The Man Who Fell to Earth

Very rarely is there a book that has been so perfect. One of the very few times where every word, every scene, every bit of dialog was exactly where it should be.
This is a deceptively simple story, told in uncomplicated prose, but with unexpected depth and relevance. What I'm sure hasn't been lost over the years is the wash of sadness, and the individualized despair that permeates the book, and ultimately embitters the characters. No one escapes their self-destructive fears - not the American government, not the curious scientist, and most especially not the other-worldly visitor who comes to save his world but can't even save himself. Definitely worth seeking out. Highly recommended. 4.5 stars

Meet Thomas Jerome Newton, a humanoid alien from the planet Anthea. Standing rail thin at 6'6" with pale skin and odd features, Newton has come to Earth in a desperate attempt to save his dying planet's population. Less than three hundred souls are clinging to life while the planet dies away from drought and mismanagement. Newton's brilliant plan is to use the earth's resources to build a spaceship large enough to bring the surviving Antheans to Kentucky, of all places. Only, as time goes on, America's vices get the better of him. Alcoholism and loneliness start to cloud his judgement. As suspicions about him grow, the question of human destiny becomes philosophical in nature.

4/5

A short and simple story about a humanoid from Mars who lands on Earth, with a plan to weave himself into human society, and find passage for the rest of his people. Of course, all things cannot go according to plan, and the alien finds himself becoming more and more like the humans he has studied, leading to the questioning of his own motives and values.

When I say simple, I'm mostly referring to the prose style, though there are occasional moments of real eloquence and beauty. Though the prose is typically short and to the point, that does not mean a lack of deeper meaning or theme. Tevis explores both addiction (specially alcohol addiction) and alienation in a sophisticated way. His message is crisp and clear within a lucid and show more fast moving plot. A lot of plates to juggle all at once, but Tevis does so with a certain amount of grace that I was captivated by. The characterization of Newton is excellent, and leads to an ending of his arc that is both believable and tragic.

In terms of flaws, this future USA feels incredibly dated, to the point that I'm confused as to why Tevis didn't just set the novel in 1963, when it was written. All of the same critiques could've been made about current U.S. Values, and the Cold War. It seemed needless, especially since things have barely advanced in this reality. I also thought that the characters outside of Newton were fine at best, but could've been more thoroughly explored.

This is deeply emotional book, one that moved me greatly. It was excellently paced, outside of a slight sluggishness in the middle, and I found it quite engaging to read. I do have a hard time including this in the science fiction genre, because outside of the surface level veneer this is much more about people than anything else. It's a human story, even though the human is from another planet. show less

Zoals met de schoonste scifi boeken - en met alle echt mooie boeken tout court - dekt de vlag zelden de lading en zit er onder de oppervlakte, onder het verhaal an sich - nog heel wat moois verborgen.

Vermomd als mens landt een man van een andere planeet op aarde om een oplossing te zoeken voor de laatsten van zijn soortgenoten die op de opgedroogde planeet tot ondergang gedoemd zijn. Met zijn technologische voorsprong zet hij een bedrijf op poten om alvast het nodige geld bij elkaar te krijgen, maar hoe langer hij op aarde is, hoe meer hij verrast wordt door de menselijke natuur, al dan niet positief. Hij identificeert zich steeds meer met mens zijn, waaruit twijfels en onzekerheid groeien of zijn lot en dat van zijn soort.

We wisten show more van bij aanvang dat dit boek ooit verfilmd was met David Bowie in de hoofdrol en toen we op bladzijde twee geconfronteerd werden met de fysieke beschrijving van het gelande buitenaards wezen vermomd als mens, zijn we helemaal overtuigd dat die rol Bowie op het lijf geschreven was.

Een boek dat leert over mens zijn of niet, met een goed uitgewerkte spanningsboog. Indrukwekkend is hoe Walter Trevis niet focust op wat mogelijk een spannende race tegen de tijd zou kunnen zijn, maar op het karakter, de twijfels en de onzekerheden van zijn hoofdrolspelers. Het boek is empathisch en doorleefd en kreeg een verrassende, aangrijpende en aandoenlijke plot mee. Erg mooi. show less

This short 1963 science fiction novel had a great premise and opening few chapters. The "what if" question here is this: what if a single highly advanced alien landed on Earth and needed to build a rescue ship for the rest of his kind? The early parts of the story - which feature the alien (Newton) rise to power and wealth were fascinating. I would have liked to have had 3-5 more chapters about Newton's rise to power and how he made that happen.

The middle section of the alien interacting (or rather suffering) from the attentions of the government were also compelling. There's a great passage in this section when Newton questions the seemingly endless and irrational questioning and processes that his government captors impose on him. The show more response: "Bowen shrugged his shoulders. 'Modern governments move in mysterious ways.'" The interrogation, the exploration of the political aspects of having an alien in custody were all quite interesting.

The ending of the book just felt like a let down after such a build up. I'll give the author this - it came as a surprise and it subverted expectations. show less

Well, this was strange. Written in the sixties but set in the eighties, this is the story of an alien who comes to earth with plans to build a ship to send back to his planet to bring the rest of his people (which is a small number--they are dying out) to earth in order to manipulate the people of earth into not blowing themselves up with nukes. How he is going to do that is somewhat part of the story. Ultimately, he fails, partly because he is desperately lonely, partly because humans get in his way, and partly because he becomes an alcoholic. I was perplexed by this story from the beginning, maybe because Tevis gets the eighties so very, very wrong (I mean, he wasn't to know, of course, but if there was any real speculation on his show more part here, it was poor), and that made it quite hard to invest in the story. I also felt held at a distance from all of the characters, and the story worked out in pretty much exactly how I figured it would--which was not terribly compelling. Perhaps this is one of those books that really needed to be read when it was written. For me it was just this side of a dud. show less

The book is a tiny thing; the message is massive. I would consider this the very height of hard science fiction. Rather than ruminating over the technology (although it does go into some detail) or getting hung up in the alien-as-Christ trope (although it does touch upon it) the author tells a very human story.

Alcoholism and self-doubt are rampant, though I never felt that the book became overly angsty. The book captures the loneliness of being stuck in an alien world and exemplified the very real concept that if there was an extraterrestrial - it is likely we would never be truly capable of grasping his perspective any more than we can grasp the perspective of another animal.