Sci-Fi Group Book Club discussion

This is the discussion thread for the first book of the month, or group read, for August. Please remember to use the spoiler tags where necessary. The other group read topic for this month (The City & the City) can be found here.

Just finished it. It's an OK read but it's not really Sci fi and it's not weird enough to be weird fiction either. It's a romantic thriller with Just enough science to set up the basic plot device. I won't say any more at the moment as I appreciate others may not have read it yet. And yes, I know I nominated it. Sorry. I hope someone else enjoys it.

Only a couple of chapters in at mo, but it doesn't feel like my type of book yet. Keeping my mind open though. Hope there's a twist somewhere between the pages because, at the moment, the plot seems rather obvious.

Donna Rae wrote: "Only a couple of chapters in at mo, but it doesn't feel like my type of book yet. Keeping my mind open though. Hope there's a twist somewhere between the pages because, at the moment, the plot seem..."

I thought the same.....it does improve somewhat.

Really? I found it really gripping! Now in chapter 7 and am very curious how Dessen came up with a macroscopic realization of the quantum superposition. :-) Also, the many-universe theory and its ramifications has always fascinated me. :-)

"...but it's not really Sci fi..." could you elaborate on that Mel? :-) I don't see why it's not scifi at all! :-)

Marvin wrote: ""...but it's not really Sci fi..." could you elaborate on that Mel? :-) I don't see why it's not scifi at all! :-)"
It's SF in the sense that the main plot device relates to multi universes but there's no depth to it. For instance, the drug employed to facilitate transition; the amazing metal box. Neither explored; you might as well say 'magic' and there we were in this never ending corridor. I wanted some real ideas on consciousness; more depth to the idea that our own thoughts shape our own reality; more inventiveness on the apparatus of accessing parallel universes; more about the parallel universes....none mentioned were spectacularly different. Without these elements in some more substantial measure, I felt it was just a competent romantic thriller. It is well paced and I didn't struggle to complete it. As thrillers go, it was OK. But it was SF light or SF tenuous. It was billed as a really head bendy mind trip and I don't think it was. Imagine what a P. K. DICK or a Heinlein could have done with it. Anyway....a lot of people thought it was great, so I appreciate I am in the minority on this one.

It's nice to see some good discussion going on here! :)

I am still 50% into the novel. The procedure behind macroscopic quantum superposition is not explored properly as pointed out by Mel. I don't know if this is a conscious choice in the author's part (to amplify the effect that the main character Jason wasn't THE Jason that designed the mechanism in the first place) or it is really not deep to begin with. Although in his defense, the mechanism of wavefunction collapse is still an open problem in the foundations of quantum mechanics so any attempt at an explanation and justification of the phenomenon even coming from a non-theoretical physicist is always welcome. (BTW, my adviser has a resent paper on the subject published in Europhysics letters http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.... but I digress! Haha.) Anyway, don't take my word just yet on whether or not the novel is really good since I'm still halfway through. :-) How about the opinion of others? Are only Mel, Donna and I reading this? :-P

Marvin wrote: "Are only Mel, Donna and I reading this? :-P "

Could be, Marvin, considering how low the turn-out was for the poll this time. And even I'm reading with one eye on the Olympics (not easy)!

Is this book about alcoholism?

Damon wrote: "Is this book about alcoholism?"
No, but it helps if you drink while you're reading it. JK. It's an OK read if you don't want to have to think too much, or get too invested in characters.

Just over 60% through and enjoying it a little bit more than at the start. However, one major question:

(view spoiler)[ Re: multi-universes, collapsing wavefunction, box
Q: Using the method as described by Crouch (and suspending disbelief long enough to assume it could be done), is it not the case that, when Jason and Amanda enter the box, the wavefunction can only collapse down into a potentiality in which the box itself is already in existence? In other words, the 'doors' can only lead to other 'worlds' in which a procedure for macroscopic quantum superposition has been achieved and the box already invented - is that right? For if that is the case, then surely it is not possible that Jason 2 could abduct Jason 1 in the first instance, as Jason 1 did not invent a box and, therefore, the box does not exist in Jason 1's 'world'.

Marvin? (hide spoiler)]

Of course, without it, Crouch would have had no story left to write about.

Yes I think that is a Gaiman device.

Donna Rae wrote: "Just over 60% through and enjoying it a little bit more than at the start. However, one major question:

Re: multi-universes, collapsing wavefunction, box
Q: Using the method as described by Crouc..."

That's actually a good point although personally, i just thought of the box as a gateway to ALL the other universes, regardless of whether or not the box has been conceived in such universe. So, although a wavefunction collapses once a particular state is observed, we could argue (in Blake's defense) that this is only true if the components of the superposition is in the same universe. Blake could always exempt his "macroscopic superposition" from the standard quantum mechanics that we know by saying that the different states of the superposition are found in different universes, hence not governed by the usual rule of wavefunction collapse which presumably only holds true in our own. By the way, I just finished the book and I had a lot of fun with it. :-) Will post my in-depth review later. I'll probably also check out his Wayward Pines trilogy.

I'm also interested in reading his Wayward Pines trilogy, which seems to be more like horror than sci-fi (a blend of both?). Would it be unreasonable to think of it as a kind of adult version of Michael Grant's Gone series? It also reminds me a little of The Santaroga Barrier.

I'm going to go with not Sci-Fi on this book. It only has a week Sci-Fi premise of the box that lets his other self mess him up. The rest is all some kind of imposter/everyone things I'm crazy drama show. So far: not my cup of tea.

Damon wrote: "I'm going to go with not Sci-Fi on this book. It only has a week Sci-Fi premise of the box that lets his other self mess him up. The rest is all some kind of imposter/everyone things I'm crazy dram..."

When it's done well, blurring the boundaries between genres can offer fresh perspectives that are capable of moving fiction into new directions - a good thing, in my opinion, if it prevents a genre from becoming stale and 'samey'. However, Crouch's offering is so formulaic within a Thriller context, and the science, it seems to me, a little dubious (whilst I can accept Marvin's explanation of different superposition states in different universes, it still seems to me the metal box is a pretty strong component required of any universe able to fulfill Crouch's plot criteria - otherwise it becomes more akin to Dr Who's Tardis, which at least enlists time travel in its list of possibilities!) that I would have to agree that the sci-fi premise is weak.

On another note, just finished reading the first story, 'The Seventh Voyage' of Stanislaw Lem's The Star Diaries, in which our astronaut meets his other selves (through time vortices) when trying to fix a rudder. A good comparison after reading Dark Matter; Lem shows how it should/could be done - and with far more humour. A nomination for next month perhaps?