Nein.: Un manifiesto

Por Eric Jarosinski

¿Qué sucedería si un científico loco clonase en una sola persona a Woody Allen y a Slavoj ?i?ek? Probablemente que surgiría el autor de este libro. Su obra, como él mismo cuenta, «es el resultado de un fracaso tirando a monumental. Mientras bregaba por escribir un libro académico que esperaba me ayudara a conseguir una plaza de profesor titular en una de las universidades de élite estadounidenses, descubrí Twitter. Este hecho contribuyó de forma decisiva no sólo al final del proyecto en el que llevaba tanto tiempo trabajando, sino también al de toda mi carrera académica. Al mismo tiempo, supuso el inicio de una nueva y extraña profesión que he calificado de ?aforista de Internet?, pese a que todavía no sé muy bien qué implica tal trabajo». Su primer tuit-aforismo filosófico proclama con contundencia: «#SinRodeos / El mundo de hoy sólo tiene dos problemas / 1. El mundo / Y 2. Hoy / Tres, si contamos mañana.» Y a partir de ahí este pesimista que busca la salvación en el sarcasmo, este nihilista de la era de Internet, va lanzando sentencias limitadas a los 140 caracteres de Twitter, y con ellas forja una suerte de manifiesto de la filosofía portátil del futuro. El suyo es un pensamiento en forma de latigazos, de lacónicas meditaciones con altas dosis de socarronería, de epigramas sagaces, impertinentes y lacerantes, que con frecuencia nos llevan a la carcajada como vía de acceso a la sabiduría. Cierra el libro un glosario que tampoco tiene desperdicio y que contiene definiciones como ésta: «Dios: una deidad que se parece a Marx, fue declarada muerta por Nietzsche y envidiada por Freud.» El resultado es un conciso, deslumbrante y descacharrante juego lúdico-filosófico que nos invita a pensar y a reír, y bajo cuya aparente liviandad hay cargas de profundidad potentísimas.

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: Editorial Anagrama
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 10 feb 2016
• ISBN: 9788433936899

Eric Jarosinski

Eric Jarosinski (1971) es, según definición propia, un «intelectual fracasado residente en Nueva York». Experto en literatura y cultura alemanas, en 2012 abrió en Twitter el perfil @NeinQuarterly, que tiene más de 120.000 seguidores y cuyos tuits se publican regularmente en papel en Alemania (Die Zeit) y los Países Bajos (NRC Handelsblad). Ha colaborado también en publicaciones como The New Yorker y The Paris Review. Nein! Un manifiesto es su primer libro. Después de una magnífica acogida en Estados Unidos y los diversos territorios de habla inglesa, se ha traducido o está en proceso de traducción en siete países

Vista previa del libro

Índice

Portada

Introducción

1. Nein no es no. Nein no es sí. Nein es Nein.

2. Nein no cree en nada. Aguerrida- mente.

3. Nein no admite preguntas.

4. Nein lamenta comunicarle.

5. Nein no es el medio. Nein no es el mensaje.

6. Nein no le da las gracias por su compra.

7. Nein no es estilo. Nein no es sintaxis.

8. Nein dice no. A un sí. Que es un no.

9. Nein cierra los ojos a tu estado de vigilancia. A tu perfil en la web de citas. A tu blog. Y escu

Glosario

Epílogo

Créditos

El placer de pensar

no es muy recomendable.

Theodor W. Adorno

Introducción

Decir no no es difícil. Lo difícil es

decirlo bien. En el momento oportuno.

Por las razones adecuadas.

Más difícil todavía es seguir diciéndolo, máxime

cuando vivimos en un mundo del sí.

En una tiranía del sí.

Sí a la familia. Sí a los amigos. Sí a los términos.

Sí a las condiciones. Sí al trabajo. Sí al juego.

Sí a una vida de sí, sí y sí, por favor.

Pero hay otra vida. Una vida incierta.

Que canta un himno al no.

Del no. Para el no.

Pero no es un no cualquiera. Es un no

de no ahora. De no todavía. Y de no sólo.

Es el no de Nein.

1. Nein no es no. Nein no es sí. Nein es Nein.

#SinRodeos

---

El mundo de hoy sólo tiene dos problemas.

---

1. El mundo.

---

Y 2. Hoy.

---

Tres, si contamos mañana.

Comentarios para Nein.

[lucaconti-1 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

a long distance love story in the space

[lycomayflower · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

The novel follows Peter, a minister chosen by a somewhat shadowy organization to be sent to a foreign planet to minister to the native population of that planet. A good deal of the story is devoted to his concerns about leaving his wife behind and to her letters to him detailing the deteriorating situation on Earth and her increasing crises of mental health and religious faith.I hoped to enjoy this novel, as it involves three things I usually find deeply compelling in fiction--explorations of other cultures, intimate relationships between people, and explorations of faith--and at first I thought I would. For the first two hundred or so pages, I was drawn to the story, even if upon thinking about it I couldn't really say why. But ultimately it was a huge disappointment. Virtually none of the characters come alive on the page (and for a while their dullness seems like it is going to be a plot point--as if something about the planet or something the organization is doing is sapping them of their vitality or individualism, but no); Peter is a drip; his wife comes off as a whiny, selfish, manipulative shrew (and yet, we are supposed to care deeply about the health of the relationship between her and Peter?); the novel is deeply uninterested in explaining even basic premise-y things (when is this taking place? what planet has Peter traveled to? why is the organization that sent him so close-lipped?); and almost none of the plotty questions I had while reading were ever answered. While I found the read a little unsettling, I would call this book depressed rather than depressing. If it were a person, I suspect I might comment that its affect was off.The comparison to Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow is probably inevitable given the shared subject matter of the two novels, and the comparison is entirely in Russell's favor as far as I'm concerned. I recommend you read that instead.

[meganangela · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Every once in awhile you come across an amazing novel that leaves you begging for more long after the final page has been read. Michel Faber's 'The Book of Strange New Things' is one such book.On the surface, 'The Book of Strange New Things' is the story of a Christian missionary, Peter, who has been selected to travel to a newly identified planet many light years from our own to teach the Gospel to its alien inhabitants. But a deeper read reveals that this book is about so much more than that. It's about isolation, communication, long-distance relationships, and the things we sacrifice for those we love.As a whole, I fell in love with the empty flatland of Oasis and the people, both native and alien, who inhabited it. This book took me nearly a month to finish because I kept having to stop and sit with the narrative and my feelings on it. In fact, there were moments so on the nose that I had to put the book down to take a breath and remind myself that this is only a work of fiction.Though I really wanted to, I can't give 'The Book of Strange New Things' five stars as I did feel there were times when the narrative dragged on or felt a bit repetitive. I enjoy navel-gazing as much as the next person, but it becomes tedious when over-employed.Fans of Michel Faber's work have said that 'The Book of Strange New Things' is probably his weakest novel, but I still found so much to love about it. Would definitely recommend to fans of science fiction with a literary twist. 4 out of 5 Stars.

[nwhyte-2 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

a bit frustrating - could have been an interesting exploration of religion and aliens, but we never got a clear picture of what the alien Christians actually thought they were doing; and the narrative focus anyway is on the protagonist's relationship with his wife rather than with his religion. Also a lot of the alien planet scenario didn't make sense in its own terms. I don't completely go along with Adam Roberts' critique (in particular it's obvious to me that the alien letters are in no way intended to be Arabic script) but I had expected a little more.

[pauntley · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

A bit of a bore, a bit of a chore it was, reading The Book of Strange New Things. I expected far more, after a wonderfully acute, witty and warm talk by Faber at Adelaide Writers Week. What we seem to have here is a failure of communication. A whole series of failures in fact. Peter Leigh can't communicate with his wife, Bea. Not, at least, through the intergalactic email, the 'Shoot', which is his only contact with her. Peter the pastor has a persistent, disabling case of tin ear, when it comes to written communication. He doesn't do much better in his oral communications with Grainger, the USIC pharmacist on Oasis, with whom he conducts an interminable, agonised exercise in sexual frustration. Grainger is equally inarticulate. Communications with God are not going well either, though there are several moments when God does, disconcertingly, address Peter in direct speech. There are moments of affecting pathos in Peter's relationships with the Oasan aliens. And there is a good deal of charm in their lovely, indecipherable script, especially invented for the novel. But the pathos is there because intimate communication with the Oasans is ultimately impossible. They are, in so many ways, unapproachably alien. Peter"s thought bubble near the end - 'It was natural: they were only human' - remains forced and unconvincing. Everything that precedes his insistence on their humanity is a demonstration of the distance between the Oasans and the human beings on Oasis.A very long book about the varieties of communication failure is bound to be a bit of a slog.

[fhudnell-1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

This book is not easy to classify, but I think it leans more toward literary fiction than it does to science fiction. Peter, an English minister who is married to Bea, a nurse, has been chosen by a mysterious corporation called USIC for a mission to Oasis. Oasis is a planet in another solar system trillions of miles from Earth. Peter's title is Minister (Christian) to Indigenous Population. While Peter deals with his new congregation, Bea must deal with a proliferation of increasingly ominous disasters on Earth, from food shortages to floods. As they each go through their own profound, but unshared, experiences it becomes harder for them to communicate. They no longer share the same language. More literal language issues exist with the Oasans who cannot pronounce certain letters like "s" and "t". In the beginning, I found the substitution of symbols to replace these letters to be distracting, but it was also sort of brilliant because it gave the reader just a small sample of the disorientation and miscommunication inherent when two cultures with no common language meet.I found the storytelling to be hypnotic. It is a story of faith, love, loyalty and responsibility. There is a lot about the place of religion in people's lives, without being at all preachy. The Oasans are a simple, devout and kind group of people. They need the word of God for a very specific reason and are hungry for it. A minister never had a more receptive congregation. The book doesn't go in obvious or cliched directions. USIC is not an exploiter, although they do have a secret reason for coming to Oasis. The USIC personnel, for the most part, are preternaturally even keeled. The natives and the colonizers get along just fine. I've seen the book compared to "The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell, but the only real similarity is that they are both about a cleric in outer space. And they are both really good books. The world building was very imaginative, if a little bare-boned. There is no mention of life on the planet outside of the immediate vicinity of the USIC settlement. I'd love to know what was happening on the rest of the planet, as well as what happens next, but I don't expect a sequel. That would be too conventional and this book is certainly not conventional. I liked it very much.I received a free digital copy of the uncorrected proof of this book from the publisher.

[laurochka-1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

An unusual sci fi-esque story. Peter, Bea, the Oasans and the other USIC employees are interesting characters. The most engaging relationships are those between Peter and his wife and between him and his flock. An interesting premise but I'm not sure what the ultimate aim of the religious background was. An immersing read and thought provoking.

[ridgewaygirl · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

I loved this book. Peter and Bea are a Christian couple. Peter is the pastor of a small church and Bea is a nurse. When the opportunity arises, Peter takes a job on another planet ministering to the native population for six months. They plan to use the generous salary to pay off their mortgage and make some improvements to the church. They're confident that while they will miss each other, this opportunity is worthwhile. And for Peter it is. His encounters with the aliens go better than he could have anticipated. A significant number of the aliens are eager to hear more from the Bible, which they call The Book of Strange New Things and Peter is challenged and buoyed up to learn as much as he can about the Oasans, so that he can help them. But back on earth things are going badly wrong and Bea isn't coping well with the breakdown in society. This is a fascinating story about a missionary encountering an alien race. The world building is imaginative and well thought out, from the types of people who might deal well with living on another planet to the flora and fauna of the planet itself. This is a look at how the breakdown of a country affects its citizens and how a woman deals with the loss of all of her certainties. But The Book of Strange New Things is mostly about faith, and what that means to different people. How relevant can Jesus be to a world so removed from first century Judea? How can parables and psalms be explained in a world without sheep or green pastures or even male and female? And how does even a strong relationship survive when one person is energized and excited about his life and the other is watching everything she cares for be torn down?I will be very disappointed if Michel Faber follows through on his intentions to quit writing. His novels are so inventive, beautifully written and substantive that we would all lose out.

[highlander6022 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Overall I enjoyed the book; however, felt a bit unsatisfied at the end. I think the author could have fleshed out further details about what happens subsequent to the ending. Those who have read it will understand - I don't want to give spoilers. It may have been that the author wanted to keep it to about 500 pages; but then some of the mid-section of the book could have been edited to some extent...however, that could have affected the story. My preference would have been another 100 pages or so.

From a faith perspective, it was very rewarding - native beings on another planet experiencing the concepts of Christianity for the first time.

[romymaria · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber is a novel that takes the reader through a journey of humanity, love and loss. I was skeptical to read this book because the "The Book of Strange New Things" is what the author calls "The Bible." The book surrounds around the Christian faith, and I thought it would be overdone, yet to my surprise I really enjoyed this book.The novel is from the point of view of Peter, a married Christian man who travels to a foreign planet to teach the word of God to a group of alien natives, or "Oasans." He leaves his wife behind on Earth, where things become disastrous in his absence. Throughout the novel, the couple writes to each other, revealing the human condition and how we react when love is tested by not only space but time. The writing flows effortlessly and how the author managed to create a whole new species and language baffles me. The book was like a roller coaster for me. Despite the amazing style of writing, there are some parts that are just plain boring. The author tends to elaborate a lot on irrelevant things or linger on a scene that is not as monumental as the others. On the contrary, there are chapters of the book that I couldn't put down; parts that sucked me in and spit me out on the ground of the Oasan base. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about love and the human condition. The book elaborates a lot on faith and "The Book of Strange New Things." Even for those who are not religious, the novel hits home in a variety of ways. It will leave you with pen in hand, underlining phrase after beautiful phrase. I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars. I received this book from blogging for books.

[nikkinmichaels · Calificación: 1 de 5 estrellas]

Could not get into this one at all. Felt zero attachment to any of the human characters and only the barest investment in the story itself.

[karenherndon · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

The book was very well written.I bought this book after reading several lauds for it and because i had read his The Crimson and the White (and really loved that book), and because it was listed as a SciFi.Except for the fact the main character goes to another planet and interacts with the alien species there, the story is actually very little SciFi in my opinion and much more about relationships. Because of this, I was very disappointed in this story. I also felt the ending was very lacking. The story itself, at least to me, was dull and slow. I kept thinking that around the corner something big was going to happen but it never really materialized, it just came to this anticlimactic end.The authors prose was excellent, just the story itself was dull.I would not recommend this read to my friends.

[blondie539 · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

I think this book had potential to be great but it kind of fell flat. There was no big build up...no resolution... The aliens and the planet they live on are the highlight of this story...only because of the creativeness and descriptions that really bring it to life.

[needmoreshelves · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Engrossing and captivating, this novel was a big hit for me. Despite the obvious comparisons to The Sparrow, one of my all-time favorites, The Book of Strange New Things was able to hold it's own & become a winner in it's own right. My only complaint - I want to know more! It feels like the story of Oasis still has many unanswered questions - I would read book 2!

[cheriereads · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I'm struggling a little bit with my thoughts and my final rating of this one. I feel like it's one of those books that is critically very good, but I just didn't enjoy reading it like I hoped I would. First, I enjoyed the world-building and descriptions of the settings. I felt completely immersed in the environment of Oasis, whether Peter was on the base or with the Oasians. The descriptions of the atmosphere and the rain were particularly evocative. I also loved reading about the Oasians themselves. As an alien race, there are aspects of their physiology and community that are familiar enough to make them accessible to the reader, yet different enough that they truly seem alien. It's not another "human" race on another planet, and they're not monsters. As characters, I feel like the Oasian personalities develop for the reader just as they do for Peter. At first we don't know much about them, but eventually we can distinguish their personalities. This was well done. As for Peter, he is a deeply flawed character. Outwardly, he is a faithful missionary who wants to live by God's word. He tries his best to be an example for others and lives his life by the Bible. In reality, Peter is self-centered and is blind to his own prejudices. He shows little compassion for the hardships of others except as an excuse to spout Bible verses and platitudes. This is not a conscious thing for Peter. He genuinely feels that he is helping people but has no concept of how he comes off as condescending.I also really liked reading about the failing relationship between Peter and his wife, Bea. It's the epitome of a long-distance relationship as she is still on Earth while he is light years away on Oasis. Along with the physical distance, there is a growing emotional distance because of Peter's inability to process events outside of his own immediate environment. I wish we would have had more about Bea's side of the story. I would really have liked more details about the crises happening on Earth and how she was handling them. I'm only giving this three stars mainly because for long stretches of this book I was bored out of my mind. There are long passages describing the minutiae of Peter's life. More details than I needed or wanted. This book was much longer than it needed to be. On a deeper level, this book raises a lot of questions. The end section of the book is an allegory with Peter's life as a parallel to the life of Jesus (temptation, resurrection, etc...). What is religion really? Is this how the story of Jesus came to be? What does it mean to have faith and be faithful? I can see how readers who enjoy a philosophical read would enjoy this more than I did. I, however, read mostly for pleasure, and while I can appreciate the deeper questions, I was just too bored to rate this higher.I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.

[heinrock · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Fascinating crossover drama!

[krizia_lazaro_3 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

It was well-written and highly imaginative story. I loved how religion and science interacted in book. I love Grainger's character and i also love Jesus Lover Five. That being said, I did not get the story at all. I understood it but it was a bit anti-climactic. I did not understand the point of it, nothing remotely exciting happened even when Peter was living with the Oasans nothing exciting or interesting happened aside from getting bitten by the ducks/chicken creatures. There are a lot of lessons to learn and a lot to feel about this book but it was just too flat.

[davido1103 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Amazing story of a pastor who is chosen to bring the word of Jesus to an alien planet (Oasis) and its beings (Oasans), and of his relationship with his wife, who must stay behind. ...

[nancyewhite · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

I suck at describing fiction generally and science fiction specifically so this will likely be a less than articulate review. A missionary is selected by an unnamed but all-powerful corporation to go to a different planet and minister to the horrifically ugly (to human eyes) alien creatures who've been displaced by human colonization. Over time he becomes more and more absorbed in their culture and less and less concerned with human things. This includes his beloved wife who is sending increasingly upsetting emails about Earth moving closer and closer to apocalypse. Eventually, he learns the alien's devastating secret. This is a beautiful and compassionate book that I still think about months after finishing it.

[karin7-11 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

3 stars

Peter Leigh is sent off as a missionary to a faraway planet dubbed Oasis, not to preach to the earthlings there, but to the indigenous sentient population. His wife has to stay home. Once he meets the natives, he is surprised that they not only have heard of Jesus, but converts call themselves Jesus Love followed by a number in the order they converted. A former missionary had simply disappeared, walking off one day, never to be heard from again. Meanwhile, back on earth, multiple catastrophes occur, leaving his wife questioning her faith, despondent and more lonely than ever for Peter.

Michel Faber writes well, does an excellent job of developing his characters for the most part, and does a great job of helping us to see the setting. And yet, it was just a like. It didn't keep me up all hours reading, or grab me in any meaningful way. Faber has obviously done a great deal of research into various peoples around earth that he has used to help develop his aliens; perhaps almost too much at times. The planet was rather unbelievable at moments, particularly the rain and weather. Nevertheless, if you are a fan of scifi books that examine faith and strains on a marriage, or if you love Michel Faber's writing, I recommend it. I'm glad I read it even if it wasn't a favourite.

[cassandra2020 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Just - WOW! Proper review later...

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber - Very Good....maybe Excellent

Oh, this book is going to stay with me for some time for so many different reasons.

On the surface, this is a Sci-Fi book (no, don't switch off!), but it so much more than that. It's about faith and communication and relationships and separation and loss.

Set in some vaguely recognisable future, Peter is a pastor and married to Bea. He applies and is chosen as a missionary to a new colony on the planet 'christened' Oasis but must go alone. His journey starts on the M25 as Bea drives him to Heathrow where they part.....

Next we know, he is recovering from 'The Jump' on board a utilitarian spaceship and arriving at the base on Oasis. He discovers that he is the third Pastor to be assigned to the task and that the Oasan's are willing converts. eager to learn of Christianity and The Book of Strange New Things (The Bible). He spends his time split between living with them and his ministry and with time at the base, the only place where he can communicate with Bea (via email only).

The letters they exchange are beautifully moving. The obvious distress of Bea as she is left at home in what is fast becoming a dystopian nightmare, the way Peter is oblivious to her plight glossing over important things without realising. Ignorant of her heartfelt pleas for comfort. He's also strangely naive as to what really ails the Oasan's and what is at the heart of their need for Christianity.

The end of the book leaves you wondering what will become of all of them and whether a resolution can be found. I shall be thinking of them for some time I suspect!

Along with all of this, you have to keep in mind the circumstances of when this was written and why it will be his last novel.

Michel Faber's method of writing is to complete a chapter and then pass it to his wife to read and comment on - a collaborative process. In July 2014, she died of cancer. When he was talking about this book, he said he wanted all his novels to be completely different, that he had now achieved all he could and that he didn't see how he could possibly write without his wife.

So in amongst all the letters between Peter and Bea, their separation, the way their lives diverged onto different paths and their sense of loss, you can see the way that Michel and Eva began to part as the cancer took its toll on her taking her down a path he could not follow until they too were parted.

I find myself incredibly moved for Michel Faber. At the same book reading, he read two poems he had written: they were fiercely angry and his loss burned through. I hope, one day, he publishes them and I also hope, one day, he finds a way to be happy or at least at peace again.

[jwood652 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

The title doesn't refer to the book itself, though it does offer a story about a missionary on another planet working with strange beings, discovering strange new things. The creatures are humanlike in some ways but their bizarre faces are difficult to look at initially. It is an interesting story, with sci-fi elements involving alien life forms and their society and belief systems, space travel over huge distances, the only connection to life on Earth through a simple texting system. We experience the increasing alienation between the minister and his wife and conflict between them as she experiences hardships with a crumbling society without him. There are so many thought provoking themes including space travel, aliens and basic concepts of relationships and religion. Do the Christian teachings apply to alien races or does Jesus save only humans?

[adzebill · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Meh. The Great New Book everyone seems to be reading, but actually rather a let-down. Disappointing SF that really carefully tries to avoid using the words SF anywhere on the cover.

[nivramkoorb · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This book was very creative. It uses a science fiction genre to get into deep philosophical issues that touch on faith, our role in the world, relationships, and dealing with different cultures. Peter, a pastor, is part of a team that is on the planet Oasis. His role is to bring Christianity to the willing aliens of the planet. He is the 2nd minister and the book always has a sense that there is more going on that eventually will present itself. We see through communications with his wife on earth the juxtaposition of life breaking down on earth versus Peter's life on Oasis.It tends to use science fiction's ability to create an idealized alien people to contrast with humans. This allows Faber to raise a lot of interesting issues. For me it moved a bit slowly in places but overall it is a worthwhile read.

[gwendydd · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

In the not-too-distant future, humans have discovered another habitable planet. USIC, a mysterious corporation, sends colonists to this new planet. Peter is a born-again Christian who USIC recruits to serve as a missionary to the native inhabitants of this new planet, who are very eager to learn about Christianity. Throughout his travels, Peter maintains email contact with his wife, Bea, who writes of the economic and political collapse on earth, as well as the problems created by climate change.The whole book is full of big questions - why do the natives want so badly to become Christians? Why do some of the other humans on this new planet behave strangely? What happened to the former missionaries who disappeared? But Peter is too taken up with the joys of ministering to the natives to probe these questions.This book explores many themes, and a book group could spend many hours discussing Faber's treatment of some of these themes. Themes include: the nature of faith, how faith helps/hinders in dealing with a crisis, marriage and love, how people deal with extreme circumstances, communication.

[bookczuk · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

I'm having a hard time thinking of how to start this review. Michel Faber's words and story absorbed me, both with a gentleness and an opportunity for contemplation not found in many books, particularly those with a science fiction element. The basic story, in very simplistic terms is that of Peter, a Christian minister, who leaves his wife back on Earth, and becomes part of the away team on a distant planet. The husband/wife relationship plays out through his memories and their correspondence while he is away. As he begins to build his relationship with the native inhabitants, his world back home is undergoing natural, economic, and political disasters. There is much to overcome on the planet, too, but of a different nature. The very belief system and basics of life for the native people is pretty much unknown to the colonists. Peter must overcome some misunderstandings, and the anthropocentric view among some members of his team and build a working relationship with the shy and gentle beings who have asked for a minister of Christ to come teach them. I liked the way the story unfolded, and why this alien population was so keen for ministry. I wasn't sure what direction Faber would take it (the story "To Serve Man" kept coming to mind, but I willingly read on to find out. I also was intrigued by the marital relationship and the long distance relationship, and how Peter responded to the tensions that were building there. There were also some touches I appreciated, such as Peter's efforts to overcome the difficulty of some sounds in the English language for his flock. A book of strange new things, indeed.All in all, I thought the writing was excellent and the story interesting.

[ellsbethb · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This was an intriguing read. It has a lot of layers, and I feel I may have missed some, so it is worth a reread in the future.

[delphica · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

I read this about a month ago, I could have sworn I wrote up a few notes. Anyway, it's about a somewhat bumbling Christian minister who takes an assignment to work with a community of aliens on a distant colony, and it's one of those books where not a lot happens, but you get a lot of back story on the various people. I've loved Faber's previous work, so I went into it expecting a very high level of writing and language, and that was indeed there.It's not an evangelical book, although the main character is a Christian minister so there's certainly a lot about Christianity going on. Even though it's definitely an interesting premise, it took me a while to warm up to the story. Cut for very slight spoilers mostly in terms of theme, as opposed to the details of the plot ... Throughout the book, the aliens are SO receptive to the message of Christianity that you, the reader, are waiting for the other shoe to drop -- WHAT is going on here? And it's very intentionally crafted - it doesn't occur to the minister that this is somewhat bizarre, because he's seeing this through his evangelical lens, of COURSE a bunch of aliens would sign up for Jesus, it's the work of a universal God! It was, at first, suspenseful but it quickly turned annoying. It went ON.Which is too bad, because finally, when this question is answered, at first I was like "oh, that's all?" But then, thinking about it, I realized it genuinely tied all the themes of the entire book together, and I was really impressed. Wow! But after thinking about it more, I still don't know if it's so subtle that it's really amazing and impressive ... or so subtle that it didn't exactly need an entire long book to deal with it, plus it created a gap, for me, in the middle, where I was more frustrated than interested in the outcome.

[godinpain · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Really strange misogyny, homophobia, and racism in how characters are depicted. I'm not sure if that's supposed to be the character or if that's how Faber thinks it's okay to portray someone, but I feel no desire to read any of his other books.

[kvrfan9 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

The science fiction setting for The Book of Strange New Things is really something of a McGuffin. This novel is really about human relationships. A mysterious corportation--USIC--has established an operation on a distant planet and recruits a Christian pastor to serve the native inhabitants because the natives have insisted upon it. USIC, however, does not allow the pastor's wife--with who, he has a very tight relationship--to accompany him. This separation, and its effects upon their relationship, infuses a good portion of the book.

I found the book's portrayal of the dynamics at work in trying to keep alive a long-distance relationship very compelling. Having experienced the difficulties of maintaining a such relationships myself, everything about the picture rang true. How can you keep from drifting apart emotionally when your physical distance has you living two quite different lives?

In the meantime, the reader is presented with a number of other puzzles. Why are the natives so insistent upon having the Bible preached to them? Why did the first Christian pastor who came to serve them disappear? Why are the USIC employees on the planet so boringly pacific? What is USIC anyway, and what is its game?

My greatest point-of-contention with the book is with the protagonist, the pastor. I myself had an active career as a Christian pastor, Peter, the protagonist, is not like any other pastor I have known. So much of him seems theologically liberal--tolerant and culturally sensitive--yet his very task as a missionary has him nurturing conversions. It doesn't even occur to him to question the appropriateness of preaching an earthly Savior to those on another planet. His ideas on prayer also are confusing. When asked in one instance what prayer is, he presents a pretty sophisticated answer about opening oneself to being in union with God. On the other hand, when we see him advocating prayer to others, the assumption behind it seems to be prayer-as-magical-thinking. Furthermore, he proves to be a very insensitive counsel to his wife; when she relates the agonies she's undergoing in his absence from Earth, he resorts to preaching to her, quoting the Bible and urging more prayer. That approach alienates her only further, of course. I couldn't believe he could be such a knucklehead. In so many other ways, he is portrayed as much smarter than that.