Rollback

Robert J. Sawyer expertly explores ethical dilemmas and alien contact in his intelligent, highly readable novel Rollback. It is 2048. Astronomer Sarah Halifax, who had been one of the leading astronomers at SETI and the one person who translated the first message from the Draconians in 2009, is now 87. When the Draconians send an encrypted reply, wealthy industrialist Cody McGavin offers Sarah a rollback - a rejuvenation procedure that will result in her being like a 25 year old physically - so she can help decipher the second message. Sarah demands that the procedure also be given to her husband of 60 years, Don. The procedure works for Don, but, sadly, not for Sarah.

While coping with her physical frailties, Sarah ponders the key to show more solving the encrypted message from the Draconians. At the same time Don struggles with being essentially an 87 year old man with the body and health of 25 year old. While their bond of 60 years continues, Don has to face some tough moral choices while Sarah is working, hoping to solve the puzzle before her death.

Sawyer succeeds in Rollback because he takes a couple themes - rejuvenation and contact with aliens, concentrates on the big picture and the questions that might arise, and then reaches a conclusion in a story that doesn't demand a sequel. Even though this is an alien contact story, it's really mostly a story about moral dilemmas and choices. The narrative mainly focuses on the effects of the rejuvenation for Don and the moral dilemmas and choices challenging him. One of the opening quotes is from Jonathan Swift, "No wise man ever wished to be younger." But is that true? And if you were to suddenly be returned to a young adult at age 87, how would you cope? What choices would you make?

I have one problem with Rollback. Honestly, the young Don got on my nerves a bit. Even though he is now physically 25, he still is 87 and has still been married to 60 years to Sarah. I would have thought he'd be more in touch with many of the life lessons he must have learned in that time. I think the main root of any problem I have with the story is that it is definitely told from a male point of view - and I am not male. So, while the ending of the story Sawyer is telling didn't work quite as well for me, a case could be made that Rollback will work for the majority of the targeted readers of science fiction who are male.

All of that is likely a minor quibble with what is a very enjoyable, intriguing, provocative novel. Sawyer is an accomplished writer, he knows how to tell a story, and he has all the awards to prove it. Highly Recommended; http://shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/ show less

Spoiler Alert:

Robert Sawyer writes such likable books. Rollback is the bittersweet story of Don and Sarah Halifax, a couple in Toronto who in 2048 are celebrating their sixtieth wedding anniversary. Sarah is the celebrated SETI scientist who decoded an interstellar message from a plant orbiting Sigma Draconis, 18.8 light-years from Earth. She also authored the official reply. Now another undecipherable message has been received. A billionaire, Cody McGavin, sees Sarah as the key to communications with the Draconans, and offers to pay for Sarah to have a genetic “rollback” so she will be twenty-five again; Sarah agrees on the condition that her husband Don be rolled back as well. In a tragic turn, the operation works on Don but not show more Sarah. Don struggles with resurgent hormones and the energy and impatience of youth as well as the guilt he feels toward Sarah, their friends, and his family; she, meanwhile, declines in health. Don begins an affair with a Lenore, a SETI grad student, but breaks it off out of guilt. Sarah solves the new message, which is coded for instructions on how to create two Draconans to be brought up on Earth. Sarah charges Don with their upbringing, and dies. Eventually, Don marries Lenore, and they raise the two Dracons as well as a child of their own. He misses Sarah every day, but finds love and happiness in the continuation of her mission.

The book features the usual provocative discussions by Sawyer's characters of politics, religion, evolution, and ethics.

(JAF) show less

Philosophiction at its best: Serendipitously, I read most of this book on my 62nd birthday It could not have been a more appropriate read. First of all, I "enjoyed" it tremendously, if "enjoy" is the correct term for a story that made me cry so often. However, the philosophical questions and issues in this book resonated tremendously with me, even the ones that were not age-related, such as the questions of the value of a life. This type of character-driven story where real people face important life questions that are familiar to current-day readers in a context involving some kind of scientific breakthrough is just the kind of writing Sawyer does best, and he really outdid himself this time.
He neatly missed several chances to make show more this a pretty bad book. For an example, Peter F. Hamilton, who has written some enjoyable books, wrote a totally DREADFUL novel called Misspent Youth about the effects a man's rejuvenation has on him and the people around him. Sawyer avoided all of his mistakes.
Many writers today seem so pessimistic that it would have been easy to make the book a "downer". For example, I was very sad when one of the main characters died, but it was very consoling that the character died having accomplished a dream in life. That is all anyone today can hope for, so it seems like a pretty good second prize to me, if you miss the "brass ring" of successful rollback.
WARNING: The rest of this review contains what some may consider a "spoiler".
Sawyer could have turned Halifax's affair into something sordid, a rejuvenated man "feeling his oats", and I am glad he didn't do that, either. The story of a decent, ethical husband who is unfaithful to his wife because of very unusual circumstances and how everyone concerned deals with that is much more interesting.
I loved the robot, and I mourned and truly respected his sacrifice---would that all humans were so decent! show less

I say something similar to this in every review I write of a [a:Robert J. Sawyer|25883|Robert J. Sawyer|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1224975910p2/25883.jpg] book: He imbues his stories with a thoroughness and thoughtfulness that leaves me in awe. In [b:Rollback|264940|Rollback|Robert J. Sawyer|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1390071421s/264940.jpg|256847], he takes up the issues associated with curing aging, both on a social and on a personal level. In a single paragraph, he completely upended and enriched my perception of one of the characters. Sawyer's skills as a science fiction author are breathtaking. If you don't read this book, read a different one of his; any one. You won't regret it.

This book does have the seeds of a lot of interesting ideas- ideas about how we might want to communicate with aliens, how and why they might want to communicate with us, and some thought on how physical rejuvenation of our bodies poses some social and moral questions. However none of these ideas gets much development, and the story is basically trivial Hollywood style entertainment.

I hated this book.

The idea of SETI contact and the rollback to youth was fascinating but the execution was a heavy handed disaster.

It was like discussing philosophy with a Lunkhead like Fred Flintstone.

Someone in my bookclub suggested this book, and as far as books for bookclubs, this one should generate very interesting discussions when we do meet. To be fair to Robert J. Sawyer, it already has created an array of discussions around the kitchen table with my husband and kids. But, in many ways I feel it was not executed with the mastery it deserved. The author utilizes dialogue as a form of explaining ideas to no end, making the reading a bit tiring. The ending is too nice and the characters too naïve.

Would I recommend it? I already have. I recommended to a friend that enjoys discussions on ethics, morality and the plausibility of God. The caveat: Don’t expect a great literary work.