The Demolished Man
Ratings100
Average rating3.6
Intoxicatingly pulpy sci fi, back when men were men and women were pouting babies. Seriously, this is sci fi just coming out of the good ol' boy stuff of the 50s/60s, and into the slightly more psychadelic, feminist stuff of the 1970s. It's also often called a proto-cyberpunk text, which is seeable: it feels like an unreconstructed Blade Runner, full of manly men as hardboiled detectives rescuing dames from sure destruction. Also features air bullets and mind-reading and a business Ubermensch that feels like he stepped out of an Ayn Rand novel (noooo). Despite all this, a (very) guilty pleasure. I guess I just like pulp.
I read this 31 years ago and remember it being pretty cool. Cool enough that this makes my To Re-read List. (Someday.) The story involves a murder in a society full of telepaths.
"There has been joy. There will be joy again." Did not click with me as much as "Stars My Destination" but I don't think I'll ever not enjoy being tossed around by Bester's manic yet purposeful prose-- it's like dancing with a real weirdo of a partner who you eventually realize is following steps!
8/10
Eight, sir; seven, sir;
Six, sir; five, sir;
Four, sir; Three, sir;
Two, sir; one!
Tenser, said the Tensor.
Tenser, said the Tensor.
Tension, apprehension,
And dissension have begun.
Ringing in from an era wherein sci-fi was still finding and discovering itself, Bester's view of a far-off future of telepaths and latent abilities carries his hallmark style of writing. Even if it's not the longest novel, it is enjoyable and fun as it jostles the reader through the ruins of century XX New York and Mars. For the weird teen-aged era of sci-fi, Bester is remarkably prescient. His grasp of the human condition and the way in which we conduct ourselves in regards to others, while pseudo-sciencey at times, holds true and is fascinating to watch unfold.
In addition, Bester's usage of technology is apt and accurate, even 60+ years later. The telepathic communications between characters could be pulled straight out of modern times.
one of the more readable sci-fi classics I've tried, but I found it difficult to read it slowly enough to fully understand it. Found the psychology somewhat implausible but that only threw me out of the plot a few times. The twist did not surprise me; I've probably read too many books with that particular kind of twist, though that is hardly the fault of a book which is 60 years old.
Overall, an enjoyable enough read
The Demolished Man holds up pretty well on a reread some forty years later.
Executive Summary: Part sci-fi, part detective novel, part thriller. I was a bit surprised I enjoyed this one so much.Full ReviewWhen this book was announced as the September Sword & Laser pick, my initial reaction was: “never heard of it”.The premise sounded interesting, and all of my friends who read it prior had given it a 5. Good sign. But it's 60 years old. It was in fact the first book to win the Hugo 60 years ago this year.I don't read a lot of classics. I've found most of the ones I've read boring. They often feel like a product of their time with paper thin characters, badly written woman (if they exist at all. I'm looking at you [b:Foundation 29579 Foundation (Foundation, #1) Isaac Asimov http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320416085s/29579.jpg 1783981]) , and a lot of ideas that seem ignorant to me. Some of those apply here.I'm sure 60 years from now, many of the things I read might seem the same way to kids born 30 years from now. The same discussion threads about these points seems to come up every time we read one.None of that really matters to me. The thing I like about being in a book club like Sword & Laser is to read things I might not have otherwise. Some selections are hit and others miss.This one was a hit for me. Personally, I can see why this was selected as a Hugo winner. I can't say I have (or will) read the other nominees from that year, but this one was a lot of fun for me.It's more thriller or detective novel than sci-fi. A lot of older works I've read are more focused on some cool sci-fi idea and less so on the story. This one was the opposite. It was a cool story with a sci-fi premise.The idea of telepaths being everywhere sets an interesting backdrop to the question of “Can you get away with murder when the police can read your mind?”The protagonist and antagonist I thought were both pretty well developed even if the supporting cast wasn't so much. Then again this a 250 page story, so you can't expect that much depth of character.The last quarter or so of the book bumped the rating up for me. The pace picked up and I really wanted to find out what happened next.The last chapter wrapped things up nicely, which was nice because the penultimate chapter got rather surreal and confused the hell out of me, but just had me turning the page to find out what happens next.3.5 Stars.
I am pretty ambivalent about this book. I read it because it was an S&L pick and the very first Hugo winner. As such, I new it reflected the tastes and thought patterns of the time it was written (1951). I was immediately drawn in by how well the dialogue stood up to the test of time. In a lot of older fiction that I read, the dialogue is notoriously dated or (in SF's case) trying too hard to be futuristic. It makes it very hard to read from a modern perspective. Bester has a real handle on language, though, and that makes it easy to get to know his cast.
From the first page I was sucked into Reich's thought patterns. I love that this book starts not with our hero, but with our antagonist, and from the first we are right there in Reich's head. In so many mysteries, we are only seeing the cops' side and watching them be bested time and again by the villain. Here, we get to watch both sides of the drama as neither one really gets a handle on anything until the end.
The idea of an ESP run society is an intriguing one, and I disagree with criticism that this prevents it from being a science fiction book since ESP isn't a real science. For me, there's room in the genre for what ifs when they are addressed with a scientific attitude. The subject matter is how this development would affect society, and Bester does a great job of expressing that. I wonder if this book was at all an influence on Dick's “The Minority Report” as a world without pre-meditated crime.
So the plot starts out well and the language is still fresh, but as soon as Barbara D'Courtney enters Powell's life, the book falls apart for me. I am willing to look past the Freudian overtones of the book to a point, and even to look past the lack of power in most of the female characters. This is 1951 so I think Duffy Wyg& counts as progressive by having a job. What I just can't get past is Powell and Barbara happily entering into this Freudian romance with her literally possessng the mentality of a 5-year old. If Bester hadn't gone the romance angle here, I could have dealt with this book, but he did and by modern standards it is weird, creepy, and ludicrously unprofessional PREFECT Powell. The rest of the ending (They were siblings!) was something of a let down too. I know at the time it was probably innovative and exploring the latest in psychological theory, but as so much of that theory has been disproved, it denies the book of most of its uniqueness and philosophy.
The Demolished Man is a great concept with a few very captivating characters that falls flat for me due to .... is squicky a techincal term? It's the best word I've got. Due to squicky psychology. I would give it 2.5 because it wasn't all bad, but I couldn't even process Reich's ending when I was so distracted by Powell's.
I can't actually figure out why I didn't like this book more. Combination of disliking every single character and telepathic powers being a difficult thing to balance, possibly. Plus I thought the ending was awfully depressing.
It had some good points but overall it was a disappointment after reading “The Stars My Destination.”
Where would cyberpunk be without Alfred Bester? This is a headlong flight into the future, without a net, and it is a hell of a ride. William Gibson and company clearly found much to admire–and imitate–in this endlessly enjoyable romp through the paranoid future. Great fun!