carol. ’s review of The Stars My Destination > Likes and Comments

*bwaaaaaaaahaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaa*

I adore you.

Is this another one of those time travel documents like when Michelle Obama stole Melania's speech from 3 years in the future?

Carol. wrote: "I adore you."

I keeel you feeelthy, says Eric Gully's son. Never thought of it before. Hilarious.

Richard wrote: "I keeel you feeelthy, says Eric Gully's son. Never thought of it before. Hilarious."

It occurred to me that I had recently witnessed Gully's pathology in action... the willingness to destroy everything in service to his ego, the utter lack of human empathy, the casual abuse and degradement of women... I tell you, it was like reading an abbreviated CNN transcript of the last year.



Monica wrote: "Is this another one of those time travel documents like when Michelle Obama stole Melania's speech from 3 years in the future?"

Yes!! I don't know how Bester did it. Freakin' amazing.

Thank you for laughs. :)

Hahahaha :-D

Thanks, Caro and Matthias! I'm sure you get my little joke if you read the book :D

I read The Demolished Man a number of years ago and thought it was quite good. I'll have to try this one, too. The more things change, eh? People like the Trumps are always with us. (Unfortunately.)

I haven't read The Demolished Man yet. I'm working my way through my TBR backlog :) This was... powerful.

Fingers crossed!!! 😂😂😂

Yeah, somehow doubtful. :)

Carol, Carol, Carol...mixing your political woes with classic SF. It just doesn't seem to fit with the girl that writes such excellent book reviews. You need a hug.

This is an incredible review. I never thought that Dante's inferno, classic sci-fi, and Donald Trump would ever be included in my brain at the same time.

spikeINflorida wrote: "Carol, Carol, Carol...mixing your political woes with classic SF. It just doesn't seem to fit with the girl that writes such excellent book reviews. You need a hug."

No hugs! Don't touch, keep off the grass, stay in your own lane and all that jazz.

Okay, you read it, my analogy (view spoiler)[ becomes disastrously stretched when Gully becomes a Christ-like figure. (hide spoiler)] Oi vay! Whooops!

Nicholas wrote: "This is an incredible review. I never thought that Dante's inferno, classic sci-fi, and Donald Trump would ever be included in my brain at the same time."

Thanks, Nicholas! Don't forget the acid-dropping!


hmm, maybe we have an explanation... ;)

oh dear... was it that obvious ;)

Good stuff, Carol. The parallel isn't just evident between Gully and Trump (up to a point, since Trump's story is still evolving) but also with their respective societies. People who first shunned and dismissed them but quickly sucked up as they came into power...

Alfred, I was honestly struck by both sides, how Gully wanted revenge so desperately, he was willing to absolutely throw away or destroy any opportunities for redemption. Talk about what the Trump supporters were doing--burn the house down because they didn't like the system (but somehow taking on a more ominous tone than never being able to 'dismantle the master's house using the master's tools). Gully represented both sides to me.

At the end of Gully's story, (view spoiler)[it took on a redemptive turn as he found enlightenment and gave the choice back to society in determining their own fate (hide spoiler)]. I wondered as I was reading it whether I (or society) would have the ability to forgive Trump's behaviors if he too followed Gully's path at the end. The answer is difficult.

Alfred wrote: "At the end of Gully's story, [spoilers removed]. I wondered as I was reading it whether I (or society) would have the ability to forgive Trump's behaviors if he too followed Gully's path at the end..."

Alfred, regarding the spoiler material, (view spoiler)[I saw it as self-loathing instead of redemption (hide spoiler)] forgiveness seems to me less called for than pity.

Sometimes pity precedes forgiveness. I think they can both co-exist. But! That's where my difficulty lies, at this point given current situation, I find myself unable to do either.

As for Gully, (view spoiler)[much agree with the self-loathing. I think that in itself is a form towards redemption. First he loathed humanity, blamed everybody and sought revenge but as the story progresses, the loathing turned inward, blamed himself and sought to save humanity as a result by giving them the ability to self-govern and removing himself into obscurity (hide spoiler)].

Or not! Haha, I guess I didn't expect a 1950's pulp SF to make me think beyond a good story.

Alfred wrote: "Haha, I guess I didn't expect a 1950's pulp SF to make me think beyond a good story."

That's the insidious thing about pulp fiction. It lulls your critical faculty into torpor and then slides a big fat idea right past it.

Loves me some pulp. :)

Oh yes, I was definitely shocked by the progressive and rather startling turn of events where Gully(view spoiler)[ told Olivia he was full of self-loathing. I didn't know quite what to think of the disseminated PyrE, as my chief reaction was that the powerful countries are going to spend all their time trying to get a hold of it, and in essence, Gully weakened the Inner Planets to the Outer united ones. As in, I get how perhaps it would be seen as 'empowering,' but was ultimately self-destructive. (hide spoiler)] Which brought me back to Trump. Sure, we have a non-politician leading. We also have nightmare setbacks in financial regulation, healthcare, environmental protection, civil freedoms and diplomatic relations. Is that power to the people?

No, not at the rate we're going but fortunately, neither Trump nor us can jaunt so we'll catch up with him, on him, at some point. He's human, and fallible after all.

Alfred! Hope and optimism! You are an inspiration.

Now, now, let's not get carried away with the hope and optimism thing. Just taking it day by day, tweet by tweet, book by book.

(Edit: guess this is where I should insert one of those smiley faces)

Alfred wrote: "Now, now, let's not get carried away with the hope and optimism thing. Just taking it day by day, tweet by tweet, book by book.

(Edit: guess this is where I should insert one of those smiley faces)"

"Tweet by tweet." I saw great commentary about Trump's suspicious lack of twitting during the Comey hearing.

Here, goes like this: :) :D

;)

Thank you for the review! I read this long, long ago.

Great review, Carol. Now that I’m reading it, I totally understand.

As for the trippy final chapters, I’m listening to the audiobook and it actually sounds like a trump speech (or at least Alec Baldwin’s version of a trump speech, because that’s as close as I get to listening to him).

Caleb was in the other room actually thought I was listening to trump on the news😭

My bad, it was chapter 15.

Thanks, Naomi. o.m.g., that's crazy about Caleb's comment. So sad and trippy and true.

After reading your review, carol., I'm not so sure I want to read this one anymore. Is the pay off really worth mucking about in the mind of someone so consumed with hate? The Trump comparison just makes it all the more unpalatable.

Right? I'd say for you, no. No since being mired in that kind of miasma when you can witness it on the news. I'm guessing your reading time is precious--go with something more positive or escapist!

I'm guessing your reading time is precious

It is!

go with something more positive or escapist!

Cool. Thanks. Kicking it off the TBR list now.

Go for the Aldebaran one. I think you might like it, and it's relatively quick.

Thanks. I'll check it out. :)

"It's one of those amazing little stories that you understand as you read is offering up a scathing social indictment and yet wraps you up in its fast-paced plotting. I can't remember the last book I read with a main character so filled with hate and rage, that ignores every opportunity for redemptive actions."

Very well captured, Carol

Thank you, Mr. H.

Carol, I’ve just read your review again. It's truly wonderful, insightful and human. We can only look on sadly as Gully and so many burn their lives away without discovering the truth:

Life is too short, and sometimes brutal,
and in the end we have only each other...
Nothing else matters.

Very kind of you, William. Too true; Gully eventually had an arc of redemption, but he was so long in reaching it that the cost along the way was enormous to himself and others.

Great review, currently in the first quarter of it and the Trump comparison wants me to Dnf as that's so on point. The writing is excellent but the story mood for me right now isn't. Should I just dnf do you think? Is it a decent ending? (Note that I don't say "happy" because I highly doubt Gully would ever feel such an emotion even if he achieved vengeance.)

Excellent review. Bester is my favorite SF author.

Good review. I like the concepts in The Stars my Destination, maybe I need to read more new wave Sci Fi writers. Have you read Beyond Apollo by Barry N. Malzberg?

Very good. I've just read this, and the line, "Nobody ever suspects a clown" immediately made me think of Trump and Johnson (to the extent I included a cartoon in my review).

Thanks, Andria, Rose and Fantasy boy. Sorry I never got back to you.

Cecily, thank you! Glad that I'm not the only one to see this comparison. The other comparison I routinely think of is from the movie (or musical) Chicago, Richard Gere's character: "Give them the old razzle-dazzle..."

Great review! I just finished this and enjoyed it.