Никога вече няма да гледате на света със същите очи.
Аз - В ерата преди реалити шоутата с измислени звезди и воайорски маси почитатели, в наше време тази новела удря право в десетката заболялото телевидиотено съвременно племе. КОлко от живота си би пожертвал за да влезеш в "Елита"? Ставаш ли повече от човек там, или те вълнуват същите човешки проблеми? Напред ли вървиш, или изоставаш с часове?
Трент Зелазни казва, че баща му имал две големи любови. Първата е фантастиката, а втората поезията. Тук двете се преплитат по невероятен начин.
Вратите на лицето му, лампите на устата му:
Стърджън - Главното тук са размерът и скоростта, и това, което става в умовете и сърцата на хората.
Аз - Другите фантастични разкази за лов на морски гиганти, копират едно към едно китоловна експедиция. Този е нещо съвсем различно и внимателно обмислено, но ловът на меркурианския Моби Дик е само фон, както и в книгата на Мелвил. Основното е историята на един човек загубил всичко в преследването на химерата си и една жена, която ще направи всичко за да го върне в настоящето.
Роза за еклисиаста:
Стърджън - Ако астрономически невероятното развитие на действието ви достигне, то ще ви смели на кайма...
Аз - Няма да каже нищо повече. Трябва да се прочете.
Чиста проба фантастика от Зелазни, с чудесен превод от Комата. Прескочила теста на времето и удоволствие да я четеш и препрочиташ.
По една звездичка за всяка от историите и една за подбора и предговора на Теодор Стърджън. Няма как да дам по-малко.
September 5, 2016
It is the hubris of rationalism to always attack the prophet, the mystic, the god. It is our blasphemy which has made us great, and will sustain us, and which the gods secretly admire in us.--All the truly sacred names of God are blasphemous things to speak.
The titular story was rather moving, akin to Babel-17. A polyglot poet goes to Mars, where the natives are gracefully dying out. He translated their epics and in return affords them the bible. The conclusion (and solution to their fate) was less-than-satisfying. I thought this morning about the title and Faulkner. There's something to bed said for dying empires and the Gothic. The other three pieces offered promise but appeared stilted. Couldn't help but think about Francis Parkman during the first novella Furies. This detour into the speculative allows the grafting of enormous systems , technologies and philosophies. Unfortunately they appear to be but clay and wire models upon examination.
The titular story was rather moving, akin to Babel-17. A polyglot poet goes to Mars, where the natives are gracefully dying out. He translated their epics and in return affords them the bible. The conclusion (and solution to their fate) was less-than-satisfying. I thought this morning about the title and Faulkner. There's something to bed said for dying empires and the Gothic. The other three pieces offered promise but appeared stilted. Couldn't help but think about Francis Parkman during the first novella Furies. This detour into the speculative allows the grafting of enormous systems , technologies and philosophies. Unfortunately they appear to be but clay and wire models upon examination.
May 13, 2018
Excellent book. One of the very few by Zelazny I hadn't read. Gallinger, is a character I can identify with.
October 23, 2014
This book was titled "A Rose for Ecclesiastes" in the U.K. & both editions contain the same 4 stories.
The title story (in the U.K.) is one of his most famous stories & rightfully so. It's another story set on a fictional Mars, with a dying Martian race & Earthmen to study them. It doesn't sound too appealing - more hackneyed than anything. It is nothing of the kind. It's touching - a romance mystery. 'Rose' also appears in his collection "The Lamps of His Mouth, The Doors of His Face" as well as in a couple of other anthologies.
My favorite story in the collection is "The Furies". Imagine the Greek Furies in the far future when man is on many planets.
Well worth reading.
The title story (in the U.K.) is one of his most famous stories & rightfully so. It's another story set on a fictional Mars, with a dying Martian race & Earthmen to study them. It doesn't sound too appealing - more hackneyed than anything. It is nothing of the kind. It's touching - a romance mystery. 'Rose' also appears in his collection "The Lamps of His Mouth, The Doors of His Face" as well as in a couple of other anthologies.
My favorite story in the collection is "The Furies". Imagine the Greek Furies in the far future when man is on many planets.
Well worth reading.
December 10, 2018
Трудно ми е да оценя сборник, особено когато първите 3 повести изобщо не ми харесаха, а третата е уникална. Но така сме със Зелазни - някои неща много му ги харесвам, други са ми дървени или скучни.
Тук черешката е финалният текст - "Роза за Еклисиаста" - невероятно поетически-теоложко марсианско съновидение. Не мога и не искам да спойлвам с нищо от сюжета, който се гъне като изкривяване в пространството, за да достигне до култовата си развръзка. Тежкият (откачен?) стил на Зелазни, оплетен с поетични избухвания, превръща повестта в произведение, което се нарежда сред най-стойностните работи на уникалния писател. А идейният акцент върху вечно крепящите баланса смърт-любов, изнесен далеч от гнездото човешко, провокативно заиграва разума и упойващо залюлява меланхолията в сетивата.
Тук черешката е финалният текст - "Роза за Еклисиаста" - невероятно поетически-теоложко марсианско съновидение. Не мога и не искам да спойлвам с нищо от сюжета, който се гъне като изкривяване в пространството, за да достигне до култовата си развръзка. Тежкият (откачен?) стил на Зелазни, оплетен с поетични избухвания, превръща повестта в произведение, което се нарежда сред най-стойностните работи на уникалния писател. А идейният акцент върху вечно крепящите баланса смърт-любов, изнесен далеч от гнездото човешко, провокативно заиграва разума и упойващо залюлява меланхолията в сетивата.
September 21, 2018
Сборник с четири произведения на Залезни (както бе преименуван от лелката, продаваща стари книги :)!
Фуриите - перфектното доказателство на тезата на Теодор Стърджън, изградена в прекрасния му предговор. Тезите във въпросния са няколко - конкретната е, че дедо Роджър всъщност пише притчи.
Сърцето на гробищата - "Спящата красавица" на няколко литра стероиди, и поставен във футуристична обстановка. Може би леко превъзнесен от Стърджън, не го намирам за "най-великият дар от фантастиката за литературата"... написан е с прекрасни думи, но темпото е леко мудно.
Вратите на лицето му, лампите на устата му - нотки на Капитан Немо с щипка льобоф, че и повече, даже!
Роза за Еклисиаста - много класен разказ за поет-човек залязващата марсианска цивилизация! Изненадващият край кърти!
За финал: първият и последният разкази са невероятни! Другите два също са добри, но имат някай друг кусур!
Фуриите - перфектното доказателство на тезата на Теодор Стърджън, изградена в прекрасния му предговор. Тезите във въпросния са няколко - конкретната е, че дедо Роджър всъщност пише притчи.
Сърцето на гробищата - "Спящата красавица" на няколко литра стероиди, и поставен във футуристична обстановка. Може би леко превъзнесен от Стърджън, не го намирам за "най-великият дар от фантастиката за литературата"... написан е с прекрасни думи, но темпото е леко мудно.
Вратите на лицето му, лампите на устата му - нотки на Капитан Немо с щипка льобоф, че и повече, даже!
Роза за Еклисиаста - много класен разказ за поет-човек залязващата марсианска цивилизация! Изненадващият край кърти!
За финал: първият и последният разкази са невероятни! Другите два също са добри, но имат някай друг кусур!
June 26, 2009
Four stories. Two good, two so-so.
Two are fairly straight-forward adventure stories, but something about the style with which they are told, a certain pretentiousness, gives the impression that the author thinks they're something more.
The other two contain more food for thought. "The Graveyard Heart" has an intriguing premise and a langourous style suitable to the subject matter, while "A Rose For Ecclesiastes", while not free of pretension, ends up being quite moving, and feels like a kind of response/companion piece to Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles.
Two are fairly straight-forward adventure stories, but something about the style with which they are told, a certain pretentiousness, gives the impression that the author thinks they're something more.
The other two contain more food for thought. "The Graveyard Heart" has an intriguing premise and a langourous style suitable to the subject matter, while "A Rose For Ecclesiastes", while not free of pretension, ends up being quite moving, and feels like a kind of response/companion piece to Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles.
April 21, 2018
It feels like everything I've read from Zelazny since The Chronicles of Amber, which is one of my all time faves, has been a disappointment, including Lord of Light and This Immortal. Yet still I try.
June 24, 2017
Four For Tomorrow by Roger Zelazny-
The Furies(novelette) This story takes a page from Cordwainer Smith and delves into space opera with a feverish nuance and an almost Shakespearean zest for language and style. The Graveyard Heart(novella)- More poetry and shimmering vistas as a man falls for a woman who his part of a group of jet-setters, choosing cryo-sleep to hold back the downtime between parties. He finds himself adrift in the years as the world accelerates and he is left behind. Interesting but runs out of steam by the endpoint. The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth(novelette)- Nebula Winner about hunting monstrous fish on Venus, which sounds absurd but really works. A Rose For Ecclesiastes(novelette)-On Mars, a human linguist( and, of course, poet) is tasked with translating ancient Martian religious documents with unexpected and tumultuous results.
If you haven't read Zelazny, or you've just read about Amber, this is a great introduction to his other works.
The Furies(novelette) This story takes a page from Cordwainer Smith and delves into space opera with a feverish nuance and an almost Shakespearean zest for language and style. The Graveyard Heart(novella)- More poetry and shimmering vistas as a man falls for a woman who his part of a group of jet-setters, choosing cryo-sleep to hold back the downtime between parties. He finds himself adrift in the years as the world accelerates and he is left behind. Interesting but runs out of steam by the endpoint. The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth(novelette)- Nebula Winner about hunting monstrous fish on Venus, which sounds absurd but really works. A Rose For Ecclesiastes(novelette)-On Mars, a human linguist( and, of course, poet) is tasked with translating ancient Martian religious documents with unexpected and tumultuous results.
If you haven't read Zelazny, or you've just read about Amber, this is a great introduction to his other works.
April 10, 2018
The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth - 2/5
A Rose for Ecclesiastes 1963 - 3/5
The Furies 1965 - 3/5
The Graveyard Heart - 4/5
A Rose for Ecclesiastes 1963 - 3/5
The Furies 1965 - 3/5
The Graveyard Heart - 4/5
September 21, 2022
Okay, this will come off as harsh but a Rose for Ecclesiastes is by far the worst story I have ever read, not just in science fiction, but in my entire life. I have never seen a more useless and boring story than this. It is just filled with complex storylines that were never properly and clearly established for non-native readers. This story is like Wikipedia article written by a flat-earther who writes an enormous amount of absolutely useless information. I especially hate how there were so many characters and alien names in this story that complicated it even further. Throw away the romance in this story, even a romance stories enjoyer like me doesn’t even come close to liking it. I don’t understand a single main point from this story. The girl leaves because she doesn’t believe in the prophecy, but WHY? Nothing is explained in a well-detailed, or even understandable manner. However, as much as I may hate this story, I still have to acknowledge the writer’s dedication to his work. His world of Gallinger being sent as a missionary to Mars for diplomatic meetings is crazily huge. With so many plots and complicated storylines, it must have taken the writer a very long time to come up with them. I especially like the plague that was going to wipe out the Martians through the infertility of women, but apparently men could be fertile? I don’t fully understand this. Does the story mean men could be pregnant and give birth? Okay, back to ranting. This story is a mountain of garbage. There is not really a good moral of the story other than don’t be narcissistic otherwise you’re gonna end up like Gallinger who attempted suicide. Gallinger is the ultimate definition of being a loser. All he does is boast and act cool. Of course he is a well-achieved man but he doesn't have to brag or put it as his personality to feel superior than others. I don’t feel a single remorse for what the dude has gone through. He definitely deserved all of it. This story gets a 0 banana out of 5 air planes.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 13, 2015
Read as part of The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth.
German translation's title is "Locar's 2224 Dances": if you combine the keywords of both variants, you'll get the essence of the story. Which is: nihilistic philosophy from the book Kohelet, poetry and finer arts making up a perfect sample for the topic about Mars dying.
I always think that Zelazny is at his best when he pairs cynicism with tragedy: Arrogant poet Gallagher from Earth falls in love with a dancer from the fading Martians. He fulfills their direst prophecies without knowing about them.
No wonder this story leveraged his success as an author back in 1963. Nominated for the Hugo in 1964, SFWA voted for place 6 on the eternal best-of-list.
Zelazny worked together with authors like Delany, Disch or Ellison as the U.S. extension of British New Wave (Ballard, Aldiss, Moorcock). They set aside the science aspects (smoking and roses on Mars considering the atmosphere, temperature, and water ressources!), experimenting more and brought a literary version of science fiction.
The novelette stays with me with its philosophical aspects, exceptional language and amazing storytelling.
German translation's title is "Locar's 2224 Dances": if you combine the keywords of both variants, you'll get the essence of the story. Which is: nihilistic philosophy from the book Kohelet, poetry and finer arts making up a perfect sample for the topic about Mars dying.
I always think that Zelazny is at his best when he pairs cynicism with tragedy: Arrogant poet Gallagher from Earth falls in love with a dancer from the fading Martians. He fulfills their direst prophecies without knowing about them.
No wonder this story leveraged his success as an author back in 1963. Nominated for the Hugo in 1964, SFWA voted for place 6 on the eternal best-of-list.
Zelazny worked together with authors like Delany, Disch or Ellison as the U.S. extension of British New Wave (Ballard, Aldiss, Moorcock). They set aside the science aspects (smoking and roses on Mars considering the atmosphere, temperature, and water ressources!), experimenting more and brought a literary version of science fiction.
The novelette stays with me with its philosophical aspects, exceptional language and amazing storytelling.
July 19, 2012
A collection of four stories by Roger Zelazny read during a break from school.
Read
December 11, 2017Christopher Bianchi is a phantom and this ebook is pirated. Amazon is not cooperating. Please don't buy and please report piracy.
September 23, 2022
When civilizations encounter each other for the first time, of course there’s bound to be friction. Each party came from and developed in different environments. They have differing habits, social values and preferences on how to handle living your life. That's why the more advanced civilization of the two often ends up defeating and absorbing the other. The opposition’s beliefs get in the way of your own agenda, so they must be taken out. Like the native Latin American tribes by the Spanish. Or the Native American tribes by the European colonists (who formed the USA). It's a tragic, yet fascinating story archetype. You can see the beauty of each civilization, learn more about both, and feel anguish as they end up duking it out, ending with the less advanced side being monkey-stomped into the ground. (And maybe their graves, depending on the winner)
The problem is that trope’s been done to death.
From the novel Dances with Wolves to the 2009 blockbuster Avatar, the “clashing of civilizations” story template has fallen prey to a number of unfortunate tropes. For example, the protagonist being an alpha-masculine “white savior” who saves the less intelligent/strong native people from calamity.
In the unspecified future Gallinger, a linguist and poet, arrives on Mars. As part of an expedition from Earth, his job is to learn the Martian languages and read their sacred texts, so such knowledge can be taught on Earth. As the months go by, Gallinger learns more about the Martian civilization, and falls in love with the temple dancer Braxa. But in the final days of the expedition, Braxa disappears from the temple. Gallinger sets out to find her-and also ends up learning the painful truth.
A Rose for Eccliastes is without a doubt, a mockery and subversion of the (unfortunately) classic “white savior” trope in western fiction. The trope consists of a heroic male of a superior civilization (usually a white from Europe, hence the name) encountering a less privileged civilization in a foreign land. These natives face a great calamity (e.g., a natural disaster, an aggressive rival people, or corporate exploiters from the hero’s own homeland) which the hero manages to valiantly resolve by the end of the story.
Gallinger, the protagonist of Rose, is none of that. Through and through, the linguist/poet is rude, egotistical, and unscrupulous. Even among his own people of Earth, Gallinger is a self-made outcast-he is obnoxious towards his expedition team, who he thinks are below him. He is sexist and a racial bigot-in the beginning, he sees the Martians simply as primitive Mesopotamians, and when a female teammate of the expedition acts nice to Gallinger once, he simply jumps to conclude that she is in love with him. He is pretentious-under all the biblical and literary references peppered through his narration, A Rose for Eccliastes is a simple tale about, as said by fellow scumbag character Macbeth: “a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more.”
Rose not only subverts the “white hero”, but also turns the typical plot scheme of the trope on its head. First, after the embodiment of realistic disappointment that is Gallinger, the Martian civilization is also a subversion. Instead of the typical herd of savages who refuse to let go of their harmful faith, Gallinger learns that the Martians are a race with a history and culture much deeper than that of humanity, not to mention their much-longer lifespan, and that their prophecy was not actually the extinction of their race, but the prediction that the Martians will be freed from their old system by the fresh ideas of an outsider-Gallinger. Instead of forming a chivalric romance with a woman of the natives, Gallinger and Braxa’s relationship turns out to be a one-sided love, as Braxa only consummated with him out of duty to fulfill the Martian people’s prophecy. She never actually loved him, and Gallinger returns to Earth with the newly added component of depression to his horrid character. In the end of Rose, the natives are victorious over their calamity-but the hero is smacked in the face (and heart) by the short end of the stick.
A Rose for Eccliastes takes the old and bigoted genre of “the white hero”, scoffs at it like Gallinger to the Martians, then beats it to a pulp before our eyes. The heroic male is and remains a complete obnoxious bigot. The expeditioners from Earth didn’t actually save the Martians from any calamity-it was the latter’s prophecy of the “Great Scoffer” that did. The hero doesn’t find true love-Gallinger is pulled into a relationship of benefit, then chewed and spat out into the desert sand.
The story is witty. It’s cynical, but in a good way. And best of all, it’s shameless.
The problem is that trope’s been done to death.
From the novel Dances with Wolves to the 2009 blockbuster Avatar, the “clashing of civilizations” story template has fallen prey to a number of unfortunate tropes. For example, the protagonist being an alpha-masculine “white savior” who saves the less intelligent/strong native people from calamity.
In the unspecified future Gallinger, a linguist and poet, arrives on Mars. As part of an expedition from Earth, his job is to learn the Martian languages and read their sacred texts, so such knowledge can be taught on Earth. As the months go by, Gallinger learns more about the Martian civilization, and falls in love with the temple dancer Braxa. But in the final days of the expedition, Braxa disappears from the temple. Gallinger sets out to find her-and also ends up learning the painful truth.
A Rose for Eccliastes is without a doubt, a mockery and subversion of the (unfortunately) classic “white savior” trope in western fiction. The trope consists of a heroic male of a superior civilization (usually a white from Europe, hence the name) encountering a less privileged civilization in a foreign land. These natives face a great calamity (e.g., a natural disaster, an aggressive rival people, or corporate exploiters from the hero’s own homeland) which the hero manages to valiantly resolve by the end of the story.
Gallinger, the protagonist of Rose, is none of that. Through and through, the linguist/poet is rude, egotistical, and unscrupulous. Even among his own people of Earth, Gallinger is a self-made outcast-he is obnoxious towards his expedition team, who he thinks are below him. He is sexist and a racial bigot-in the beginning, he sees the Martians simply as primitive Mesopotamians, and when a female teammate of the expedition acts nice to Gallinger once, he simply jumps to conclude that she is in love with him. He is pretentious-under all the biblical and literary references peppered through his narration, A Rose for Eccliastes is a simple tale about, as said by fellow scumbag character Macbeth: “a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more.”
Rose not only subverts the “white hero”, but also turns the typical plot scheme of the trope on its head. First, after the embodiment of realistic disappointment that is Gallinger, the Martian civilization is also a subversion. Instead of the typical herd of savages who refuse to let go of their harmful faith, Gallinger learns that the Martians are a race with a history and culture much deeper than that of humanity, not to mention their much-longer lifespan, and that their prophecy was not actually the extinction of their race, but the prediction that the Martians will be freed from their old system by the fresh ideas of an outsider-Gallinger. Instead of forming a chivalric romance with a woman of the natives, Gallinger and Braxa’s relationship turns out to be a one-sided love, as Braxa only consummated with him out of duty to fulfill the Martian people’s prophecy. She never actually loved him, and Gallinger returns to Earth with the newly added component of depression to his horrid character. In the end of Rose, the natives are victorious over their calamity-but the hero is smacked in the face (and heart) by the short end of the stick.
A Rose for Eccliastes takes the old and bigoted genre of “the white hero”, scoffs at it like Gallinger to the Martians, then beats it to a pulp before our eyes. The heroic male is and remains a complete obnoxious bigot. The expeditioners from Earth didn’t actually save the Martians from any calamity-it was the latter’s prophecy of the “Great Scoffer” that did. The hero doesn’t find true love-Gallinger is pulled into a relationship of benefit, then chewed and spat out into the desert sand.
The story is witty. It’s cynical, but in a good way. And best of all, it’s shameless.
September 22, 2022
A rose for Ecclesiastes
2/5. I could not possibly recommend this to anyone I know. It got slightly better towards the end which is why I’m not just giving it a 1. Utterly confusing for me and I would assume that for my generation as well as most of my friends agree completely with this statement. The language used in the story seems complex which may make it seem brilliant to the traditional scholar, but for “common folk” like me, it only worsened my comprehension. The abundance in references to other cultures may have been fitting of how a world-famous poet would think, but here it only serves to distract from the actual plot. Aside from the wording and structure, the story itself didn’t make the most sense to me. For all of its content, I see it as lacking of an enjoyable, overarching narrative. This high and mighty linguist went to Mars, found aliens, a shocking discovery which would affect all of mankind, but didn’t immediately alert all the members of his ship? (It was stated that only some aboard knew of their presence). He then proceeds to have sexual intercourse with an alien and the alien, an attractive dancer girl named Braxa, just is automatically attracted to him for some reason? Even if it was explained later that a holy man would come down and save the Martians as per a prophecy, realistically it made zero sense that Braxa would decide to have sex with the first extraterrestrial she sees. Then, the author decides to skip out on how Gallinger and Braxa’s relationship develops. This should have been the most touched upon topic in my opinion, but instead it is just skipped altogether. You may excuse it as a stylistic choice but the entirety of its effect is reducing the attachment we have to the characters and the binds they formed. Moreover, after the story continues, a lot of events that are crucial to the story are introduced quickly and vaguely. One of the more comical examples of this is short brawl between our protagonist and the Fist of Malaan, a giant behemoth of a man (or should I say Martian). Suddenly, Gallinger remembered a Japanese fighting technique that has never before been mentioned (apparently, he has perfected it too) and defeats his opponent with absolute ease. As you could expect, what I’m going to say consists once again of instances like this being mediocre since they could be a possible source of further confusion/annoyance for the audience. I have to say though, the imagery was great in some parts. When Gallinger was roaming the desert in search of his love, the scene the author managed to depict in my head was one of a sprawling, vermillion desert with harsh winds roving along the coarse sands. Needless to say, I developed quite the liking for the pictures the author managed to paint. Another aspect of the narrative I found myself enjoying was the ever-present irony. The egotistical Gallinger being wrong at nearly everything he predicted would most likely be satisfactory for many readers because he was such a douche. Finally, the title is well thought out. A rose could mean love and Ecclesiastes implies vanity, thus, the tale is one of intimacy and the worthlessness of it all. Sadly, these qualities aren’t able to redeem this bizarre wall of text for me, which is why my final score remains a dissapointing 2/5.
2/5. I could not possibly recommend this to anyone I know. It got slightly better towards the end which is why I’m not just giving it a 1. Utterly confusing for me and I would assume that for my generation as well as most of my friends agree completely with this statement. The language used in the story seems complex which may make it seem brilliant to the traditional scholar, but for “common folk” like me, it only worsened my comprehension. The abundance in references to other cultures may have been fitting of how a world-famous poet would think, but here it only serves to distract from the actual plot. Aside from the wording and structure, the story itself didn’t make the most sense to me. For all of its content, I see it as lacking of an enjoyable, overarching narrative. This high and mighty linguist went to Mars, found aliens, a shocking discovery which would affect all of mankind, but didn’t immediately alert all the members of his ship? (It was stated that only some aboard knew of their presence). He then proceeds to have sexual intercourse with an alien and the alien, an attractive dancer girl named Braxa, just is automatically attracted to him for some reason? Even if it was explained later that a holy man would come down and save the Martians as per a prophecy, realistically it made zero sense that Braxa would decide to have sex with the first extraterrestrial she sees. Then, the author decides to skip out on how Gallinger and Braxa’s relationship develops. This should have been the most touched upon topic in my opinion, but instead it is just skipped altogether. You may excuse it as a stylistic choice but the entirety of its effect is reducing the attachment we have to the characters and the binds they formed. Moreover, after the story continues, a lot of events that are crucial to the story are introduced quickly and vaguely. One of the more comical examples of this is short brawl between our protagonist and the Fist of Malaan, a giant behemoth of a man (or should I say Martian). Suddenly, Gallinger remembered a Japanese fighting technique that has never before been mentioned (apparently, he has perfected it too) and defeats his opponent with absolute ease. As you could expect, what I’m going to say consists once again of instances like this being mediocre since they could be a possible source of further confusion/annoyance for the audience. I have to say though, the imagery was great in some parts. When Gallinger was roaming the desert in search of his love, the scene the author managed to depict in my head was one of a sprawling, vermillion desert with harsh winds roving along the coarse sands. Needless to say, I developed quite the liking for the pictures the author managed to paint. Another aspect of the narrative I found myself enjoying was the ever-present irony. The egotistical Gallinger being wrong at nearly everything he predicted would most likely be satisfactory for many readers because he was such a douche. Finally, the title is well thought out. A rose could mean love and Ecclesiastes implies vanity, thus, the tale is one of intimacy and the worthlessness of it all. Sadly, these qualities aren’t able to redeem this bizarre wall of text for me, which is why my final score remains a dissapointing 2/5.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 22, 2022
*Include spoilers*
It makes sense to call this romantic science fiction short story, A Rose for Ecclesiastes. This tale is about us, Earthers, discovering Martians and learning about their way of life. Even while it is possible that we won't get to witness the majority of what they had since, as you can say, Martian society is on the verge of extinction, there is still something left for our "protagonist" to learn.
I found this story interesting in its appeal to stereotypical types of people. Our main character exhibits egotistical, self-absorbed, and arrogant characteristics, which will lead to his downfall like being hubris toward God, metaphorically and literally from the plot. Gallinger, our main character, was destined to fail this entire time. We could already guess from the first few moments of the story as it foreshadows what he would think and feel throughout the story. The way the author builds out both truthful and deceitful information amazes me as all the small pieces of the puzzle are slowly able to be put together to see the meaning behind how our protagonist might really get what he deserves.
Let me explain what I mean, the first scene we could identify our main character’s traits is when he thought some girl would be in love with him which is absurd and not true, he thought that he was so great that anyone would fall in love with him. Next, after he learns about the alien culture, he thought that his theory and hypothesis were right as you could say he was just slightly right about this one, however, he misses the actual meaning behind their prophecies which starts his downfall, in my opinion. Breaking into a sacred place without permission, he was saying something blasphemous to our and their God. He wants to express the fact that God is not why humans can continuously live without them while the Martian’s society and culture could do the same even if their society and culture are crumbling down. However, this only confirms their prophecies as one did come true. Now, not only that, it was fate that caused him to be the chosen one, but he was going against that thought so hard that I found it deserving for him to feel it. Imagine thinking you were right about your own scientific theories and hypotheses to only fall into fate’s hands. After he took, what I could say is a big loss, he gives the flower to the people in the temple to grow them as the prophecy had said about him. It was then he only just realized that the girl he fell in love with and having a child together, only seduce him for her religious duty which definitely left him feeling pretty much more than under the weather, another big L. Then finally, as he was returning to his ship, he was just so depressed that he tried to suicide, and guess what, he even failed to do so, even after consuming 44 sleeping pills. That is his final L as he wakes up to see that Mars is slowly moving farther away from his grasp.
There were many things about this story that I found to be great, but this is probably the one thing that was extremely clear to me and what I really love to see it.
It makes sense to call this romantic science fiction short story, A Rose for Ecclesiastes. This tale is about us, Earthers, discovering Martians and learning about their way of life. Even while it is possible that we won't get to witness the majority of what they had since, as you can say, Martian society is on the verge of extinction, there is still something left for our "protagonist" to learn.
I found this story interesting in its appeal to stereotypical types of people. Our main character exhibits egotistical, self-absorbed, and arrogant characteristics, which will lead to his downfall like being hubris toward God, metaphorically and literally from the plot. Gallinger, our main character, was destined to fail this entire time. We could already guess from the first few moments of the story as it foreshadows what he would think and feel throughout the story. The way the author builds out both truthful and deceitful information amazes me as all the small pieces of the puzzle are slowly able to be put together to see the meaning behind how our protagonist might really get what he deserves.
Let me explain what I mean, the first scene we could identify our main character’s traits is when he thought some girl would be in love with him which is absurd and not true, he thought that he was so great that anyone would fall in love with him. Next, after he learns about the alien culture, he thought that his theory and hypothesis were right as you could say he was just slightly right about this one, however, he misses the actual meaning behind their prophecies which starts his downfall, in my opinion. Breaking into a sacred place without permission, he was saying something blasphemous to our and their God. He wants to express the fact that God is not why humans can continuously live without them while the Martian’s society and culture could do the same even if their society and culture are crumbling down. However, this only confirms their prophecies as one did come true. Now, not only that, it was fate that caused him to be the chosen one, but he was going against that thought so hard that I found it deserving for him to feel it. Imagine thinking you were right about your own scientific theories and hypotheses to only fall into fate’s hands. After he took, what I could say is a big loss, he gives the flower to the people in the temple to grow them as the prophecy had said about him. It was then he only just realized that the girl he fell in love with and having a child together, only seduce him for her religious duty which definitely left him feeling pretty much more than under the weather, another big L. Then finally, as he was returning to his ship, he was just so depressed that he tried to suicide, and guess what, he even failed to do so, even after consuming 44 sleeping pills. That is his final L as he wakes up to see that Mars is slowly moving farther away from his grasp.
There were many things about this story that I found to be great, but this is probably the one thing that was extremely clear to me and what I really love to see it.
September 22, 2022
Story: 7
Language: 8
Ideas: 6
Characters: 8
Enjoyment: 7
Rating: 7.2
Not sure why some others seem to hate it so much. Could they just not get past the unlikable protagonist?
I’ll just start with that topic then. Gallinger is this top linguist and poet, a well-read high IQ intellectual sent to study the culture of the dying Martian race. The catch is that he’s a bit of an egotistical schmuck to other human beings. All the toxicity and sexism this guy spouts can be a real turn off for readers. Also, his actions, like trying to save the Martians, or when he happens to know enough Judo to take down a giant Martian, make him seem like some Isekai tier power fantasy self-insert for the author. However, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and call it a subversion of the white savior trope, or whatever Twitter calls it these days. This is shown in the ending, where everything came crumbling down for him in a satisfactory fashion. His confident act of love turning into heartbreak, his rejection of fatalism and religion accidentally fulfilling a prophecy, and his failure to kill himself was hilarious. This guy’s hubris coming back to bite him in the back got me feeling like I was reading some Greek tragedy.
The story was narrated by Gallinger, so the comically pretentious tone and constant references to classical literature fit his character exceptionally well. The reader can really get into his head and see what makes this guy tick. I even got some references, being an enjoyer of Fate lore. The romantic dialogue had me wanting to bleach my eyes, but it became clear by the reveal. The use of language was so cringe that it had become secretly based.
A criticism I have is with the world. This story is much more fantasy than Sci-Fi since all the science was clearly thrown out the window in the writing of this book. The average high school biology student would be able to explain exactly why interbreeding with Martians would never work out. This, along with various other inconsistencies kept plaguing my mind. I realize that it isn’t what the story is supposed to be about, but something in me just wants realism.
This story is a bit hard to follow along, but if you know, you know. Much like a good meme. It only becomes enjoyable by the end, which shouldn’t be too much of a drag since it’s a short story.
Language: 8
Ideas: 6
Characters: 8
Enjoyment: 7
Rating: 7.2
Not sure why some others seem to hate it so much. Could they just not get past the unlikable protagonist?
I’ll just start with that topic then. Gallinger is this top linguist and poet, a well-read high IQ intellectual sent to study the culture of the dying Martian race. The catch is that he’s a bit of an egotistical schmuck to other human beings. All the toxicity and sexism this guy spouts can be a real turn off for readers. Also, his actions, like trying to save the Martians, or when he happens to know enough Judo to take down a giant Martian, make him seem like some Isekai tier power fantasy self-insert for the author. However, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and call it a subversion of the white savior trope, or whatever Twitter calls it these days. This is shown in the ending, where everything came crumbling down for him in a satisfactory fashion. His confident act of love turning into heartbreak, his rejection of fatalism and religion accidentally fulfilling a prophecy, and his failure to kill himself was hilarious. This guy’s hubris coming back to bite him in the back got me feeling like I was reading some Greek tragedy.
The story was narrated by Gallinger, so the comically pretentious tone and constant references to classical literature fit his character exceptionally well. The reader can really get into his head and see what makes this guy tick. I even got some references, being an enjoyer of Fate lore. The romantic dialogue had me wanting to bleach my eyes, but it became clear by the reveal. The use of language was so cringe that it had become secretly based.
A criticism I have is with the world. This story is much more fantasy than Sci-Fi since all the science was clearly thrown out the window in the writing of this book. The average high school biology student would be able to explain exactly why interbreeding with Martians would never work out. This, along with various other inconsistencies kept plaguing my mind. I realize that it isn’t what the story is supposed to be about, but something in me just wants realism.
This story is a bit hard to follow along, but if you know, you know. Much like a good meme. It only becomes enjoyable by the end, which shouldn’t be too much of a drag since it’s a short story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 22, 2022
Before all else, I must admit that I don’t really understand the story and the story was quite confusing for me. First of all, our protagonist is a man that is quite poetic, and I found him somewhat narcissistic as well. This is because there’s a part where he said that everyone is jealous of him since he’s better than all of them. Well, maybe it’s a great trait to have high self-esteem, but thinking that everyone is jealous of him is just a bit too much for me. Therefore, this story is a story that focuses on a relationship between human from Earth and Martian from Mars, between a white man and a gorgeous Martian woman to be exact, so it’s somehow a love story. However, I don’t find this story romantic or make me feel like I’m in love at all. There’s a part where Gallinger, the protagonist, chases after a Martian girl, and I was confused because how, when, and why does he fall in love with her? There may be some part that hints the reason, but what I found is that he likes her because of her beauty. Well, it’s not wrong to fall in love with someone because of their looks, but I find it quite ridiculous to try that hard to chase after someone just because they look good, and you’re attracted to them. There’s a part where it contains the stereotype that men and women will never be friend and will always fall for each other as well and it is a boring and ridiculous idea. I believe that we all can be friends, because we are willing to be friends with someone because of their personalities, not their gender. Every gender can be friends! Aside from the story includes some ideas that I disagree with, I don’t really notice the purpose of this story. It’s not an excellent love story, so there’s definitely a better choice if you want to read romance novels. It’s not giving that much of science fiction theme as well, so I’m confused.
Overall, I found this story boring and confusing. I wouldn’t recommend it to someone who wants to read love stories or science fiction, but this story uses beautiful language though. Therefore, if you want to learn more about using figurative language, I recommend this story for you. However, always remember that you read the story because of the usage of language, not for the story.
Overall, I found this story boring and confusing. I wouldn’t recommend it to someone who wants to read love stories or science fiction, but this story uses beautiful language though. Therefore, if you want to learn more about using figurative language, I recommend this story for you. However, always remember that you read the story because of the usage of language, not for the story.
September 22, 2022
Story 6
Language 7
Ideas 6.5
Characters 4
Enjoyment. 5
Overall 6.6, 3 stars
Not to beat around the bush, “A Rose for Ecclesiastes” is your common and typical story that you would read if you stumble upon it one day. The story might entertain you on the day you read it but is not worth reading for a second time. In a way, yes, it’s kind of interesting and in a way, no, it’s not. The story depicts a sexist man travelling into a new world, or planet, that he calls “undeveloped”. A dystopian world if you might say so. While travelling at such planet, he learned the language and culture of the people living there. This process made him learn that their species are slowly dying due to infertility of, what he thought to be, the females. While doing so, he fell in love with an “exotic” women and then yada yada yada, they slept together and she got pregnant. This triggered a chain reaction within the society and he ended up knowing that everything he assumed or thinks is true, due to his ego, is not true. He was merely a pawn in a system of religious prophecy. This is extremely ironic since he was thinking that he knew everything that was going on within the society and knew he had to rush in a solve the problem, be a hero if you know what I mean. This entertained the story to know how this confident man whose ego is as tall as the Burj Khalifa got tricked into a preplanned prophecy and got tricked into think that the women he was simping for was just acting. It got better when you combine all of the sexist comments he made towards women, a sex he thought was inferior compared to him. Just to be clear, I do not support sexism or anything the main character characterises women to be, the sexist element of this story made the ending much more entertaining to witness. Would I read it again? Probably not, the plot is very simple and the way it is conveyed out is also very stretched out, it could be shorten. Would I recommend it? Probably, it was fun to know the ending of.
Language 7
Ideas 6.5
Characters 4
Enjoyment. 5
Overall 6.6, 3 stars
Not to beat around the bush, “A Rose for Ecclesiastes” is your common and typical story that you would read if you stumble upon it one day. The story might entertain you on the day you read it but is not worth reading for a second time. In a way, yes, it’s kind of interesting and in a way, no, it’s not. The story depicts a sexist man travelling into a new world, or planet, that he calls “undeveloped”. A dystopian world if you might say so. While travelling at such planet, he learned the language and culture of the people living there. This process made him learn that their species are slowly dying due to infertility of, what he thought to be, the females. While doing so, he fell in love with an “exotic” women and then yada yada yada, they slept together and she got pregnant. This triggered a chain reaction within the society and he ended up knowing that everything he assumed or thinks is true, due to his ego, is not true. He was merely a pawn in a system of religious prophecy. This is extremely ironic since he was thinking that he knew everything that was going on within the society and knew he had to rush in a solve the problem, be a hero if you know what I mean. This entertained the story to know how this confident man whose ego is as tall as the Burj Khalifa got tricked into a preplanned prophecy and got tricked into think that the women he was simping for was just acting. It got better when you combine all of the sexist comments he made towards women, a sex he thought was inferior compared to him. Just to be clear, I do not support sexism or anything the main character characterises women to be, the sexist element of this story made the ending much more entertaining to witness. Would I read it again? Probably not, the plot is very simple and the way it is conveyed out is also very stretched out, it could be shorten. Would I recommend it? Probably, it was fun to know the ending of.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 22, 2022
A Rose for Ecclesiastes, apart from being one of the hardest to read book titles for a non-christian, is a story that I can only describe as weird. It is neither good nor bad, horrendous or exceptional. It’s just very, very weird. The story is, as I have previously stated very weird. It can also be seen as slightly sexist and racist, and I do agree with this to a certain extent. The story is a classic white-guy-comes-in-and-saves-lots-of-weak-people-(women) story, where the protagonist saves the martians by, weirdly enough, having children with one. It also portrays the female martians as weak, emotional, and needing the help of our big chief himself. I believe that the overarching story is somewhat racist and stereotypical, but sexism is an intentional trait of the character. Many say the story is sexist because the story is presented from the protagonist’s pov, and the protagonist is sexist. I disagree because I believe the author made the character sexist and showed him being sexist in the story to satirize the use of sexist troupes in 1960s novels. The characters are somewhat well-developed and unique, but they are absolutely not special. The language is okay, but just like everything about this story, is weird. The story is a narration of events from the protagonist’s point of view, but the narration uses strange and almost childish language. The protagonist narrates the events the same way a 7-year-old would narrate a fight between his action figures, describing his moves in the fight against the martian guard with random Japanese phrases and calling out his moves like an anime character. All in all, A Rose for Ecclesiastes is a weird, slightly racist and debatably sexist book that I cannot place anywhere on the good-bad spectrum and can only describe as very, very weird.
September 22, 2022
The Book “A Rose for Ecclesiastes” by Roger Zelazny Review
A short story about a linguistic Martian exploration, with such enormous amounts of allusions to the Bible and many more. It has some similarities with the movie Arrival where the humans are trying to decipher the alien’s language to learn their species and their purpose. In this case, it is a human named Gallinger who has been tasked to decipher the Martian’s sacred texts.
The characters in this story feel kind of limited, given that it is a short story. There were only a few notable characters that kept coming that were either Gallinger, the High Priestess, or that Martian dancer that he was seduced by. Such a shame, a great story with such great potential.
As for the plot of the story, it consists of many literature devices like allusions, similes, and symbolism. Most of the allusions were pretty much references to the bible, which make sense coming from Gallinger since he is a linguist. There was a segment where a rose was promised to be given to the High Priestess, which I think is a great symbol for the cycle of life, which is parallel to the Martian’s belief, just except the reproduction part.
Notably, it seemed very human-nature-like on how Gallinger acted on his mission on mars. He goes to Mars then he gets attracted by the Martian dancer (who he thinks she is genuinely interested in just because she looked at him) and violated their expected-extinction belief, such typical human behavior. Having established Gallinger’s love for the dancer, it also feels like that this is a quick romantic story between 2 different individuals, pretty much like “Blood child”.
A short story about a linguistic Martian exploration, with such enormous amounts of allusions to the Bible and many more. It has some similarities with the movie Arrival where the humans are trying to decipher the alien’s language to learn their species and their purpose. In this case, it is a human named Gallinger who has been tasked to decipher the Martian’s sacred texts.
The characters in this story feel kind of limited, given that it is a short story. There were only a few notable characters that kept coming that were either Gallinger, the High Priestess, or that Martian dancer that he was seduced by. Such a shame, a great story with such great potential.
As for the plot of the story, it consists of many literature devices like allusions, similes, and symbolism. Most of the allusions were pretty much references to the bible, which make sense coming from Gallinger since he is a linguist. There was a segment where a rose was promised to be given to the High Priestess, which I think is a great symbol for the cycle of life, which is parallel to the Martian’s belief, just except the reproduction part.
Notably, it seemed very human-nature-like on how Gallinger acted on his mission on mars. He goes to Mars then he gets attracted by the Martian dancer (who he thinks she is genuinely interested in just because she looked at him) and violated their expected-extinction belief, such typical human behavior. Having established Gallinger’s love for the dancer, it also feels like that this is a quick romantic story between 2 different individuals, pretty much like “Blood child”.
September 22, 2022
This story is told through the perspective of the poet named Gallinger, who is on a mars mission studying the alien’s sacred texts and the story progresses slowly through the conversations and thoughts of this main character. Also, the plot and events of the story don’t seem to make sense to me that much. Even if most of the time the plot is unpredictable, it doesn’t make the story more interesting to read. For example, this story started off describing the mission of exploring the alien’s text but then after a few pages, its main focus quickly shifted to the main character having relationships with the alien and all of the rest progressed from that point. So, it seems to me that the whole mission of exploring mars is just to get the story started. Also, the way the author structures each sentence makes it unnecessarily more complicated than it should be, which makes it confusing and makes me feel extremely desperate to finish this assignment. Also, there are not so many points about this story, accepting that it kind of reflects the point of view of most narcissistic people and how they think as well as showing how the contrast between their mindset and reality results in mental issues. After all, this story is not the type of story that you have to keep on reading and can’t close it because its main idea and concept are not strong enough for the reader to care for or follow through to find out the answer. Therefore, I would recommend this story to people who want to understand narcissistic people or want to find out if they are narcissistic or not.
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September 22, 2022A Rose for Ecclesiastes
Story: 5
Language: 7
Ideas: 6
Characters: 5
Enjoyment: 4
Rating: 5.2 (sleeper tier)
Personally, I found the story to be a bit bland and confusing. It strayed off the main topic during some moments such as the weird martial arts scene that was randomly placed in there for some reason. I also thought the story was a bit too complicated and I had to simplify it constantly while reading it for the first time. The language was decent as it described most of the setting, and appearance of characters to a certain extent, although it wasn’t exceptional, it was still probably one of the best aspects of the story.
If you are just reading the story out of its surface, I highly doubt the idea of the story can be seen. You would have to dive deep and I mean deep to find what ideas the story was trying to tell us, I’m not saying that the ideas are bad, not at all I think they are pretty interesting, but the amount of effort and time needed to analyze the story for these sophisticated ideas is just not worth it. The main character was especially scummy and easily despisable which could be argued if that’s a good or bad thing considering the ending, however, most of the other characters were somewhat throwaway in my opinion.
Overall, it was quite boring, that’s really is all there is to it, there’s no action and the plot was quite stale honestly. I would not recommend this book to anyone no cap, there’s a reason why I put it on the sleeper tier because it makes you sleep.
Story: 5
Language: 7
Ideas: 6
Characters: 5
Enjoyment: 4
Rating: 5.2 (sleeper tier)
Personally, I found the story to be a bit bland and confusing. It strayed off the main topic during some moments such as the weird martial arts scene that was randomly placed in there for some reason. I also thought the story was a bit too complicated and I had to simplify it constantly while reading it for the first time. The language was decent as it described most of the setting, and appearance of characters to a certain extent, although it wasn’t exceptional, it was still probably one of the best aspects of the story.
If you are just reading the story out of its surface, I highly doubt the idea of the story can be seen. You would have to dive deep and I mean deep to find what ideas the story was trying to tell us, I’m not saying that the ideas are bad, not at all I think they are pretty interesting, but the amount of effort and time needed to analyze the story for these sophisticated ideas is just not worth it. The main character was especially scummy and easily despisable which could be argued if that’s a good or bad thing considering the ending, however, most of the other characters were somewhat throwaway in my opinion.
Overall, it was quite boring, that’s really is all there is to it, there’s no action and the plot was quite stale honestly. I would not recommend this book to anyone no cap, there’s a reason why I put it on the sleeper tier because it makes you sleep.
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