Alfred Bester (1913–1987)

I intensely disliked main character, Gulliver Foyle, as an individual and really wasn't sure I wanted to keep reading, but about a third through I started thinking of him as a personification of the struggle of the lumpenproletariat to achieve class consciousness, and that seemed to work for me, though I wasn't sure if that was Bester's intention. Ultimately, it did work that way for me, and the story is, if imperfectly, a dramatised sci-fi setting of Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the show more Oppressed, the "cosmic" ending symbolising Foyle's awakening to his potential as a revolutionary liberationist figurehead. It was worth sticking with.

A couple of the names struck me as being symbolic, though I'm struggling to fully integrate them, so maybe I'm pareidolically seeing what's not there:

• Gulliver Foyle - Gullible Foil - Gullible Fool
• Presteign - Pristine - Prestige - Priest-Stain show less

3.75 (formerly 5/5)

This was my second read, and some of the flaws have become more apparent, knocking it down quite a bit (I had it at a 5!). But The Demolished Man is still a great read and I prefer it to Bester's The Stars, My Destination, even though I would say the latter is a greater accomplishment as a piece of science fiction (the world-building in that is unmatched). Demolished is smaller scale, but I find the lead anti-hero more compelling, and in general, it is a rare example of a show more character-driven story within a genre known for lacking substance.

I love the mad pace of it, the cat and mouse shenanigans set amidst a psychic-dominated future, where every thought is laid bare. When you boil it down, it's just a fun murder/mystery thriller set amongst a creatively realised sci-fi world, and the surreal off-the-wall presentation of the conclusion is icing. There's a cherry as well though - the cherry is Bester's unique writing voice and bizarre use of text formatting. Simply put, there's just nothing like it, and that alone makes it a worthy read, even if some elements don't totally hold up. show less

4.5/5

On a shallow level, The Stars My Destination is an exciting caper as a compelling anti-hero tries to exact revenge upon the people who left him for dead. It feels fresh for it's age, at least most the time, there are some terms that date the novel quickly. It's incredibly well-paced, drops unexpected twists to the plot line, and has ideas that well realized and integrated into the weave of the world.

The biggest of these ideas is human teleportation, which in this fictional future is show more something that most everybody can, at least to varying degrees. What surprised me was the level to which Bester thought through the implications of such a change upon our societal structure. Bester identifies the ways in which economic class will hinder a persons use of teleportation, the ways in which our government will adapt to continue to shackle us to our work and to their ideals, how the elite will grow to revile this development, preferring to use antiquated methods of transportation while continue to benefit from it passively. Most of the ideas in The Stars My Destination are similarly well realized. I also especially enjoyed the concept of PyrE, an explosive so powerful that it can rip through entire galaxies and is triggered by a targeted thought, one-way telekinesis, a cast off-cult of scientists that use space refuse as a building medium, and what 'jaunting' eventually leads to in the end of the book.

Bester also explores more philosophical ideas, especially towards the end of the book, which is certainly more new wave than the rest, and an absolute joy. Bester asks what it takes to wake up the everyday person from their satisfaction with being mundane, what it takes turn them into a leader, or conversely, a nightmare? What sort of burdens are we willing to carry with us for the rest of our lives? How much will we contort ourselves to fit into the set of standards that society has for us? Like I said earlier, this novel is focused vengeance, on the dichotomy of love and hate, on the power of obsession. Gully Foyle is such a great character to explore these emotions, to play with bigger ideas while still providing a genuinely thrilling narrative.

“Gully Foyle is my name
And Terra is my nation.
Deep space is my dwelling place,
The stars my destination.” show less

More Action Than 5 Novels Combined

If by some oversight you have missed The Stars My Destination, then take this opportunity to read what some sci-fi writers and critics consider among the best, if not the best, sci-fi novel to date. You’ll find it jam-packed with action, wildly inventive, paced fast, insightful and prescient for its time, and too boot exceptionally well written. It’s a novel about a man driven to the ends of the solar system, and ultimately beyond, by his thirst for show more revenge, loosely patterned after Dumas’ The Count of Monte Christo.

Our world in the 25th century has greatly expanded to include colonization on the inner planets Mars and Venus and the Outer Satellites, certain moons of Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune. In this century, the Inner Planets are at war with the Outer Satellites and the O.S. appear to be winning. Giant hereditary cartels comprise the controlling powers of the I.P., the Morses, Peenemundes, Essos, Greyhounds, Colas, and others, but the most powerful and ruthless is Presteign. People jaunt, that is mentally teleport their physical bodies from one location to another memorized location by force of will (the maximum being a thousand miles). Giant ships traverse the solar system carrying passengers, goods, natural minerals exploited from the plants and moons, and human slave cargo.

Gulliver (Gully) Foyle is not among the rich. He’s a toiler, big, strong, naturally intelligent but unmotivated and completely raw in action and manners. After a prologue that sets the scene in the 25th century and hints at the great civilization altering skill this man will eventually unleash, we meet Gully trapped on a wrecked freighter, the Nomad. He struggles to stay alive for months, until another ship passes within signaling range, the Vorga, a Presteign vessel. Though it sees his distress flares, it passes him by. In that moment, he gathers up all his energy, recruits all his raw intelligence and aims it toward survival and most particularly finding and taking vengeance on the crew and captain of the Vorga.

After using his ingenuity to fix the Nomad enough to limp into the asteroid belt, the Scientific People pick him. They live on a rock enhanced with the hulls of scavenged ship parts and consider themselves, though primitive, ruled by science. They restore and accept him and, as their custom, tattoo his face (Maori style) and marry him to a girl named Moira. He finds a small ship among the those fastened into the asteroid, repairs it, and blasts off, ripping out a part of the little world, without regard to the destruction or death he may have caused.

Next, he ends up in a hospital in New York undergoing jaunt therapy with others, guided by Robin Wednesbury. She’s a telesender but cannot receive, so in this world she is second class. She also harbors a deadly secret. Gully, for his part, can jaunt very well and uses his ability and time to gather information on the Vorga. He finds the ship and attempts to destroy it, only to be captured by Presteign. Presteign is trying to find the Nomad because it carries 20 million credits and 20 pounds of PyrE, a psychokenetically ignited thermonuclear explosive, that could both end the war and civilization, while making more of a fortune for Presteign. Without telepaths available to extract the ship’s whereabouts from Gully, they send him to Gouffre Martel, an underground prison hospital in France. There he meets hot tempered, tough Jizbella (Jiz) McQueen. Together, they escape, but not before Gully learns of Nomad’s cargo. With Jiz’s help, he has the tattoo removed (though in times of extreme emotion it reappears). After, they find the Nomad and collect the 20 million credits and the safe holding the PyrE, but Gully jilts her.

Years pass with the war worsening. The bright spot in all this is the The Four Mile Circus, the wild, strange entourage of Geoffrey Fourmyle of Ceres. When he arrives in town, spirits brighten. Fourmyle is a new Gully, reconstituted, with the help of Robin Wednesbury (and the 20 million), as an intelligent wit. He also wears a special body suit under his clothing that when activated allows him to move five-times faster than others, useful in the various skirmishes he often finds himself.

Eventually, he finds the various crew members, all of whom perish, until he discovers who he has moved heaven and earth to discover. This turns out to be the lovely but cold, blind albino daughter of Presteign, Olivia, with whom he has fallen in love. This, along with additional startling information, breaks him. When the united parties of the Inner Planets plead with him to release the PyrE to him, he decides that rather than one group own it, all humankind should and then decide for themselves their own fate. After this, Gully learns of his most profound skill, another startling revelation and after much self pity and personal torture, finds his way back to the Scientific People, who receive him well. He wraps into himself and we are left with the hope he will reemerge a transformed man.

Though this description might strike you as long, it merely outlines some of the twists and turns Bester devised, enough for several whole novels. And all of this, if you can believe it, in under 250 pages. Really, this is not to be missed. show less