Way Station (1963)

This book was amazing and made a good change of pace from epic, gritty, or intricate science fiction. This is the "bottle show" of the science fiction world. Set on 1960s Earth* (and written on 1960s Earth*) it is about a civil war veteran (not the grizzled type though, or, if he ever was, it has long smoothed over into a man full of wonder and love of life) who mans an interplanetary stopover station. This is the story of the upsetting of his routine.

I enjoyed the sense of wonder and the warm, logical mind of the narrator.

*Put in its perspective, the novel makes sense thematically as well as seeming less naive than if it was written today. For example, there is a deaf-mute girl who plays a central role in the story. The author (or at least the narrator) subscribes to the idea that because she can't communicate with the world, she must have this wondrous and extrasensory inner life. She is treated as more pure than the rest of us and eventually rises to be attain the holiness that is attributed to her from the get-go. It was my least favorite part of the story, but I just kept telling myself that there wasn't a reason why she couldn't be this way given the established rules of this universe. ( )

I loved the charming tone of this story, imparted by the 19th century protagonist, a quiet man entrusted with the upkeep of a Galactic way station. The language used is calm, and refreshingly free of techno-babble, preferring to remain vague on the workings of alien tech. The narration provided by Eric Michael Summerer, is likewise sedate and not given to emotional outburst. The character voices are differentiated nicely with occasional minor accents, but nothing too jarring.

With the exception of perhaps only 2 or 3 scenes, the entire action of the novel takes place in one room of one house, where we learn the secrets kept by the way station keeper, our protagonist Enoch Wallace. The plot's conflict is high-stakes, but resolved rather too quickly and tidily for me. In fact, that leads to my greatest criticism of the story: that the situations, characters, and their motivations are all too altruistic and uncomplicated. Overall, however, I enjoyed this quaint 'palate-cleanser' read, and think it provides just the right amount of wish-fulfillment and wonder. ( )

Thought-provoking, beautifully written, memorable, and THE best aliens I've ever encountered-- they're truly diverse and original, not just humanoids who happen to speak English . A little slow, but in a philosophical, literary way. ( )

Way Station (1963), by Clifford D. Simak, is one of the classic science fiction novels that all fans should read. It is a well-written and very enjoyable novel, which won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1964. Enoch Wallace, a Civil War Veteran, was chosen to be the keeper of a way station on Earth for interplanetary travel by aliens. He has been administering the way station for about 100 years or so, which has prevented him from having much of a human life on Earth, except for daily walks to meet the mailman and to exercise. However, his exotic position has kept him young because he doesn’t age within the way station. He only ages when he steps outside the way station for his walks or just to sit on the steps and enjoy the outdoors. Most of the time, Enoch finds that he is not too lonely inside the Way Station because he receives frequent visits by many alien beings from many planets. In fact he considers many of those travelers to be his friends, he enjoys conversing with them, and they bring him many gifts from all over the galaxy. In addition, he has much work to do as part of his station duties, including keeping detailed journals about each visitor and all station events. However, his only human contacts are his mailman and a few acquaintances that he may encounter during his walks in the rural area around the way station. This is a fascinating and engrossing story that has almost no violence and little action. However, Enoch is a smart, compassionate, dependable and endearing character. He also engenders much sympathy from the reader as he goes about his duties inside the impenetrable way station helping travelers from all over the galaxy, while having really no in-depth relationships with any human beings. This is a very contemplative story and the reader gets to know Enoch very well. The book rewards the sympathetic reader when Enoch gets an opportunity to provide a very important service to his beloved Earth and her citizens. I found reading this book to be a truly moving experience. It is a beautiful read, and I recommend it to everyone! ( )

The dated sensibility, a naïveté, an optimism were refreshing. I liked the whole understated telling.