Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... Jem (original 1979; edition 1979)by Frederik Pohl
Work InformationJem by Frederik Pohl (1979)
SF Masterworks (133) Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Ugh, what thoroughly unpleasant people populated this book! The aliens were interesting, but they and I would have been much better off without the humans that invaded their world and immediately exploited it and them for their own shortsighted, selfish, immoral purposes. There was one moment of redemption near the end of the book, and a couple of good lines or memorable scenes, but overall, ugh! Yes, Pohl is making a sharp and largely valid critique of humans and society here, but it was just so unpleasant to read. Ugh. An imaginative world (conveniently with a breathable atmosphere and edible plants), with a typically Seventies message about how people ruin paradise. Not deadly dull, but not too engaging either. Despite the cover blurb, it did not "take its place among such classics as 1984, Brave New World, On the Beach, and Stanger in a Strange Land." If you've read the other four, you will know why. No deep philosophical or psychological insights, no depth in the societal critique, just normal people doing dumb things. Chronacronisms include: smoking (largely banned in 1990s); cassette tapes (replaced by CDs and now other media); very non-PC language.
where Jem works as a novel, it works in ways that would be very satisfying even to people who say they don't like science fiction. Is contained inAwards
The discovery of another habitable world might spell salvation to the three bitterly competing power blocs of the resource-starved 21st century; but when their representatives arrive on Jem, with its multiple intelligent species, they discover instead the perfect situation into which to export their rivalries. Subtitled, with savage irony, 'The Making of a Utopia', Jem is one of Frederik Pohl's most powerful novels. No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813Literature English (North America) American fictionLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
Will be reading the rest of his work soon. ( )