Cemetery World

In this short science fiction novel from the early 70's -- or maybe it's a science fantasy novel, since it's got ghosts in it -- Earth has been largely abandoned by humans in the wake of a devastating war, but now serves as a massive graveyard to which people all over the galaxy send their dead for burial, at great expense. An artist, a treasure-hunter and a very old robot make their way to this world to, uh, make art, hunt treasure, and see the old planet again, I guess.

Simak is a very strange author. He has this weird ability to get away with a lot of things in his novels that ordinarily irritate me in SF. He sort of does it in this one, too, as I found myself being quite willing to overlook the unnatural dialog, the nonsensical time show more scales, and the way the gaps between interesting far-future SF ideas are just filled in with transplanted 20th century American culture. There's something about his writing, some indefinable charm, that just pulls you along and makes you willing to go with it all. Or at least, it does for me.

But having relaxed and willingly decided to just go along with wherever he was taking me, I can't say I was entirely satisfied with where we went. There's a plot, I guess, but it feels more like a loosely connected collection of weird events (some cool and interesting, some rather less so) than like an actual story. It's not exactly an unpleasant read, but not exactly a satisfying one, either. show less

If you haven’t ready any of my Simak’s reviews in the past, I’m a fan of his work. I find it a rare breed of calm but wonderous science fiction. And I love the premise of this story. Earth is the victim of a devastating global war and mankind flees to the stars. Fast forward 10 thousand years into the future, and mankind has successfully spread across the galaxy, while the Earth has recovered and has been claimed as a planetary-wide cemetery. People across the galaxy pay extraordinary fees to send their dearly departed back to mankind’s cradle.

Simak creates an incredible feeling of nostalgia at the beginning of this book.
“The cemetery stretched away in the morning light, a thing of breathless beauty.”
“The stately pines, show more planted in the aisles that ran between the rows of graves, made soft and moaning music.”

But just as quickly, he creates a feeling of unease. Earth, it seems, is not the serene, tranquil resting place it has been proclaimed. To me, the story unfolded a bit like the “Wizard of Oz.” A journey across a strange land, where odd creatures join the party, and must ward off various evils. Maybe I saw too much into this, but it seemed to me that the scarecrow and the tin man, at least were present. Nevertheless, I greatly enjoyed the first half of the story.

But then, I felt like Simak lost his footing. The plot became unfocused and the book couldn’t seem to decide what it was. Is it a love story, a treasure hunt, voyage and return, quest for adventure, or defeat the monster? Well, it’s all those things and ultimately does none of them well. The caretakes of Earth, “Cemetery, Inc.” are established as the villain and a great treasure is suggested, but neither of these plotlines had satisfactory resolutions in my opinion. The second half of the book wandered and could have used more focus and clarity of plot.

Despite these disappointments, I still enjoyed the book through to the end. It’s creative, quaint, and well-told. Simak is not hard sci-fi, he’s not rip-roaring action adventure, but he is a wonderful storyteller and that carries the day for me.

An imaginative journey across a graveyard Earth, set in the far future with an eclectic cast of characters that concludes in a somewhat unsatisfying ending. Four ornate marble stars. show less

The book promises through its jacket art, and especially inside flap summary, a short, good dose of straight sci-fi in a unique setting, post-apocalyptic earth come cemetery. Unfortunately with this book, I was expecting straight sci-fi instead this is definitely pulp adventure sci-fi but without any of the flair or weirdness found in that sub-genre. The first third of the work does indeed seem pointed in that direction.
A few of the ideas introduced in the first third of the book were interesting and worth exploring I especially liked the idea that the main character, who comes off as a real wiener btw, uses a ‘compositor’. A ‘compositor’ is an artificially intelligent machine that collects sensory information and converts it show more into “products” which the artist then uses to create his art. I find this idea enthralling simply because it is timely with few advocates for using A.I. as a tool instead of fearing that it will be what replaces humans. The fear oddly enough most famously coming from tech billionaires who are known to mistreat their workers, there must be some kind of psychological connection there somewhere.
The central idea, as the inner flaps imply, is that the artist Fletcher ‘Fletch’ Carson is developing a new “composition” a form of art that incorporates “music, drama, and dance, as well as the Plastic arts – a total art form”. He needs to get his ‘compositor’ to the currently “dead” earth, now used by a mega-corporation as a cosmic graveyard and pilgrim/tourist destination. By the second third, the idea is buried quickly and only serves as the reason anyone would travel to such a destination and then dare to leave the borders of the massive cemetery.
The second third is mostly just a chase with telepathic grave-robbing hillbillies and robot wolves chasing the protagonists around for some reason(s). This sounds cool but just is not thrilling. Then the author throws more pulp on the heap with the ‘shades’ i.e. ghosts. The first third promised some intriguing sci-fi but then the whole thing turns into a bland pulp adventure. However, at the beginning of the last third a time travel element is introduced briefly renewing my interest. Nevertheless, it does not last long leading to the ending, which is bleh. It even has a scene near the end reminiscent of the freakin’ Wizard of Oz or maybe Labyrinth movies:

They were lined up outside the porch, the five of them, waiting there for us[.]
“We’ll be waiting for you when you go back,” said Elmer.
“We’ll all be waiting for you.”

This book is bleh, it has a promising start but simply doesn’t fulfill any of those promises, the few it made anyway those being the ‘composition’, exploration of a now graveyard earth, and maybe a little deeper thought on mutual annihilation and autonomous war-machines. Instead, those are a plot contrivance and window dressing. I cannot recommend this book at all. show less

In the far distant future, humanity has spread to many worlds. Earth was all but abandoned in the last days of the last war, as it was pretty much destroyed. In the ensuing centuries, Earth has recovered and been taken over by the Cemetery Corporation, who promise to bury your dead on Old Home Earth in a bucolic environment. Our hero doubts the sincerity of the corporation and under the guise of composing an artistic piece about the scene of humanity's origins, embarks on a quest to discover the truth.
The rest of the narrative proceeds in the vein of a hero's quest, as the evil Cemetery Co. tries to stop him, and he meets foes and fantastic allies along the way.
I actually could have done with a lot more of this book. It was quite an show more interesting concept and could've included more backstory and extended scenes. The ending also seemed rather abrupt, leaving more questions to be answered. Again, I'd have liked more. I suppose a good book ought to leave one wanting more. show less

One of the better Simak, if you've not read anything beyond Way Station yet and want to. Still not great, still kinda sexist in a way, still has the motley assortment of 'friends' who find themselves on a quest, still has the bookish hero getting a chance to win a fistfight, still has awkward dialogue.... I make it sound bad, but I don't think it is. In any case, I'll read, and enjoy, anything by Simak.

The story has only a little bit more depth than the Heinlein-style young adult science fiction of the 1950s and 1960s. But it’s still fun adventure. I particularly enjoyed the idea of Earth as a giant cemetery, with rows and rows of grave markers for the galaxy’s rich and famous (it costs a lot to be buried there). A lot of the plot is a choppy mish-mash of tropes, and that detracted some. In addition, the prose is pretty atrocious. But it’s easy bubblegum sci-fi, so I was able to deal.

Good story. As usual Simak is fun to read. I was ready to give this 4 stars but it had a silly wrap-up ending. This could have been a much longer novel with a more serious ending. Maybe he was running out of time and needed to get it to the publisher. I think the last 10 pages were written in the TAXI on the way.