Ampersand Book Club discussion

Here's January's book!

It had been awhile since I'd tackled such a long book on such a serious theme. Since joining Goodreads, I've been indulging in my love of fantasy and the paranormal because of the neverending recommendations. So I approached The Book of Strange New Things almost like required reading (sorry, book club!). The book was highly praised and widely recommended, but the plotline—Christian couple's relationship is strained when the husband leaves Earth to minister to aliens—didn't interest me very much. The premise reminded me of Mary Doria Russell's book The Sparrow. That book, about a Jesuit-funded mission to the first extraterrestrial civilization humans identify, also portrayed a religious leader who's wildly enthusiastic about making first contact but grapples with his faith as a result.

I thought the book conveniently ignored the immense distance between objects in space. There's reference to the ship being "catapulted through time and space by the physics-defying technology of the Jump." Only a month elapses between launch and Peter's arrival on Oasis. The Shoot allows for near-instantaneous communication between Oasis and Earth. I understand though that the technology has to be taken for granted as necessary to sustain the tension in this story.

I was impressed by the depiction of a ship being piloted looking like someone working on a computer. Other touches I thought added depth to the story include the emphasis on water conservation; the rigorous psychological testing done by USIC; the way the situation falls apart on Earth (natural disasters, failing banks, etc.). I loved how real the Oasans seemed. (view spoiler)[I imagined the individual Oasans being as indistinguishable as birds in a flock might be to us (or what someone with face-blindness might experience every day). The architecture of their homes, the birthing celebration contrasted with the post-death ritual, their language involving sounds humans can only approximate, the strange creatures that destroy their crops, their reliance on whiteflower was so interesting. I kept expecting some reveal—could the Oasans really be so benign?—and was not disappointed when Peter figured out they lack the ability to heal. I couldn't even foresee that as the reason for their devotion to Jesus, but it puts into context their fragility and their perception of life and death. (hide spoiler)]

The only thing that rang sort of false or at least hollow to me about this story was how Peter and Bea ended up married to each other. It's taken for granted that they're a devoted Christian couple, (view spoiler)[even after he commits adultery while on Oasis. But I had a hard time believing Peter could have changed so much solely because of his love for Beatrice (and/or God?). It's a trope and because the old Peter never seemed real to me, I couldn't reconcile his backstory with the person on Oasis. He would have seemed more well-developed to me, I think, if I'd known why he became a minister. (hide spoiler)]

As for Beatrice, I found her to be kind of an irritating, sanctimonious character. Despite that, I could empathize with her and Peter. The book was a fairly quick read, full of suspense and dread. (view spoiler)[While I would have liked to see how Peter intended to find Bea, I think the book ended where it needed to. Peter made his decision to return to Earth and to Beatrice. In doing so, he rejected the USIC employees' philosophy of not involving themselves with others. (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[One last note: I can't get over how badly things turned out for Joshua. But I thought his killing pushing Beatrice over the edge was perfectly understandable. (hide spoiler)]

I was in the same boat going into this as M. This book was more serious than my usual fare (and I almost never read books that deal directly with religion in this way, so that was a big change). Overall I thought it was a really solid and interesting concept. The setting was done extremely well, from the physical descriptions of Oasis to the OSIC base and the Oasans’ home. And I like that we got some of those intimate details about the Oasans over time. It made them feel real.

(view spoiler)[One thing I assumed we would see going in was that struggle by Peter to communicate with the locals and introduce Christianity to them, so I thought it was interesting that the author set most of that up before Peter even came into the picture. The native people already knew English and already have a passion for Jesus, so the conflict got shifted from “how will Peter begin this incredibly difficult task?” to “how will Peter deal with his job being so much different than what he was expecting?” And that really reflects the overall conflict of the book itself. At times I felt a little bored by the lack of outside issues Peter was dealing with (his job is easier than he expected, he receives very little hostility from the locals or the USIC staff, stuff like that)- but at the same time, that space is all filled with Peter’s various internal conflicts, which is what the story is actually about. (hide spoiler)]

The biggest “external” conflict was really his relationship with his wife- which like M. said, felt kind of flat sometimes, particularly in relation to how they met. Even with her flaws though, I liked how Bea’s personality contrasted with Peter’s. She’s more personable and insightful while he tends to be more introverted and oblivious, and it was interesting to see that play out in letter form. (view spoiler)[One thing I really loved about their written communication were the assumptions Bea would make that Peter would do nothing to rectify- like how it takes him so long to explain his situation with the Oasans while she continues to assume he’s having all the trouble he expected, or how she mistakes the gender of someone he works with without his correcting her. It was those little things that say a lot about both characters without it having to be explained, which was nice. (hide spoiler)]

My biggest dislike was how much time narration and introspection takes up in this book. Because it is a story that is very concerned with the internal life of one particular character, we just get pages and pages of letters, Peter making speeches, Peter musing to himself about morality and God… and I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say this wasn’t needed, but I definitely found myself getting bored occasionally.

So I really had a hard time getting through this one. I thought the premise was interesting, and the writing was very well done, but I got a bit bogged down with all of the religion. I also found it very hard to sympathize with Bea, maybe because I have been guilty of similar behavior. The whole "of course I don't want you to go on this trip, but I want to look like a supportive wife, so I'm going to encourage you to go on the fantastic opportunity that I was not invited to, but I am going to became increasingly annoyed with you when you don't communicate enough or don't want to listen to what is going on in the world and can't understand all the awful things in my life because you're too busy doing what you were sent there to do." I think it made her come across as not as sincere in her religion, which I found ironic since she was the one who brought Peter to religion in the first place. I also get that without her faith crisis, there would be no story, but it made it hard to sympathize with her.

I'm kind of of two minds about this book. On the one hand, it's an interesting approach to space exploration / first contact. On the other hand...this book isn't really about either of those things, is it? I'm not sure whether I should feel cheated or not. I appreciate that it's kind of a big world / little picture sort of story, taking an intimate approach to what would normally be a very dynamic step for mankind. However, I think the fact that he encountered a ready and willing Jesus loving contingency on this planet was just bizarre and not fully realized. (view spoiler)[Sure, the whole lack of healing thing might put that in perspective, but I don't buy it. Firstly because, what does Jesus have to do with it? Are they expecting faith healing? That's just bullshit. And secondly, I would think a species that can't heal would've become extinct a long time ago. (hide spoiler)]

Ultimately, this is a story about Peter and Bea and their strained relationship over distance. And I do think it was well expressed, how their misunderstandings and miscommunications often led to difficulties, etc. The changing nature of their relationship was interesting to see.

(view spoiler)[Btw, M: When did Peter cheat on his wife at Oasis? I thought that was a dream sequence... (hide spoiler)]

That being said, I didn't care about either of them. She's sanctimonious, whiny, and unpleasant over all. He's totally oblivious, useless, and an insensitive d-bag. Maybe they deserve each other.

(view spoiler)[The ending was somewhat abrupt and unsatisfying, but I'm glad it came. It really needed to end, and soon. (hide spoiler)]

Yeah, I agree with everyone else's comments. How one feels about the characters can make or break the book. Also, I think the literary establishment, when it praises genre fiction—as they did with this book—tend to favor ones that are more "literary" as opposed to plot driven. Like the science behind this story could have been stripped. It could have been about Peter ministering in some remote, sunny part of Earth and communicating with Bea via telegram, while riots erupt back home. Though I guess the point is that Peter is so removed from Earth and so oblivious that he can't comprehend what Bea's going through.

I thought Peter had committed adultery, that it wasn't just a dream sequence. I'd have to read that part again to see. I know it was presented as being very hazy and confused.

Did anyone else think Bea was wrong to get pregnant without Peter's consent? I think the but-I'm-having-this-baby-because-I-love-you-so-much! is just Bea justifying getting something she alone wants at the moment.

I think it was absolutely wrong of her to get pregnant without his consent. And then get all pissy about it when he didn't express complete gung-ho excitement about it?? I know she's going through a lot of stuff on Earth but that was just so selfish and wrong.

(view spoiler)[Was there any explanation as to why the world was going bad??

Also, what's USIC's mission anyway? It's to establish a colony so rich people can move there? Is this because they know that Earth is going bonkers? How did they know that it would?? Why did they isolate all the people working there from news from back home? (hide spoiler)]

I hope it's OK to dispense with the spoiler tags at this point. No explanation for why the world was going bad, but I assumed it was global warming (like the tsunami in the South Pacific). Not sure about the volcano (?) that erupted. That could have been just a freak occurrence, but one that came at a destabilizing time.

And as far as I recall, yes, USIC's mission was to establish a colony. If they are as powerful of a conglomerate as it's implied they are, then they must have suspected things would go to pot on Earth. Like seeing how the markets would move if such-and-such a thing happened. I think USIC isolated all the people working on Oasis so they wouldn't be "distracted" by news of Earth. But the employees had been evaluated so rigorously anyhow that almost all of them were content to ignore what was happening on Earth.

Oh, and I hope Station Eleven doesn't turn out to be a dud for most of us. As I mentioned, I think book reviewers like to praise books that may have a sci-fi/fantasy element but are ultimately about the human condition.

Hahaha! RE: Station Eleven. I hear you! I'm slightly wary because it purports to span many years, and those always try to be sooper speshul and epicccc. Not that I'm totally against this convention, but yeah.

Thankfully it looks like Station Eleven is short-ish. 300 pages or so? Though my version is large print so it's over 500.

Did you get large print because the number of holds on it was less? Yeah, I've read a few chapters, and they were good. Reading the front jacket flap blurb though makes me worried though, because as you said, these span-of-years narratives can be exhausting to read.

I thought I was putting a hold on the regular version, but when I picked it up, it was LP. Maybe I made a mistake? But even the LP version had 80 holds on it!